Features
History | On Iranians, Drinking Wine, and Cultural Stereotyping
Foreign fantasies of excess versus a tradition of moderation. [ idē ] From archaeological excavations that suggest northwest Iran was one of the earliest places where wine was produced...
Elections | Defining Democracy Down: Iran's New Presidential Election Law
A lesson in the utility of an unpopular chief executive. [ news analysis ] Two major events recently took place within the recondite realm of Iranian power politics that...
Elections | Senior Ayatollah: No Free Vote in Sight, Iran Ruled with 'Lies'
"They want to rob us of everything in order to be able to participate in the election." [ media watch ] Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha, one of Iran's...
Briefing | Satellite Wars: Why Iran Keeps Jamming
From conspiracy theory to political reality, the IRI has multiple motivations to sever signals from the world outside. [ briefing ] All television broadcasting in Iran is officially under state...
Sanctions' Ill Effects | Part 2: A Looming Catastrophe
Part 1: The Disappearance of Lifesaving Drugs The most vulnerable could pay a grave price for the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. [ series ] "For anyone or any...
Sanctions' Ill Effects| Part 1: The Disappearance of Lifesaving Drugs
From diabetes to epilepsy, foreign-made medicines for dangerous maladies vanish from Iran. [ series ] On Vali Asr Street, in a lower-income district of southwest Tehran, a 30-year-old man storms...
Notebook | The Last Days of the Tehran American School
"Everyone wants to go back," says one former student. [ feature ] In 1978, the Tehran American School closed its doors after 24 years in operation. J. Thom McInnis, a...
79/11, Tehran or Tunis | Part 4: The Final Capitulations to a Clerical Takeover
Part 1: The Fork in the Revolutionary Road | Part 2: The Long Shadow of Iran's Summary Executions | Part 3: The Abandonment of Democratic Principles How "democrats" like Bazargan...
79/11, Tehran or Tunis | Part 3: The Abandonment of Democratic Principles
Part 1: The Fork in the Revolutionary Road | Part 2: The Long Shadow of Iran's Summary Executions Establishment of theocracy in Iran facilitated by disoriented democratic leaders. Dr. Iraj...
Q&A | United for Iran's Dokhi Fassihian on Human Rights and the World's Role
"The key for real change is for there to be sustained high-level pressure." [ interview ] Dokhi Fassihian is director of programs and advocacy at United for Iran, which campaigns...
79/11, Tehran or Tunis | Part 2: The Long Shadow of Iran's Executions
Part 1: The Fork in the Revolutionary Road Out of repression and terror, a system emerges. Dr. Iraj Omidvar teaches English at Southern Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Georgia. Any opinions...
79/11, Tehran or Tunis | Part 1: The Fork in the Revolutionary Road
Two different militaries, and one calculated destruction of constitutional order. Dr. Iraj Omidvar teaches English at Southern Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Georgia. Any opinions expressed are the author's own.[ series...
Slideshow | Who Owns the Cars in Park Prince?
[ feature ] I have some friends who live in an apartment complex in Tehran called Park Prince. Near Vanak Square, it was built in the 1970s -- before...
Business | 2012 Iranian Oil Survey: Autumn Update
Production lowest in almost a quarter century; sanctions' true impact may not register for some weeks. Matthew M. Reed (@matthewmreed) is a Middle East specialist at Foreign Reports, Inc., a...
Bīstoon | You'd Have to Be Russian
Houman Harouni has written for Iranian Studies, Connect, and Harvard Educational Review, among other publications. His "Bīstoon Chronicles" appear regularly on Tehran Bureau. [ Bīstoon ] What am I...
Leave No Iranian Child Behind | Part 1: From Gender Gap to Gender Panic
As young women's presence in higher education grows, so does ideological backlash. Shervin Malekzadeh, a former public school teacher, is a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College.[ education ] There...
Interview | Esfandiari on Iran's Decision to Curtail Female Education
[ Q&A ] w/ Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the author of "Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran's...
Business | The Drama of Iran's Erratic Rial
'Short-term solutions to big problems.' [ Q&A] w/ Kevan Harris, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. He recently received his Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University and...
The IRGC Strategic Brain Trust | Part 2: Ahmadian, Hejazi, and Jafari
Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at the University of Southern California, is a columnist for Tehran Bureau and contributes regularly to other Internet and print media. Part 1: Ghasem Soleimani...
The IRGC Strategic Brain Trust | Part 1: Ghasem Soleimani and Ahmad Vahidi
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' two paramount strategists. Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at the University of Southern California, is a columnist for Tehran Bureau and contributes regularly to other...
Bīstoon | Iran and Its Visitors
Houman Harouni has written for Iranian Studies, Connect, and Harvard Educational Review, among other publications. His "Bīstoon Chronicles" appear regularly on Tehran Bureau. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [ Bīstoon...
A Tale of Two Oil Shocks | Part 2: 2007-12
Part 1: 1973-76 When a Saudi oil flood inundated Iran...and the prospect that it could happen again. Andrew Scott Cooper is the author of The Oil Kings: How the U.S.,...
Q&A | To Shoot, 'with Love': Photojournalist Majid Saeedi
"We photographers need to in a sense lay our lives down in order to inform." [ interview ] On June 19 at the Robert F. Kennedy Center at Florence,...
Photo Essay | Paris: Iran's Political Hub
Seeking a New Home Refugees whose asylum applications have been accepted start lining up outside the Préfecture de Police in the 19th arrondissement at three in the morning. They...
Region | Hezbollah: Explaining the Past and Promising the Future
Does Hassan Nasrallah really want a "strong state" in Lebanon? Gareth Smyth, a frequent Tehran Bureau contributor, started reporting from Lebanon in 1996. He was formerly based in Tehran as...
Briefs | Court Mandates U.S. Decision on MEK
[ in focus ] On June 1, a U.S. District Appeals Court ruled that the Obama administration must finally decide within four months whether or not to remove the Mujahedeen-e...
Q&A | Rafsanjani: US Has Upper Hand in Nuclear Negotiations
Former president implicitly rebukes Ahmadinejad administration for "making so much noise" about country's nuclear program. [ interview ] Translator's note: In an interview with the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami, Akbar Hashemi...
Q&A | Iranian Ex-Diplomat: P5+1 'Wants Iran to Give Diamonds for Peanuts'
Former nuclear negotiation spokesman foresees little progress until West offers "proportionate reciprocation." [ interview ] Dr. Seyed Hossein Mousavian is an Iranian career diplomat who served as ambassador to Germany...
Q&A | Meir Javedanfar: How Israelis (Including Iranian Israelis) Read Iran
"Most Iranian Israelis are very pro-Iran, and very anti-regime." [ interview ] Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-born Middle East analyst based in Tel Aviv. He specializes in Iranian affairs in...
Q&A | Former Iran Nuclear Negotiator: Bush Negotiation Bid Was Rebuffed
Claims then IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei tried to facilitate direct, comprehensive talks proposed by U.S. president in 2004. [ interview ] Translator's note: Dr. Hassan Fereydoun Rowhani was Iran's chief...
Education | The Foucault Made Me Do It
The demonization of the humanities (and fetishization of the degree) in Iranian higher ed. Shervin Malekzadeh, a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College this fall, is finishing a study for...
Q&A | Iran Business Expert: 'Crisis Shaking Foundations of Social Order'
[ business ] Bijan Khajehpour is the managing partner at Atieh International, the Vienna-based arm of the Atieh Group, a consortium of strategic consulting firms headquartered in Tehran. In this...
Books | Three-Way Ties: Civil Society, State Ideology, and Geopolitics
Drugs, Deviancy and Democracy in Iran: The Interaction of State and Civil Society by Janne Bjerre Christensen (I.B. Tauris) Arab Spring Dreams: The Next Generation Speaks Out for Freedom and...
Homa Katouzian on Khalil Maleki | Part 2: Debunking Conspiracy Theory
Part 1: Nonalignment and the "Third Force" Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi is a doctoral student in modern Middle East studies at Queens College, University of Oxford. IDÉ is where ideas are discussed...
