Iran protests

Arash Sobhani performing in Amsterdam on Oct. 25. 2025.

Culture

Musician Arash Sobhani brings protest-infused Iranian rock to New York

The founder of the famed Tehran band Kiosk says the album addresses the failures of uprisings in Iran while incorporating influences from the wide range of musical styles in his new home.

Iranian women without wearing hijab shout slogans while gathering around a burning dumpster during a protest near Punak square, on Oct. 1, 2022

Culture

Rape case against movie star Pejman Jamshidi rocks Iran: What to know

The accusations against Jamshidi, one of Iran’s most famous celebrities, come amid ongoing discussions about women’s lack of rights in the country.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Leaked video shows Khamenei aide's daughter in Western wedding gown amid Iran's hijab crackdown

Senior Iranian official Ali Shamkhani faced criticism online after video surfaced of his daughter’s extravagant wedding.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran adding 80,000 personnel to enforce hijab in Tehran province

Iran scrapped a stricter law on women’s head coverings last year and some women are now defying the restrictions altogether.

Latest News

Iran executions hit 913 this year as postwar crackdown deepens: What to know

Protesters hold placard against executions in Iran during a rally against the Iranian regime in Rome on July 30, 2025.

Analysis

Iran nears 'day zero': Water crisis deepens amid drought, unrest and mismanagement

The low water inlet of the river upstream of the Amir Kabir dam along the Karaj river is pictured in Iran's northern Alborz mountain range on June 1, 2025. Tehran is facing a water shortage due to low rainfall last year and the beginning of summer. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

From Qom to Gilan, over 500 arrested in Iran as war with Israel continues

Smoke rises as fire burns, in an alleged site of IRGC's missile launch targeted by Israel on the mountains of Shiraz, Iran, June 21, 2025.

Israel expands Iran strikes, hits Fordow nuclear site, Evin prison: What to know

Smoke rises after a reported Israeli strike on a building used by Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, part of Iran's state TV broadcaster, Tehran, Iran, June 16, 2025.

People protest against executions and detentions in Iran, in front of the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York City on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

What is behind Iran’s execution spree as Tehran hangs 10 prisoners this week?

The United Nations estimated that more than 200 people have been executed this year so far, as authorities battle internal protests.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing, China, February 14, 2023. Iran's President Website

Iran official sacked as fears of China's economic influence grow

While the comment infuriated the sitting government, to many it was an honest slip of the tongue about the extent of the crisis in Iran's cash-strapped economy, stirring up also speculation on Chinese "colonial-style" influence.

The Tahbaz and Shargi families demonstrating in front of the White House on May 3, 2023.

Prisoners’ families appeal to Biden as Iran tensions heat up

Their families’ pleas come as tensions between Iran and the United States remain high over Tehran’s rapidly accelerating nuclear program, its violent protest crackdown and supply of armed drones to Russia.

A woman walks past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran steps up hijab crackdown on women, shuttering businesses

In Iran's capital Tehran, some 150 such shops have been forced to close by authorities in the past two weeks alone.

This photograph taken on Feb. 8, 2023, shows a large banner with a portrait of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.

Belgium looking into Iran's request for prisoner swap

Belgium and Iran seemingly advance toward a prisoner exchange deal, though Brussels is warning that contrary to Tehran’s statements this could take time.

Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, January 21, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0)

Iranian senior cleric Soleimani killed in attack

The shooting occurred as anti-clerical sentiments are high in Iran amid the popular protests, but the motive behind the attack is not yet known.

SANA/AFP via Getty Images

EU slaps Captagon sanctions on relatives of Syria's Assad

The European Union adopted new restrictive measures today against Syrian individuals and entities accused of trafficking narcotics and supporting the oppressive Syrian government.

Men walk past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

In Iran, hardliners successfully orchestrate takeover of state TV

Iran's state TV has been taken over by hard-line figures who use it to transmit ideological and hard-line views targeting the Reformists and opposition, including in entertainment shows.

A woman walks with an umbrella at Enghelab Square in Iran's capital Tehran on December 5, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

China's Saudi-Iran deal clouded by uncertainty on protests, nuclear talks

The evolution of the Saudi-Iranian agreement hinges the factors that led to it: Iran’s nuclear program and political unrest, future of Russia’s war in Ukraine, US-China relations, and whether these will lead to a new world order.

Iranian Armenian schoolgirls walk home after class in the Julfa neighbourhood in the historic city of Isfahan, some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran on April 21, 2015. Julfa neighborhood in Isfahan is where the biggest Armenian community in Iran resides and was established as an Armenian quarter by Persian Safavid King Shah Abbas I in 1606. Some 180.000 Armenians were living in Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979, compared to some 60000 today, according to official figures. Most of the community

Fury in Iran as officials fail to address schoolgirls' poisonings

Iranian authorities either looked the other way or blamed the students, failing to soothe the public rage at the fresh suspected gas attacks on schoolgirls.

Marines

Setback for Iran as US court orders $1.68 billion payout for 1983 Beirut bombing

One analyst told Al-Monitor that the families of the US Marines killed in the attack could finally receive compensation following years of legal battles.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Breaking | Last Updated: March 20, 2023, 4:57 pm

US outlines Iran abuses including torture in annual report

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the international community to confront Iran's violent clampdown on protests.