How Iranian oil revenues became Chinese import credits, infrastructure and goods while bypassing conventional cross-border banking By the IRANation Research Desk For years, the central logic of sanctions on Iran has been financial. Restrict Iranian banks. Penalize institutions that process Iranian transactions. Block access to the dollar system. Make it difficult for Iran to receive…
What Iran’s 2026 war reveals about production networks, blockade exposure and the priorities of reconstruction By the IRANation Research Desk The physical damage caused by war is visible. Factories are struck. Ports are restricted. Production stops. Trade falls. The wider economic damage is harder to see. A petrochemical facility may be disrupted in one part…
By the IRANation Research Desk Discussions of pro-Israel influence around Donald Trump are often reduced to a simple question: How much money did AIPAC give Trump? That question is too narrow, and in an important sense, misleading. The records examined for this report do not show AIPAC directly financing Trump’s presidential campaigns. The Israeli government,…
By the IRANation Research Desk A Study of Political Structure, Public Opinion, and Institutional Continuity Public criticism of Israeli policy is increasingly concentrated on Benjamin Netanyahu. This distinction is politically important. Netanyahu is a specific political actor with a particular coalition, record and strategy, and Israeli opposition to him is substantial. But it raises a…
Prepared by the IRANation Research Desk For years, Western discussion of Iran’s nuclear programme revolved around a familiar set of technical questions: How much uranium had Iran enriched? How many centrifuges were operating? How long would it take to produce sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon? That framework has not disappeared. But after successive…
By the IRANation Research Desk July 30, 2026 How renewed U.S. strikes are transforming the conflict with Iran into a regional crisis of sovereignty, energy and strategic exhaustion Early Thursday, the United States announced that it had completed what U.S. Central Command described as a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran. Over approximately two hours,…