Homa Katouzian on Khalil Maleki | Part 1: Nonalignment and the 'Third Force'
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi is a doctoral student in modern Middle East studies at Queens College, University of Oxford. IDÉ is where ideas are discussed in the magazine. [ IDÉ ] Dr....
Profiles | Can Yu Do It? Darvish Makes Pitch for US Baseball Stardom
Japanese Iranian debuts for Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners Monday night. [ sports ] Iranians in the diaspora have watched their compatriots, in the home country and beyond, gain prominence...
The Nationalist-Religious Movement | Part 2: The Revolutionary Era
Part 1: Patriots and Mosaddeghists Defeating monarchy, mishandling victory. [ series ] Part 1 of this series described the birth of the nationalist-religious movement in the early 1940s, and its...
Region | Iranian-Saudi Tensions Play Out in Beirut, Tripoli
Diverse Lebanese state threatened by sectarian conflict in Syria. Gareth Smyth has reported since 1996 from Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. [ in-depth ] Between downtown Beirut and Corniche al-Mazraa...
Feature | 'We Will Never Bomb Your Country': The Israeli-Iranian Peace Web
Netroots effort launched by Tel Aviv couple inspires thousands. [ feature ] Meet Ronny Edry: an Israeli graphic designer, husband, father of two, and as of a few days ago,...
Dispatch | The Endless Day: A Look at the Lives of Iran's Women Day Laborers
Brutal conditions and rampant exploitation in the workplace, little relief at home. [ dispatch ] The lot of women day laborers in Iran, with its patriarchal social structure and straitened...
Education | Everything I Need to Know About Democracy I Learned in 3rd Grade
First lessons in democracy offer insight into the democratic imaginings of the Islamic Republic. [ analysis ] Parliamentary elections for the 9th Majles lie just on the other side of...
Notebook | 16 Days in Evin Prison
A journalist reflects on her two weeks of incarceration in the Islamic Republic. [ feature ] "We've convicted people with thinner files and less evidence," a judge told me on...
Elections | Iran Starts Slashing Candidates
[ Q&A ] Yasmin Alem, an independent Iran analyst and the author of Duality by Design: The Iranian Electoral System, published by the International Foundation of Electoral Systems. How do...
Profile | Gholamreza Takhti: World Champion Wrestler, Iranian Patriot
A glorious career, a generous soul, and a mysterious death. [ profile ] Certain popular figures live on for centuries in Iranians' minds and hearts, from the legendary Rostam, Sohrab,...
Q&A | Tightening the Noose Around the Rafsanjanis
[ Q&A ] The daughter of the former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to six months in prison on charges of "spreading propaganda against the ruling system."...
Perspectives | Iranian Progressives Respond to Occupy Wall Street
[ blog ] Translator's note: During the past few months, progressives inside Iran have taken advantage of the Iranian government's anti-Wall Street rhetoric to hold several forums to discuss the...
Society | Possibilities, Paradoxes, and Our Moment of Painting
[ Bīstoon ] It's a good time for painting in Iran. In my visits, I make sure to go to the galleries in Tehran as often as I can....
Europe | The Identity Necklace: Being Iranian in Britain
Learning how to fine-tune the expression of cultural pride. [ personal history ] My parents are Iranian. My father left Iran when he was 16 years old to study in...
Preview | Majles Elections 2012
[ Q&A ] w/ Yasmin Alem, an independent Iran analyst, and the author of Duality by Design: The Iranian Electoral System, published by the International Foundation of Electoral Systems. What...
Region | Hidden Lives: Afghan Girls in Germany
A culture clash experienced in everyday battles and lasting repercussions. [ personal history ] When I was growing up as a teenager in Hamburg's Afghan diaspora, my father received a...
Books | The Peculiarities of the Secular
Is the Middle East becoming more 'secular'? Is Islam an obstacle to secularization? Yes, and no, answers professor Sami Zubaida in a new collection of his most important work. [...
Travel | The Heart of the Kavir, Iran's Great Desert Realm
A walk through an alien world, harsh and magnificent. [ passport ] A crowd of many hundreds have gathered by the dried-up bed of the Zayanderud (life-giver river); the river...
Society | The Duality of Life in Iran
A look behind the scenes. [ society ] Life in Iran is split in halves: the half lived in the open and the half lived behind closed doors. And this...
Society | Encounters at Dusk
[ Bīstoon ] Of the many things that change from year to year in my city, Hamedan, the change that disconcerts me most is the disappearance of sunset encounters. Specifically,...
IDÉ | Ali Shariati and the Ideologization of Religion
An introduction to the influential thinker's views on revolutionary Shiism and the 'warrior intellectual.' [ IDÉ ] No effort will be made here to undertake a comprehensive overview of Ali...
In a Nutshell: Iran's Massive Banking Scandal
[ Q&A ] w/ Kevan Harris, a 2011-12 Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. What's the origin of the Islamic Republic's biggest banking scandal? The financial...
Tehran and the Dream
[ Bīstoon ] Dear C., There is no city in the world that lives its daily life so closely linked to a dream as does Tehran. This might sound strange,...
Raucous Election: Politicians on the Record
This is the tenth in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012. [ feature ] Iran's 2012 parliamentary elections will help define the country's political course for...
Death Sentence on Christian Leader Yousef Nadarkhani
'I am resolute in my faith and Christianity and have no wish to recant.' [ quote, unquote ] An Iranian court has imposed the death sentence on Yousef Nadarkhani, a...
Parliament's Evolving Role
This is the ninth in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012. [ Q&A ] w/ Ali Reza Eshraghi, a senior editor at several of Iran's reformist dailies....
Youth Game-Changers in Elections
[ Q&A ] w/ Kevan Harris, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Johns Hopkins University and a 2011-12 USIP Jennings Randolph Peace Fellow. He visited Iran in June. What role...
Reading Iran: Was Release of US Hikers a Signal?
[ quote, unquote ] Tehran Bureau asked Iranian analysts in both Iran and the United States to give their views on the timing of the release of American hikers...
Women Struggle in Parliament
This is the seventh in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012: [ Q&A ] w/ Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, a former member of Iran's parliament (2000-2004). She is currently...
Revolutionary Guards Soar in Parliament
This is the sixth in a series on the parliamentary elections due in March 2012. [ feature ] The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was established to protect domestic...
Slideshow: Audrey and Hannibal
[ personal history ] Besides his unfinished portrait of me, I don't have any of our father's oil paintings. But I do have the only one of our mother...
Clerics Plummet in Parliament
This is the fifth in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012. [ Q&A ] w/ Yasmin Alem, an international development specialist and the author of Duality...
Iran's Conservatives: The Headstrong New Bloc
The political lineup as the Majles election approaches. [ feature ] In preparation for the 2012 parliamentary election, Iran's diverse conservative parties are already forging a strategy to marginalize or...
Iran's Pivotal Election
The Iran Primer today begins a series on parliamentary elections now scheduled for March 2012. The following is an excerpt from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) report...
History of Iran's Parliaments
[ feature ] This is the second in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012: First parliament (1980-1984) Speaker: Yadollah Sahabi (for one month in mid-1980); Akbar Hashemi...
Fact Sheet: Parliamentary Elections
[ feature ] nota bene: Iran's first parliament was formed after the Constitutional Revolution in 1906 (pictured). Its current parliament was created by a new constitution written after the 1979...
Kamin Mohammadi: My Favorite Books on Iran
A personal selection to paint a richer picture. [ feature ] Iranian literature is as rich and varied as the rest of our millennia-old culture, but only a few...
Region | The Myth of Muslim Unity
A lesson in Afghan-Libyan relations. [ IDÉ ] In 1974 the Islamic Summit conference was under way in Pakistan's Lahore when the Afghan leader Daud Khan found himself rudely awakened...
Audio | The Lion's Den: An Insider's View of Syria, the Assads
An interview with Andrew Tabler. [ region ] Syria is in its sixth month of turmoil since its violent crackdown on demonstrators, which the government claims consist of armed...
Ali Motahari's Extraordinary Interview
"You think that because they are in the opposition, they must die!" [ feature ] Ali Motahari is a son of the noted Islamic scholar Ayatollah Morteza Motahari (1920-79). The...
