Iran Update, February 21, 2025

ISW - 22/02
Iranian Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari—adviser to the IRGC commander—threatened to attack "all [US] bases and ships in the region" during a speech at the Great Prophet 19 military exercise on February 20.

Iran Update, February 21, 2025

Kelly Campa, Carolyn Moorman, Annika Ganzeveld, Ben Rezaei, Ria Reddy, Johanna Moore, Avery Borens, and Nicholas Carl

Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET

The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. CTP-ISW publishes the Iran Update every weekday.

Click here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of Israeli ground operations, and here to see CTP and ISW’s interactive map of the ongoing opposition offensive in Syria. These maps are updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.

We do not report in detail on war crimes because these activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We utterly condemn violations of the laws of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity even though we do not describe them in these reports.

 

NOTE: CTP-ISW will produce the update Monday through Friday beginning February 20, 2025, due to the decrease in military activity in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the defeats of Hamas and Hezbollah. We will resume daily, seven-day coverage if circumstances change. CTP-ISW will notify our readers when we resume seven-day coverage. CTP-ISW will continue to produce daily Syria maps. We will publish weekend Syria maps on Mondays. We will cover and assess Axis of Resistance activities in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon at a less granular level moving forward. We will continue to publish analysis on other key US interests in the region, such as the defeat of ISIS and Syrian stability. We will also continue to adjust our Middle Eastern coverage and make those adjustments clear in response to regional dynamics and priorities, just as we did immediately after Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel and the fall of the Assad Regime.

Key Takeaways:

  • Iranian Rhetoric: Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari—adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander—threatened to attack "all [US] bases and ships in the region" during a speech at the Great Prophet 19 military exercise on February 20.
  • Hayat Tahrir al Sham and Syrian Democratic Forces Negotiations: Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said that he and Syrian Interim President Ahmed al Shara agreed on “general principles” but still disagree on “practical details,” which likely refers to the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army.
  • Syrian Constitution: The Syrian Preparatory Committee continued “dialogue sessions” for Raqqa, Hasakah, and Rif Dimashq provinces in Damascus on February 21.
  • Iraqi Politics: The United States reportedly threatened to sanction the Iraqi federal government if it prevents the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from resuming oil exports.

Syria

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said that he and Syrian Interim President Ahmed al Shara agreed on “general principles” but still disagreed on “practical details,” which likely refers to the integr...
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