Iran in 2019: Cautiously Surviving

Posted: January 9th, 2019

By Steven Ward

Steven R. Ward is a retired intelligence officer and former member of CIA’s senior analytic service who specializes in Iran and the surrounding region. A retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and graduate of the United State Military Academy at West Point, he currently is a contract historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint History Office. Between 2010 and 2012, he was a CIA Visiting Professor to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. From 2005 to 2006 he served as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East on the National Intelligence Council, and he was a Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council from 1998 to 1999.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear during remarks in Jordan on Tuesday that the U.S. is intent on putting more pressure on Iran in the new year and says that Washington will ‘redouble’ efforts to counter Iran’s malign influence in the region.

The State Department also says it is ‘aware’ of reports that a U.S. Navy veteran has been held in Iran since last July, and the EU has announced sanctions against Tehran after allegations that its intelligence service is behind a series of assassination plots spanning several years.

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