Empowering Iranian American Youth: The Camp Ayandeh Story
A conversation with cofounder Narges Bajoghli. [ spotlight ] "In ten years, we may not even be able to talk about an Iranian community unless we make a concerted effort...
Iran's Education Overhaul: Controversial Textbooks | Part 2
[ Q&A ] w/ Shervin Malekzadeh, who recently received his Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University. His dissertation, based on nearly two years of research in Iran, deals with the...
Iran's Education Overhaul | Part I
[ Q&A ] w/ Shervin Malekzadeh, who recently received his Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University. His dissertation, based on nearly two years of research in Iran, deals with the...
'A Darker Horizon': The Assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar
On the 20th anniversary of the opposition leader's murder, a comprehensive look at the details and the bigger picture. [ feature ] Late on a Tuesday afternoon 20 years ago,...
Reform and Liberation Movements: Iranian Kurdish Leader Speaks | 2
Part 1: An introduction to the history of the Kurdish self-determination movement in Iran and the first part of the interview. 'This regime will fall,' declares Mostafa Hejri, head of...
Russia's New Diplomatic Idea for Iran
[ Q&A ] During a visit to the United States in mid-July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented the Obama administration with a plan for "step by step" nuclear talks...
Reform and Liberation Movements 'No Match': Iran Kurdish Leader Speaks | 1
'Federalism is not a recipe for disintegration,' declares DPIK chief Mostafa Hejri. [ feature ] As one of the oldest Kurdish political parties in the Middle East, the Democratic Party...
Review | The Fear of God
Said Amir Arjomand The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion. Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi'ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890, University of Chicago Press, paperback...
Food, Politics, and the Iranian Way of Water | Part 3
Part 1: The life and near death of the qanat system. | Part 2: Qanats -- natural harmony. Part 3: What does nature know? [ personal history ] Water...
Food, Politics, and the Iranian Way of Water | Part 2
Part 1: The life and near death of the qanat system. Part 2: Qanats -- natural harmony. [ personal history ] Anthropologists and archeologists believe qanats were invented in Iran...
Changing Iranians' Habits
Translator's note: Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh is a leading figure in modern Persian writing. The Hemingway of Iran, he broke with the florid 19th-century style that unfortunately continues to convolute Iranian...
The Assembly of Experts
[ primer ] The Assembly of Experts for the Leadership (Majles-e Khobragan Rahbari) is Iran's only constitutional body with the authority to appoint and dismiss the supreme leader. The 86...
Housing Market Revival Appears Short-Lived
Price bubble unlikely. [ business ] When economic conditions are uncertain and unpredictable, most ordinary investors focus on markets that, although they may involve some risk, have the potential for...
Iran's Women Two Years after the Uprising
[ Q&A ] w/ Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, a women's rights activist, is one of the founding members of the Stop Stoning to Death Campaign and the Iranian Women's...
Chamber of Commerce Elections Bring Surprises, New Faces
Influence of trade and industrial associations grows. [ business ] Elections held on June 15 for the board of directors of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Mines produced some...
New UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Iran
[ Q&A ] w/ Roberto Toscano, Italy's former ambassador to Iran. On June 17, the U.N. Human Rights Council appointed Ahmed Shaheed, former Maldives foreign minister (2005-7), as the new...
AIPAC from the Inside | Part 2: Wrangling over Regime Change
Part 1: Isolating Iran Keith Weissman on resisting the regime change agenda, espionage charges, and making a living. [ feature ] With the election of George W. Bush, the events...
AIPAC from the Inside | Part 1: Isolating Iran
Keith Weissman on joining AIPAC, the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, and the BTC pipeline. [ feature ] In August 2005, two lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Steve...
Q&A | Maziar Bahari
[ Q&A ] w/ Iranian Canadian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned in Iran between June and October 2009. He is the coauthor of a new book, And...
The Green Movement: Past and Future
[ Q&A ] w/ author Abbas Milani. The opposition Green Movement emerged spontaneously two years ago to challenge results of the disputed 2009 presidential election. What is the status of...
Iran's Deepening Internal Battle
[ Q&A ] w/ Iran expert Farideh Farhi. Two years after his controversial reelection, President Ahmadinejad faces mounting pressure from the Supreme Leader, parliament and the Guardian Council on...
The State of Labor in Iran's Oil and Petrochemical Industry
[ business ] Translator's note: On May 24, a massive explosion and fire at a newly inaugurated oil refinery in Abadan led to the deaths and injuries of an unknown...
Escalating Sanctions on Iran
[ Q&A ] w/ Patrick Clawson, director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. What do the latest U.S. and European sanctions say about international pressure on...
Photo Essay | Le 15 ème: Téhéran-sur-Seine
[ spotlight ] "Persians have settled in various parts of Paris according to their means," Vida Nassehi-Behnam wrote in an entry for Encyclopaedia Iranica more than a decade ago. "The...
Gates Says Iran Factor in U.S. Troops in Iraq
Deadline offers challenges and opportunities. [ analysis ] Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on May 24, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that intimidating Iran is a central reason...
Naser Hejazi: The Life and Death of a Modern Legend
A star's talent, a warrior's courage. [ obit ] Few lives have captured the drama and the tragedy of daily existence in Iran like that of Naser Hejazi, the...
The Impact of Syria's Unrest on Iran
[ Q&A ] w/ Jubin Goodarzi, author of Syria and Iran: Diplomatic Alliance and Power Politics in the Middle East. What role is Iran playing in the Syrian political crisis?...
The Arab Spring's Impact on U.S.-Iran Rivalry
[ Q&A ] w/ Ellen Laipson, president and CEO of the Stimson Center. How has the Arab spring changed the strategic environment for U.S.-Iran relations? Turbulence in Arab politics will...
Food, Politics, and the Iranian Way of Water | Part 1
The life and near death of the qanat system. [ personal history ] It is hard to imagine that many are aware of such a threshold. Certainly, birth and death...
Setting the Stage for a Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons
'Fukushima factor,' Arab Spring, Iran-West stalemate, calls for Israel to abandon opacity policy all contribute to improved prospects. [ IDÉ ] While small, incremental steps have historically proven inadequate in...
Ancient Persian Treasures in American Courts
Legal dispute over Persepolis tablets threatens international lending of cultural assets. [ briefs ] In 1930, archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld came across 30,000 clay tablets on a dig in the ancient...
Iran Splits over Intelligence Chief
[ quote, unquote ] In an unusual public spat, Iran's top two leaders have split over the future of intelligence chief Heydar Moslehi. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly wanted him sacked...
Shirin Ebadi on Iran, Human Rights, and 'The Golden Cage'
Nobel laureate discusses her new book, the situation in Khuzestan, individually targeted sanctions, and more. [ Q&A ] On the inside cover of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi's new...
Iranian Labor and the Struggle for Independent Unions
In the face of state repression and sham 'representation,' the revival of a century-old effort. [ overview ] The establishment of independent labor organizations has always been problematic for the...
Nasrin Sotoudeh, Sentenced to 11 Years, Wins PEN Freedom to Write Award
[ profile ] PEN American Center, the U.S. chapter of the worldwide human rights and literary organization, has announced that Iranian writer, attorney, and women's and children's rights activist Nasrin...
A Banner Day for Iranian American Voices
Nowruz dispute in Irvine echoes broader issues. [ diaspora ] When Iranian Americans take umbrage over a particular issue, they typically head to their computers and send out chain...
Arab Unrest and Iran's Oil Sales
Regional disorder presents timely opportunities, as leading Asian importers trim purchases. [ business/analysis ] Unrest in the Arab world continues to send jitters through world oil markets. With fears that...
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei: Iran's Next President?
Speculation swirls around future of Ahmadinejad's chief of staff and confidant. [ primer ] Although never elected to office, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is a major political figure, with speculation mounting...
Growing World Pressure Over Iran's Human Rights Record
[ quotes ] The U.N. decision to appoint an investigator to track Iran's human rights violations is the latest move by the international community to increase pressure on Tehran. The...
