The August 2025 Iran Case File (ICF), published by the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah), provides an in-depth assessment of Iran’s domestic and international affairs. The ICF is structured into three sections: internal developments, Iran-Arab interactions and Iran’s international relations.
On the domestic front, several issues came to the fore in August. These included divisions over calls for comprehensive reforms, the looming threat of the snapback mechanism’s activation, attempts by officials to boost morale amid escalating disputes with neighboring countries, Iran’s impasse between the reinstallation of sanctions and growing public anger and heightened religious discourse in the aftermath of the Israel-Iran conflict.
On the Iran-Arab level, Iraq’s government withdrew a contentious draft law regulating the country’s Shiite-dominated paramilitary forces, raising questions among the Iraqi public. In Yemen, the pro-Iran Houthi group endured a wave of assassinations that claimed the lives of the prime minister and a number of ministers in Sana’a. The assault revealed security breaches by Israelis which are expected to have major implications for the Houthis in the coming period.
In the sphere of Iran’s global relations, the ICF discusses Washington’s return to the maximum pressure approach toward Iran as evinced in a series of sanctions that struck vital sectors in Iran, including shipping, banking and technology. That being said, it remains unlikely that these sanctions will force Iran to make concessions in the near future.
As for Iran-Europe relations, talks assumed greater urgency following the decision taken by France, the UK and Germany to activate the snapback mechanism under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), citing Iran’s breach of its commitments. The decision opens a 30-day window to settle the nuclear dispute before Iran faces UN sanctions that would be harsher than the current unilateral US measures.
