Iran has shown little willingness to concede to US demands on the missile program, regional proxy network, and nuclear capabilities. These three items form the long-standing pillars of Iranian defense strategy, and changing them would require a long strategic rethink in Tehran. The United States and Iran are in talks to attempt to avert US military action against Iran. Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated in a press conference in Istanbul on January 30 that the Iranian regime is ready to resume talks with the United States if negotiations are “fair and equitable,” but it will not be bullied into negotiations nor give up its missiles and defense capabilities.[1] This comes as the United States recently relayed its demands for a deal to Iran.[2] Three of these demands, which the United States proposed to Iran in the first round of nuclear negotiations in early 2025, require Iran to halt its missile and nuclear programs and its support for regional proxies. Iranian officials do not believe that conceding to these demands would resolve US-Iran tensions, even if they decided to accept the demands, according to a political analyst close to the regime on January 22.[3] The same analyst, along with an Iranian political scientist, confirmed on January 22 and 23 that the United States introduced a fourth demand: Iran's recognition of the State of Israel, a condition that is entirely antithetical to the beliefs of the Islamic Republic under Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the ideology he espouses.[4] Iranian officials have demonstrated an unwillingness to concede on any of these US demands, even amid several diplomatic meetings Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian held with intermediary countries on January 30 to encourage them to convince the United States to not conduct military action against Iran.[5]
Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary (SNSC) Ali Larijani met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on January 30 to discuss current developments and bilateral economic ties, according to Iranian and Russian media.[6] Larijani’s visit to Russia comes amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts by Iranian officials to avert US military action against Iran.[7] Larijani leads Iran's highest national security decision-making body and played a central role in orchestrating the regime's brutal protest crackdown in December 2025 and January 2026, for which the US Treasury sanctioned Larijani on January 15.[8]
The US Treasury Department sanctioned additional Iranian officials on January 30 for the regime's violent protest crackdown.[78] The United States sanctioned Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization head Majid Khademi.[79] Momeni oversees the Law Enforcement Command (LEC), which played a significant role in the regime's violent crackdown on protesters.[80] The United States also sanctioned the IRGC commanders responsible for Tehran, Gilan, and Hamdan provinces and the LEC’s Kermanshah Province commander.[81] The US Treasury Department stated that security forces in Gilan Province killed “hundreds of demonstrators” and fired live ammunition at unarmed activists.[82] Treasury added that the number of demonstrators killed in Tehran Province “overwhelmed local medical services.”[83] The United States also sanctioned prominent “businessman and sanctions evader” Babak Zanjani and two digital asset exchanges associated with him for processing funds linked to the IRGC.[84] The US Treasury Department previously sanctioned the ”architects of the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators” on January 15, which included Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) head Ali Larijani, who was ”responsible for coordinating the response to the protests on behalf of the Supreme Leader of Iran.”[85]
The Institute for Science and International Security assessed on January 29 that Iran is trying to fortify the Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center (ENTC) in preparation for possible US strikes.[86] The Institute reported on January 29 that increased vehicle activity on the road leading to the tunnel entrances of the ENTC.[87] The Institute assessed that the vehicle activity appears to be related to re-burying the middle and southernmost entrances with soil, which could indicate efforts to protect against future military strikes.[88] The Institute added that these efforts, in combination with efforts at the Mount Kolang Gaz La (Pickaxe Mountain) and Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant at the Natanz Nuclear Facility, indicate that Iran has prioritized ”recovering and preserving assets related to uranium enrichment rather than uranium conversion.”[89]
https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-january-30-2026/
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202601319298
or this is a site for the people who have been killed by the regime and the Arab militia.
It’s too bad that the meaning of sanctioned isn’t the same as it was in the Clint Eastwood movie, The Eiger Sanction.
Iran Update, January 31, 2026
Iran may be attempting to deter a possible US strike by moving forces and conducting a live-fire naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on January 30 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy will hold a two-day live-fire naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz starting on February 1.[1] CENTCOM urged the IRGC to conduct the exercise in a “safe and professional” manner and to avoid placing international maritime navigation at “unnecessary risk.”[2] Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on X on January 31 that freedom of navigation and the safe passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz are vital for Iran and its neighbors and claimed that “outside forces in the region” have historically fueled escalation.[3] Iranian Armed Forces General Staff-affiliated outlet Defa Press claimed on January 29 that the IRGC Navy deployed “hundreds of fast, missile-launching, and support vessels in close proximity” to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.[4] Commercially available satellite imagery from January 27 also showed the IRGC Navy’s “Shahid Bagheri” drone carrier about six kilometers off the coast of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz.[5] These naval deployments and the upcoming exercise are notable because Iran did not employ its naval forces during the June 2025 Israel-Iran War. A policy analyst close to the regime stated on January 31 that the “naval-missile” exercise in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf aims to deter any possibility of a naval blockade by demonstrating Iran’s military resolve to counter it.[6]
https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-january-31-2026/