Iran Warns Gulf on Bahrain
Rhetoric toughens as neighbors intervene. [ spotlight ] After weeks of relative silence, Iran has become increasingly outspoken about Bahrain's political crisis since Saudi Arabia deployed troops to back up...
Japan's Nuclear Disaster: Sobering Lessons for Iran
Grave questions over safety regulations, enforcement, contingency plans in earthquake-prone country. [ analysis ] A byproduct of the 8.9 earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami that killed as many...
Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Cracking the Rafsanjani Code
Survivor of over three decades' worth of intrigue beats a strategic retreat. [ analysis ] Few figures in Iran's modern history are more controversial than Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Hailing...
Iran's African Misadventures
Years spent forging relationships come to nothing amid allegations of covert arms supplies to one or more West African states. [ analysis ] Iran has succeeded in derailing its relationship...
Shake-up in the Assembly
[ primer ] Iran's Assembly of Experts voted March 8 to replace former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the chairmanship. What happened and why is the outcome significant? On March...
Rising Oil Prices Create Political Cushion for Iran
[ primer ] Oil prices have risen worldwide because of political unrest and upheavals in the Middle East. How has Iran been affected by the turmoil in oil sales? The...
The Blue Movement?
[ media watch ] During President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's March 2 trip to Lorestan province, in western Iran, the protesters weren't waving green banners -- at least not the ones that...
Fissures in the Revolutionary Guards' Officer Corps?
Examining the tensions both within the corps and between the Guards and the regular armed forces. [ analysis ] The events since the June 12, 2009, presidential election in Iran...
Iran's Economy in the Shadow of Regional Upheaval
Tehran's surprising ability to take politically risky, economically rational decisions at a time of intense international pressure over its nuclear program confounds external observers. [ analysis ] Iran's stability...
Eliminating the Opposition, Islamic Republic Style
Tehran replays same old tactics against opposition. [ analysis ] The tactics that Iran's Islamic regime has employed against the opposition Green Movement follow a well-worn pattern that can be...
UN Nuke Report Asserts Ongoing Iran Stonewall, 'Further Concerns'
Indications that country's atomic program has recovered from Stuxnet attack. [ analysis ] The United Nations has obtained new information that Iran may have worked on making nuclear weapons, according...
Iran on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
[ primer ] For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood was the largest organized opposition party in Egypt. It is Islamist. What are its similarities and differences with Iran's Islamic revolution? The...
Hardline Clerics Hold Hush-Hush Convention
Indications that plotting Rafsanjani's fall was at center of agenda. [ analysis ] Two important events occurred almost simultaneously this week in Iran -- the elections for the national...
Iran's Approach to the Arab Uprisings
Iran's case-by-case approach to the Arab uprisings. [ analysis ] Reading some of the newspapers in the Sunni-majority Arab states, you may get the impression that Tehran's long regional arm...
The Pseudo-Parliament of Iran's Private Sector
[ analysis ] In the most important election to take place in Iran since the controversial June 2009 presidential contest, the leadership of the influential Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry,...
The Mujahedeen-e Khalq Controversy
What is the Mujahedeen-e Khalq organization? The Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), or the People's Mujahedeen Organization, was founded in 1965 as an urban guerrilla group opposed to the monarchy of Shah...
Iran's Labor Flash Point
Can Green activists build a coalition with workers' groups? [ analysis ] Iran's labor movement and working class have been pivotal political actors for more than a century, with one...
25 Bahman and the Green Revival
Surprising success of Monday demonstrations shows regime in a bind. [ on the scene ] It appears that up to 350,000 people turned out on the streets of Tehran for...
US Gets Tougher on Iran
Significant shift in tone vs. response to 2009 protests. [ spotlight ] The Obama administration has become increasingly outspoken about Iran since the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings. The main focus...
The Future of Democracy in Iran: Is 'Collective Experience' the Key?
Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change (New York University Press, 2010), by Ali Mirsepassi [ IDÉ ] Ali Mirsepassi's latest volume, Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture...
President vs. Parliament: The Tehran Political Game Heats Up
Behbahani impeachment highlights most recent round. Next: Who will score big with the budget? [ analysis ] While the world is captivated by the events in Egypt, developments in Iran...
A Revolution's Anniversary: Iran's Creeping Military Rule
[ Q&A ] w/ Shaul Bakhash, the Clarence Robinson Professor of History at George Mason University. Iran's revolution marks its anniversary on Feb. 11. What is the political situation in...
Egypt 2011: Iran 1979 or 2009...or Neither?
Ideological domination of Islamic Revolution and Republic marks the crucial difference. [ analysis ] The rapid political developments in Egypt that have brought the 30-year dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak...
Tehran: Paradox City 2
Part 1 [ feature ] Neoliberal turn But the 1990s was also a decade of deepening economic disparity. Rafsanjani's "economic reconstruction" involved the liberalization of prices and the exchange...
Tehran: Paradox City 1
[ feature ] Tehran is not an "interesting" city. It is not like its regional counterparts Istanbul or Cairo, with their long imperial or colonial histories, pivotal geo-political locations, memorable...
In Tunisia, Are Sisters Doin' It for Themselves?
An interview with Dr. Amel Grami of Tunisia's University of Manouba. [ Q&A ] The Tunisian uprising in January 2011 took the entire world by surprise. Following a self-immolation...
Tunisia's Revolution: Lessons for Iran
Involving all economic classes is crucial in the struggle for democracy. But don't bank on help from Uncle Sam. [ analysis ] Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali -- the man who...
Iranian Voices: The Hariri Tribunal
Indictments have been served to the International Court of Justice for the murder of former prime minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri. While the indictments are expected to focus on...
Iranian Voices: Tunisia and 'Exporting the Revolution'
Iran's state-controlled media has been widely presenting the ouster of the Tunisian president as a revolution, one inspired by Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979. The comments below show Iranians...
Has Professor Ali-Mohammadi's Assassin Really Been Arrested?
Absurdity-riddled 'confession' raises slew of serious questions. [ comment ] In early January 2010, Dr. Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a professor of physics at the University of Tehran, was assassinated in front...
Nuke Estimate May Buy Diplomacy More Time
[ Q&A ] w/ Michael Adler, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He formerly covered the International Atomic Energy Agency for Agence France-Presse. What...
Khatami's Sharp-Sighted Strategy
Who is the real target of his conditions for Reformist involvement in the next elections? [ analysis ] On December 29, 2010, former President Mohammad Khatami met with the Reformist...
'If You Were Gay...' in Iran
A difference of opinion concerning a difference of preference. "If you were gay, I wouldn't feel comfortable talking with you," added the doctor, reclining as our host scurried about in...
What's Turkey Role in the Second Round of Iran Talks?
[ Q&A ] w/ Henri J. Barkey, who served as a member of the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Staff working primarily on issues related to the Middle East,...
The Chain Murders: Killing Dissidents and Intellectuals, 1988-1998
[ feature ] January 6 is the 11th anniversary of the statement by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence in which it admitted that its agents had killed several dissidents and intellectuals...
Camellia Sinensis
A brief history of tea. [ feature ] I once drove east along the Caspian Sea, past the rolling hills of Lahijan, during the tea leaf-picking season. Colorfully dressed Gilaki...
Petroleum Product Usage Plummets Post-Subsidy Paring
Ahmadinejad cheers drop in consumption, 'kisses hands' of entire nation. [ business ] Statistics released by the Petroleum Distribution Company of Iran indicate that during the nine days that the...
Ahmadinejad's Big Rally for Subsidy Cuts
[ on the scene ] I went to Ahmadinejad's big rally-and-fire-spitting extravaganza in Karaj today. It was probably the largest gathering he's had, so far as his provincial visits...
Iranian Voices: The Drama of Mashaei
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, has become one of the most controversial figures in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mashaei holds 17 official positions, including...
Iranian Voices: Mottaki's Unceremonious Dismissal
Photo: Writing on door says, "Push," "Exit." Manouchehr Mottaki, recently removed from his position as Iran's foreign minister, responded to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks about his dismissal in Istanbul,...
Mr. Salehi's In-Tray
Iran's new foreign minister faces formidable challenges but should not be underestimated. [ analysis ] An assistant to Ali Akbar Salehi asked me if I had telephoned to congratulate him...
The Other Side of the Militarization of Iran's Regime
[ analysis ] This week, Iran implemented an overhaul of its national subsidy system, in effect cutting billions of dollars worth of subsidies for daily consumer use, especially fuel and...
Iranian Voices: Subsidy Cuts
Video: Ayatollah Khomeini's speech, with English subtitles, promising Iranians free water, electricity, bus service, and other services, over scene of Tehran street on Saturday night with cars in long...
Politics and the Press in Iran III
Press and politics in Iran have been intertwined from the very beginning of the country's experiment with modernity. Newspapers and periodicals have served as important forums for Iranians to discuss...
The Changing of the Guard: The Persian Gulf between Two Superpowers
Pax Iranica's rise and fall, and the 1971-1991 interregnum between British and U.S. hegemony. [ feature ] On December 19, 1971, as HMS Achilles and HMS Intrepid sailed out of...
Iran's Trade with Major Powers Grows, Despite Sanctions
Iran exports to U.S. up 6 percent, imports down 26 in first half of 2010. Exports to Britain triple. [ business ] Trade between Iran and the world's six major...
The Iran 34: Journalists in Jail
Editor's note: On December 8, the Committee to Protect Journalists published its annual report on imprisoned journalists around the world. The total of 145 incarcerated journalists is the highest figure...
Using WikiLeaks to Advance the Narrative of War on Iran
Morally bankrupt U.S. media buries facts that counter the case for war. [ analysis ] The classified documents released by WikiLeaks have had something for everyone. Supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
The Political Craft of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | Part 2: The Great Balancing Act
Part 1: Too Busy for Birthdays More than a year into his second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, fundamental questions remain about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Is...
The Political Craft of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | Part 1: Too Busy for Birthdays
More than a year into his second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, fundamental questions remain about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Is he a true believer? Is he...
Larijani's 'Landslide'
More creative balloting. [ dispatch ] Majles Speaker Ali Larijani's recent election as chairman of the majority faction has further highlighted the cracks in the pro-regime Principlist camp and...
Iranian Opposition Struggles to Survive
Ruling bloc lines up own allies to play role of election "rivals." Pro-government parties in Iran are already maneuvering for the next parliamentary election due in early 2012, but it...
High Anxiety over Falling Subsidies
State and people both show nerves over subsidy reform. [ primer ] A bad case of nerves has hit Iran. With long-delayed subsidy reform due to take effect any day,...
On Boycotting Philosophy Congress in Iran
Translator's Note: On November 10, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) canceled plans to hold its annual Congress for World Philosophy Day in Tehran. The Iranian government...
Iran's Most Dangerous Jobs
Attorney, Journalist, Nationalist, Religious: The Unbreakable Nasrin Sotoudeh Throughout Iran's modern history, certain careers have always been extremely dangerous to pursue. Given that, except for brief periods, Iran has been...
'Paris c'est fini!'
Leaving Paris for a utopian garden in Damavand. [ personal history ] "Avec Paris c'est fini!" So bewails Lady Andreyevna Lyubov, owner of the eponymous cherry orchard in Chekhov's classic...
Tehran Bureau Turns Two
[ spotlight ] Tehran Bureau launched on this date, at this address, exactly two years ago today. Our first post was by investigative reporter Robert Dreyfuss, followed by a...
Reflections on the Anniversary of the U.S. Embassy Takeover
[ primer ] Q&A with John Limbert Nov. 4 is the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover. You were a U.S. diplomat in Tehran and then a hostage. Over...
Iran Primer: The Carter Administration
[ primer ] When President Jimmy Carter took office in January 1977, he inherited a unique relationship with Iran and its imperious and ambitious ruler Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. That...
Iran Primer: The Reagan Administration
[ primer ] Ronald Reagan was sworn into office on January 20, 1981, just as Iran released 52 Americans held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for 444 days....
Iran Primer: The George H. W. Bush Administration
[ primer ] George H. W. Bush entered the White House during a period of rapid and historic global change. The main development was the end of the Cold War,...
Iran Primer: The Clinton Administration
[ primer ] When President Clinton took office in 1993, the United States had no direct diplomatic relations with Iran. Any prospect of improvement was complicated by sanctions dating back...
Iran Primer: The George W. Bush Administration
[ primer ] The Bush administration had perhaps the most significant public engagement with Iran since the 1979 revolution, mainly on Afghanistan and Iraq. But it was short-lived. Iran's growing...
Iran Primer: The Obama Administration
[ primer ] President Obama inherited 30 years of hostility in U.S.-Iran relations. During the previous decade, the two longstanding rivals had engaged in unofficial outreach. Track II diplomacy had...
Iran Primer: Timeline of Military and Security Events
1979 May 5 The Revolutionary Guards were established by decree of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Aug. 10 Iran canceled a $9 billion arms deal with the United States made during the...
Iran Primer: Timeline of U.S. Sanctions
Since 2005, the United States has designated Iranian individuals, companies and organizations for involvement in nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile development, or support for terrorist groups. These designations have been made...
Iran Primer: Timeline of Iran's Nuclear Activities
1957 The United States and Iran signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement as part of the United States Atoms for Peace program. The agreement provided for U.S. technical assistance and...
Iran Primer: Iran's Nuclear Sites
Bushehr Nuclear Facility The Bushehr facility contains Iran's first nuclear power plant. Its light-water reactor was loaded with nuclear fuel in August 2010. It has an operating capacity of...
Iran Primer: U.S. Sanctions for Human Rights Abuses
On Sept. 29, 2010, the United States imposed the first sanctions on Iran for human rights violations. President Obama signed an executive order that allowed financial and travel restrictions...
Iran Primer: Timeline of U.N. Security Council Resolutions
Security Council Resolution 1737, Vote: 15-0 (December 23, 2006) Ballistic Missiles: Requires states to prevent the sale or transfer to Iran of items contributing to weapon delivery systems. Imposes asset...
Iran Primer: Websites for Additional Information
Official news sites Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website Office of the President's website Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Iranian Parliament's website...
Iran Primer: Iran's Power Structure
Mehrzad Boroujerdi is associate professor of political science and director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Syracuse University. Kourosh Rahimkhani is an independent scholar specializing in Iranian affairs....
Iran Primer: Iran's Political Elite
Abdi, Abbas (1956- ) A leading journalist and political analyst. He was one of the students who took over the American embassy on November 4, 1979. In 1999, he took...
Iran Primer: Timeline of Iran's Foreign Relations
1979 Feb. 12 Syria was the first Arab country to recognize the revolutionary regime when President Hafez al-Assad sent a telegram of congratulations to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution transformed...
Iran Primer: Timeline of Iran's Political Events
1979 Jan. 16 The shah and his family went into exile. Feb. 1 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 14 years in exile in France and Iraq. Feb. 11...
Iran Primer: Iran and Syria
[ primer ] The Iran-Syria alliance grew out of common cause -- and common enemies. Since Iran's 1979 revolution, the two regional powerhouses have pooled political leverage and military resources...
Iran Primer: Iran and Lebanon
[ primer ] Iran has long had ties to Lebanon through its Shiite community, the largest of Lebanon's 18 recognized sects. Many Lebanese clerics came from Iran, trained under Iranians,...
Iran Primer: Iran and China
[ primer ] Iran and China established diplomatic relations in 1971, but trade started in 1950. Since 1982, Sino-Iranian economic and technological cooperation has progressed significantly. In 1985, they set...
Iran Primer: Iran and Russia
[ primer ] Relations between Russia and Iran have long been difficult--and appear likely to remain so. Tensions date back to the early 19th century, when Iran lost territory to...
Iran Primer: Iran and the European Union
[ primer ] For decades, the European Union's policy of engaging Tehran differed markedly from the U.S. policy of containing or isolating Iran. At the height of European engagement, EU...
Iran Primer: Iran's Alternative Allies
[ primer ] Iran has developed close ties with a wide range of alternative allies in Latin America and Africa. These relationships serve several purposes. They impede U.S. and European...
Iran Primer: Iran and Iraq
[ primer ] Since ancient times, Iraq and Iran have been the seats of rival states and empires. Mesopotamia, today's Iraq, was home to the Assyrian, Babylonian, and medieval Abbasid...
Iran Primer: Iran and Afghanistan
[ primer ] Iran has been an influential force in Afghanistan. Dari, the Afghan dialect of Persian, is one of Afghanistan's two official languages and is used by intellectuals and...
Iran Primer: Iran and the Gulf States
[ primer ] Modern Iranian leaders -- from shahs to ayatollahs -- have sought a dominant role in the Gulf region because of Iran's economic and demographic weight, as well...
Iran Primer: Iran and Turkey
[ primer ] In many ways, Turkey and Iran are mirror images of each other. They share geography, culture, religion, and a long history of conflict and cooperation. They both...
Iran Primer: Iran and Israel
[ primer ] Iran was a focal point of Israeli foreign policy almost as soon as the new state was established in 1948. After initial stumbles, the two countries developed...
Iran Primer: Iran and the Palestinians
[ primer ] Between Israel's birth in 1948 and Iran's revolution in 1979, the two countries had close relations based on common strategic interests, particularly as the two non-Arab countries...
Iran Primer: The Green Movement
[ primer ] A new opposition was born after the disputed June 12, 2009, presidential election that changed the face of Iranian politics -- and Iran. A nation long maligned...
Iran Primer: The Women's Movement
[ primer ] Iranian women made considerable progress during the Pahlavi era (1925-1979). Education for both girls and boys was free. When Tehran University opened in 1936, Iran's first university...
Iran Primer: The New Political Tools
[ primer ] Free speech in Iran is severely limited, and the media is predominantly state-controlled. Restrictions on free speech are enshrined in Iran's constitution, which declares that, "The media...
Iran Primer: The Youth
[ primer ] Iran's youth have been politically active since the 1953 ouster of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. The death of three students in protests against Vice President Nixon's 1953...
Iran Primer: The Oil and Gas Industry
[ primer ] In 1908, Iran was the first country in the Persian Gulf to discover oil. Petroleum has been the primary industry in Iran since the 1920s. Despite Tehran's...
Iran Primer: Oil and Gas Charts
[ primer ] Iranian benchmark crude oil prices (1970-2010), crude oil production (1970-2020 proj.), and natural gas production (1970-2010/2030 proj.) in graphic and tabular form. Fareed Mohamedi is partner and...
Iran Primer: The Bazaar
[ primer ] Bazaars in Iran are more than local markets for the truck and barter of traditional goods and handicrafts. They are urban marketplaces where national and international...
Iran Primer: The Revolutionary Economy
[ primer ] Iran's revolutionaries inherited an economy in the throes of massive change and epic growth. In less than one century, Iran had been transformed from a small, predominantly...
Iran Primer: The Subsidies Conundrum
[ primer ] The 1979 Revolution was carried out in the name of "the oppressed," and the Islamic Republic has been a welfare state committed to "social justice" ever...
Iran Primer: Reading Iran
[ primer ] Reading Iran is critical to U.S. policy-making to understand the threats and dangers, as well as changing conditions that create opportunities for engaging Tehran. But U.S. government...
Iran Primer: The Military Option
[ primer ] Since the mid-1990s, the international community has claimed Iran was engaged in a clandestine uranium enrichment program that could be used to develop a nuclear weapons capability....
Iran Primer: Track II Diplomacy
[ primer ] The term "track II diplomacy" refers to frank, off-the-record interactions often between members of adversarial countries outside of official negotiations. An early example of track II was...
Iran Primer: Engaging Tehran
[ primer ] The 9/11 attacks opened a brief period of cooperation between the United States and Iran. Tehran had long opposed both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Iran publicly...
Iran Primer: Containing Iran
[ primer ] The Carter administration attempted to develop normal diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic after the revolution. But the White House reluctantly shifted to a policy of containment...
Iran Primer: The U.N. Resolutions
[ primer ] International concern over Iran's nuclear intentions escalated in August 2002, after an Iranian dissident group revealed a secret uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water...
Iran Primer: Financial Sanctions
[ primer ] Sanctions have been a regular feature of U.S. policy toward Iran for more than three decades. Washington first imposed sanctions on Iran over the 1979 U.S. Embassy...
Iran Primer: U.S. Sanctions
[ primer ] Sanctions have been a regular feature of U.S. policy toward Iran for more than three decades. Washington first imposed sanctions on Iran over the 1979 U.S. Embassy...
Iran Primer: The Revolutionary Guards
[ primer ] The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was created after the 1979 revolution to enforce Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's concept of an Islamic state ruled by a velaayat-e faghih...
Iran Primer: Iran's Military Doctrine
[ primer ] Iranian military doctrine constitutes a unique hybrid of western (especially U.S.) military concepts coupled with ideological tenets, including martyrdom and revolutionary zeal. Since the 1979 revolution, Iranian...
Iran Primer: The Conventional Military
[ primer ] Iran is sometimes described as the "Hegemon of the Gulf," but it is a comparatively weak conventional military power with limited modernization since the Iran-Iraq War. It...
Iran Primer: The Basij Resistance Force
[ primer ] On November 25, 1979, revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for the creation of a "twenty million man army." Article 151 of the Constitution obliges the government...
Iran Primer: Iran's Ballistic Missile Program
[ primer ] Iran's pursuit of ballistic missiles pre-dates the Islamic revolution. Ironically, the shah teamed with Israel to develop a short-range system after Washington denied his request for Lance...
Iran Primer: Iran and the IAEA
[ primer ] Iran has been the subject of one of the most intensive investigations in the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was not always this...
Iran Primer: The Politics of Iran's Nuclear Program
[ primer ] One of the central ironies about Iran is that its controversial nuclear program has become a defining political issue, even though many of the program's details remain...
Iran Primer: Iran's Nuclear Program
[ primer ] A majority of the international community is at odds with Iran over its nuclear program because of its history of concealing its nuclear activities, the possible...
Iran Primer: The Supreme Leader
[ primer ] There are few leaders in the world more important to current world affairs but less understood than Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran. He is the...
Iran Primer: The Six Presidents
[ primer ] The Islamic Republic's initial constitution provided for a president with limited powers and a prime minister as head of the cabinet and government. The first president, Abolhassan...
Iran Primer: The Parliament
[ primer ] The legislative branch in Iran has had a turbulent history since the first National Consultative Assembly was formed in 1906 during the Constitutional Revolution. The monarch saw...
Iran Primer: Iran and Islam
[ primer ] The 1979 revolution unseated the last dynasty to rule Iran from the Peacock Throne. But it also represented a revolution within Shiism, which had traditionally shunned direct...
Iran Primer: Iran and Democracy
[ primer ] Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, was also the principal author of the hybrid political system in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini did...
Iran Primer: Politics and the Clergy
[ primer ] Shiite clerics have been able to mobilize the Iranian masses far better than any other sociopolitical authority. Clerics form the broadest social network in Iran, exerting their...
Iran Primer: The Islamic Judiciary
[ primer ] The 1979 revolution erased six decades of modernization of Iran's judicial system. The theocrats moved swiftly to overhaul the legal system to incorporate Islamic Sharia law. Criminal...
Civil Philosophy
On the potential for doing good in tough places. [ IDÉ ] It is not everyday that one is singled out and offered unsolicited and patronizing travel advice and legal...
The Space of Philosophy
Critical thought is not for smuggling. [ IDÉ ] In his piece "Iran Needs Free Thinking More Than Ever" (Guardian, October 6), Binesh Hass has taken exception to a number...
Japan-Iran Oil Ties Go Dry
China poised to step in, exploit major Azadegan oil field. Large Asian and European companies involved in Iran's oil and gas sector are showing signs that they are preparing to...
The Persians: An Interview with Homa Katouzian (Part Two)
Part 1 | Part 2 Pseudo-modernism, conspiracy theories, the Green Movement. [ IDÉ ] Dr. Homa Katouzian was born in Iran and teaches Iranian history and literature at St. Antony's...
The Persians: An Interview with Homa Katouzian (Part One)
Why there was no industrial revolution in Iran. [ IDÉ ] Dr. Homa Katouzian was born in Iran and teaches Iranian history and literature at St. Antony's College and...
Clouds on Iran's Caspian Horizon
[ business ] Tehran felt obliged to end loss-making oil swaps, but the decision could further reduce its influence as a Caspian regional player. Three months since Iran's oil ministry...
Three Vignettes on Turkmenistan
[ passport ] I met Nima, a driver, and Susanna, a translator, in the town of Gonbad e Kavus. As soon as we drove north of town we entered...
Constricting Asian Market for Iranian Crude
Chinese oil imports down nearly one-fourth; Japan drops 14 percent. [ analysis ] A number of analysts argue that China's dependence on Iranian crude oil is inhibiting Beijing's willingness...
Thralls and Flirtations
[ passport ] We made an unlikely road-trip crew: an effeminate Iraqi arts dealer named Ali; a handsome, devout, married Sufi named Karim; my Kurdish translator, Leyla; and me --...
Ahmadinejad-Khamenei Rift Deepens
Signs of irreconcilable conflict continue to multiply. [ analysis ] In an article last year, I described the leaders of Iran's election coup of June 2009, their backgrounds, and their...
In Search of Gay Tehran
[ feature ] The air was dry at Behesht-e Zahra, and the sun nearly sealed my manteau to my skin. My great-aunt rocked as her daughters' hands rested on her...
Fashion, Iranian-Style
[ vitrine ] On my most recent trip to Iran, to Tehran in April of 2010 to be precise, I saw a tall, thin man wearing Thom Browne on a...
Courageous and Principled: Shiva Nazar Ahari
Human rights champion imprisoned on bogus charges. [ profile ] Women have always been at the forefront of the struggle for a democratic Iran in which the rule of law...
In Search of Lost Time
Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future (Times/Henry Holt), by Stephen Kinzer [ IDÉ ] Inertia is an underrated force in foreign affairs. Fear of the unknown, force of habit, laziness...
Women, Islam, and...Foreign Policy?
Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women Are Transforming the Middle East (CFR/Random House), by Isobel Coleman [ IDÉ ] Early July pulsed with reports of Iranian mother Sakineh Ashtiani's...
What Has the Green Movement Achieved?
Numerous successes widen hardline fissures, keep regime on defensive. [ analysis ] The Green Movement is over one year old. The large street demonstrations and gatherings, both before and...
Iran and the Two Faces of Modernity
A growing sense of personal agency fuels resistance to monopolized power. [ IDÉ ] It is often thought that what is currently taking place in Iran, the continuation of what...
Government from the Ground Up
The prospects for city-centric democracy in Iran: Part I. [ IDÉ ] Last month a group of young Iranian academics got together in New York to initiate Iran 21, an...
New Hardships Intensify Debate over Iran-Iraq War
[ analysis ] Ongoing factional disputes and mounting international sanctions have ignited heated debates among Iran's elites about another critical period in the country's post- revolutionary history -- the...
Kafka Would Love It!
[ comment ] The drumbeats of war outside Iran are fierce, and the mounting tensions within disturbing. The government has predictably aligned with the dangerously antiquated philosophy of, "We fear...
The Weight of a Brick
Backbreaking labor for minimal pay defines essential economic sector. Take an open space, flat, an acre or two, with easily excavated soil, with sun-baked, perspiring souls dragging themselves, bent...
It's a Dog's Life
A man selling two puppies on the side of the street. Technically pets are illegal in Iran. But that doesn't stop people from buying cats and dogs -- even...
The Hidden Imam and His Cult
Because of a new injunction by the Suprme Leader, this year's birthday celebrations for the Hidden Imam on July 27 will be a relatively subdued affair. Babak Sarfaraz examines...
Photo Essay: Tehran Grand Bazaar
Tehran Grand Bazaar, 2008. It's hot and the bazaar is packed. It's impossible to take a step without rubbing up against someone. As I make my way, gazing at...
Kayhan: 'What happened? Nothing!'
Kayhan | On July 18, Kayhan carried the following editorial by Hossein Shariatmadari: It was after the Tehran Friday prayer. I was hurrying to the newspaper when a youth put...
Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Programme
IPS | Contrary to a news media narrative that Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri has provided intelligence on covert Iranian nuclear weapons work, CIA sources familiar with the Amiri case say...
The Green Movement and the Working Class
Translator's Note: Sohrab Behdad is the coauthor with Farhad Nomani of Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter? (Syracuse University Press, 2006). Below is the translation of an...
Iran's Bazaars, 30 Years On
This article was first published by the Middle East Institute in February 2009; the analysis refers to bazaar strikes in October 2008, when the VAT was introduced. Gauging from the...
Azad University: A Schooling in Power Politics
The Azad University saga. By now, practically everyone in Iran has become aware of the long-simmering battle between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his rivals over the control and status of Azad...
SPECIAL REPORT: Your Veil is a Battleground II
Increasing numbers of Iranian women resist the veil, as hardliners search for enforcers. Part One | Part Two: 'Your Veil Is a Battleground' In the last two and a half...
SPECIAL REPORT: Your Veil is a Battleground I
Hejab Politics: Old Hat and New Increasing numbers of Iranian women resist the veil, as hardliners search for enforcers. As the Islamic Republic of Iran's domestic and international problems...
Iran's Rural Vote and Election Fraud
Photo/Nieman Foundation This article was first published on June 17, 2009. I just heard a CNN reporter in Tehran say that Ahmadinejad's support base was rural. Is it possible...
Remembering Neda
Our documentary on the June 2009 presidential election and the death of Neda Agha Soltan can be found here. The Frontline site includes interviews, transcripts, a podcast and links...
June 12 videos/dispatches
Reporting from the frontline Tehran Bureau | June 12, 2010 By HAMID FAROKHNIA of Iran Labor Report/Tehran Bureau: After months of deafening silence, especially following disappointments for the Green Movement...
From Optimism to Outrage
Scenes from a stolen election. It was June 12, the day so eagerly anticipated. I had spent the last three months reporting on the presidential election campaign. I had...
Mystery of the Missing Physicist
Recently broadcast videos only add to questions surrounding disappearance of Shahram Amiri. There is a new row in the neverending confrontation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United...
The Kurds and the Green Movement
Translator's note: On May 9, five political prisoners were executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Four of these prisoners were Kurds, including the young teacher, poet and writer, Farzad...
From Kayhan to Evin
Mohammad Nourizad is a writer, producer and journalist. He began working for IRIB under Morteza Avini, producing the documentary series on the Iran-Iraq war, Revayateh Fath [Tales of Resistance]....
London's Sunday Times: All the Nukes Unfit to Print?
May 30: The London Sunday Times is reporting that Israel is stationing three submarines equipped with cruise missiles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf. "Some of the cruise...
Media, Mahdi & Machiavelli
A look over the past year with Shervin Nekuee of Tehran Review. [ Q&A ] Shervin Nekuee was born in Tehran in 1968 and is now an Iranian-Dutch sociologist, writer...
'Cultural Revolution' Redux
Cartoon (right to left): University Student: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 As in 1980, student opposition to dictatorship prompts repressive countermeasures. Ever since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was...
A Jumble of Interests
Last Saturday, May 1, a memorial service at Tehran's upscale Noor Mosque on Fatemi Square provided a rare opportunity: to see Iranian politicians of various ideological hues congregate for a...
A New Left Emerging?
Yassamine Mather is an Iranian socialist in exile in Scotland. Her political activities on the Iranian Left started in the 1980s in Tehran and later in Kurdistan. In exile,...
May Day in the Islamic Republic
It is not only today that should be considered Workers' Day. Every day should be honored as Workers' Day. For labor is the source of all things, ...even of Heaven...
Corruption Without End
Embezzlement, kickbacks, coverups define the Ahmadinejad administration. During his first term in office, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made anticorruption a central theme, promoting his administration's fight against financial misconduct. Today, not...
Pretzel Logic on the American Left
The Green Movement, the Basij and the Question of Violence: A response to Matthew Cassel's "An American in Tehran" [ analysis ] In his article "An American in Tehran"...
Draining Iran's Treasury
Part II: Budget manipulations and the Basij power grab. This second installment follows the author's report (Part 1) on Ahmadinejad's cultural budget. Since 2006, a large portion of the national...
Iranian Women and the Struggle for Democracy I
Iranian Women and the Struggle for Democracy: I. The Pre-Revolution Era Throughout Iran's history, women have played influential roles. Archeological excavations at Shahr-e Sookhteh (Burnt City), a prehistoric settlement located...
Arjomand: The Critical Turn of Ulema-State Relations
[ Q & A ] Professor Said Arjomand has shaped the trajectory of Iranian studies on numerous occasions. His book The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam (1984) was...
An Administration Plagued by Fraud and Corruption
Ahmadinejad and His Men: Embodiments of Fraud and Corruption. [ comment ] There is no doubt in the minds of many Iranians, including the author, that Tehran's hardliners committed fraud...
'Not by Street Demonstrations Alone'
An interview with Saeed Rahnema Saeed Rahnema was active in the labor and left movement during the 1979 revolution in Iran. He was a founder and a member of the...
Hope for Iranians in the French Torture Game
[ comment ] A group of French psychologists recently recruited 80 volunteers for what they claimed was a pilot for a new TV show. The game involved posing questions to...
'Temporary Marriage' and the Economy of Pleasure
Feminist Political Scientist Condemns "Temporary Marriage" as Exploitation This article was first published on the Alborz website on January 9, 2010. In Iran, "temporary marriage," which was originally called sigheh...
Iran's Uranium Enrichment Program (Part I)
Amid the deep crisis faced by Iran since the June 2009 rigged presidential election and its aftermath, tension between the Islamic Republic and the United States and its allies has...
Spotlight: Golbarg Bashi + Iranian Women
golbarg bashi From One Third World Woman to Another | read Picturing Ourselves: 1953, 1979 and 2009 | read Iranian Feminism after June 2009 | read Feminist waves in...
Spotlight: Muhammad Sahimi
Dr. Muhammad Sahimi is a political columnist for Tehran Bureau. He is a professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the...
Pulling the Strings of the Net: Iran's Cyber Army
[ overview ] During the past few months, the activities of Iran's Cyber Army have attracted growing notice in the Iranian and international media. The suspicion that the Cyber Army's...
A Response to Danny Postel's Call for Critical Solidarity with Iran
Danny Postel's "The Specter Haunting Iran" is a welcome call for "critical solidarity" with the Iranian democratic opposition movement. Unlike those on the Left who have been wary of characterizing...
The Specter Haunting Iran
[ ideas ] A specter is haunting Iran -- the specter of democracy. The events of the last eight months in Iran have occasioned -- one might even say...
The Political Evolution of Mousavi
[ profile ] One of the most significant results of Iran's rigged presidential election of June 12, 2009, has been the political evolution of Mir Hossein Mousavi, recognized by many...
An Iranian Civil Rights Movement?
[ analysis ] For most observers of the Green Movement, the most salient question is how the current political movement in Iran mirrors the Islamic Revolution. But another parallel comes...
Economic Woes
[ analysis ] Iran's political evolution has not been without economic consequences. The increasingly uncertain future has affected businesses and households alike. Yet many important questions have remained unanswered, such...
Marandi takes on the Media
[ Q&A ] In the nearly eight months since the Iranian election, few in Iran have openly spoken to the western media. One exception has been Dr. Seyyed Mohammad...
The Ten Days That Changed Iran
[ timeline ] February 11 marks the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which toppled the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, put an end to monarchy in Iran,...
Handguide: The American Women's Club of Iran
Starting on Monday, as the Islamic Republic celebrates the "ten days of dawn," the period marking the victory of the 1979 Revolution, this little handbook provides a glimpse inside Tehran...
Iran's New Labor?
Against the status quo: An interview with Iranian trade unionist Homayoun Pourzad Despite unrelenting state repression, there have been rumblings throughout the 2000s of renewed labor organizing inside the Islamic...
A Hardliner's Hardliner
A Hardliner's Hardliner: General Mohammad Ali Jafari [ profile ] In the spring of 2005, President Mohammad Khatami's second term was coming to an end. Since he could not run...
From One Third World Woman to Another
A conversation with Gayatri Spivak. [ feature ] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is well known amongst many scholars, feminists and South Asian activists. Her reputation as a transnational feminist who combined...
Turning Point: Where is the Green Movement headed?
[ analysis ] The funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri on Dec. 21, and the Ashura demonstrations on Dec. 27, marked a turning point for Iran's democratic movement. The...
A second coup?
Or a second coup? [ comment ] Former president Mohammad Khatami called the June 12 election a "velvet coup" against the people of Iran. Now as the Green Movement gains...
Ashura 101
[ overview ] December 18 marked the beginning of the month of Moharram. Shiites, and in particular Iranians, have been mourning the killing of their third Imam, Hossein, the quintessential...
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri: 1922-2009
He was not willing to sell his soul to stay in power. [ obit ] Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual leader of Iran's democratic movement and one of...
United Students of Iran
[ feature ] The large campus protests in more than 15 cities across Iran on Dec. 7 in celebration of Student Day, which coincided with the six-month milestone in the...
The Chain Murders
[ feature ] This feature has been updated here. The history of political assassinations in Iran is almost as old as the nation itself: Xerxes (519-465 BC) was killed by...
Staging Mousavi's Arrest?
[ overview ] Over the past week, there has been increased speculation that Mir Hossein Mousavi may be arrested. This began after state television broadcast a clip from student demonstrations...
Iran Media Guide
Television IRIB or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (Farsi: Seda va Sima, or 'Voice and Vision'), is the state monopoly broadcaster (radio and television) directly overseen by the office...
16 Azar: Iran's Student Day
[ feature ] Iranians have been struggling for at least the past 150 years to establish a democratic political system in which the rule of law is supreme. Iranian university...
Oh What a Mess
[ analysis ] At a recent security conference in Tehran, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi raised "the need to redefine the Islamic Republic's security atmosphere and interests." No one could...
The House in Shemiran
[ personal history ] My great-grandmother, Madar Joon, had electricity, but she preferred to read by the glow of a kerosene lamp. She was always up before dawn, hunched over...
The Plight of Iranian Journalists
[ feature ] Except for a brief period in the beginning of President Mohammad Khatami's first term (1998-2000); and earlier, between 1941, when Allied forces occupied Iran, and 1953, the...
13 Aban (updates)
Photo (right): Regime supporters apparently accidentally set ablaze a flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the semi-official Mehr News Agency posted it on its site. From Tehran...
We met online, after the election
The Information Revolution knows no borders. [ comment ] The events of the Iranian election in June had us unrepentant Twitter addicts enthralled. With traditional media controlled by the government,...
Weapons of Mass Distraction
The 41st anniversary of the commencement of American-Israeli negotiations over Israel's nuclear program. [ region ] If Iranian negotiators haven't read Avner Cohen's book Israel and the Bomb, they should....
Overview: University Unrest
Photo translation: Happy Student Day to you the student who is: a hooligan! naive! an agent of a foreign adversary! a threat to public safety! a spy! a fake intellectual!...
Analysts: Internal Disputes behind Nuclear Delay
[ analysis ] As Iran prolongs replying to a nuclear deal seen as a first step towards ending the Islamic Republic's longstanding standoff with the international community, analysts inside Iran...
The Fog over the 1983 Beirut Attacks
[ comment ] Friday marked the 26th anniversary of the bombing attacks on the U.S. Marines and French forces in Beirut, Lebanon. Two truckloads of explosives separately struck the buildings...
Who supports Jundallah?
[ analysis ] On Oct. 18, 2009, the Jundallah (God's Brigade) terrorist group mounted two terrorist attacks inside Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province. One was a suicide attack, and the other was...
Brew haha: Israeli boycott of Turkish coffee won't hold water
[ region ] Although Israeli political leaders have been playing down the significance of the fraying relations between Israel and Turkey, Haaretz reports that an Israeli cafe chain, Ilan Coffee,...
US-Iran talks: Does Green Movement benefit?
[ analysis ] Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plu