Iran

By Simin Fadaee, University of Manchester | – Forty-four years after Iranians rose up against their hated monarch in February 1979, a group of 20 organisations engaged in long-term social and economic struggles – including labour unions, teachers, women’s groups and youth and student movements – issued an ultimatum to the government of the Islamic […]

Iran

Iran: poisoning of Thousands of Schoolgirls piles more Pressure on Islamic Republic struggling for Survival

The Conversation

By Afshin Shahi, Keele University | – The Iranian government has announced several arrests in connection with the reported poisoning of more than 7,000 schoolgirls in more than 100 schools around the country. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has condemned the poisonings, saying perpetrators should be “severely punished”. Yet other government messages are confused. The […]

Feminism

Walking Unveiled In Iran: Believing in the Beauty and Importance of Walks

Human Rights Watch

“I also believe in the beauty and importance of our walks” Tara Sepehri Far, Iran and Kuwait Senior Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division | ( Human Rights Watch ) – This is the story of one Iranian woman who stopped wearing a headscarf in public as an act of protest. Despite […]

Batteries

Iran discovered to have 10% of World’s Lithium Deposits, in Good News for China’s EV Industry

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Indian Express reports from Iran’s PressTV that the country has discovered a deposit of 8.5 million tons of lithium in the Qahavand Plain of western Hamedan province. There are only 89 million tons of lithium in the world in known deposits so far, with the bulk of them in […]

Health

Mysterious Wave Of Sickness Hits Iranian Schoolgirls, Amid Speculation Over Gov’t Poisoning

Golnaz Esfandiari

A spate of illnesses in schools in the Iranian city of Qom has prompted public anger, with some accusing the government of negligence. ( RFE/RL) – Hundreds of schoolgirls have fallen sick and scores have been hospitalized in Iran’s holy city of Qom in recent months, with some parents and officials suspecting they were […]

Authoritarianism

Are Western sanctions on Iran making a difference?

The Conversation

By Amin Saikal, The University of Western Australia | – (The Conversation) – The Iranian Islamic regime has been seriously challenged since the start of public protests last September. The government has sought to contain and suppress the protesters – even resorting to executions – but has been unable to stop them. There are continuing […]

Dissent

‘Radical Change Will Come’: Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/ RL) – For months, antiestablishment protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical regime and demanded greater social and political freedoms. Now, opposition figures and civil society groups inside Iran have shared proposals that would transform or even replace the current theocratic system with a democracy. The proposals for a post-Islamic-republic system […]

China

Iran’s Raisi Visits Beijing, Signs 20 Agreements, as Iranian Lion and Chinese ‘Yellow Dragon’ seek to Outflank US Pressure

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited China on Tuesday in response to an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping. China is probably now Iran’s biggest trading partner, and the trade of the two countries increased by 30% in 2022. At the meeting, twenty economic commitments were signed by the two sides. […]

Authoritarianism

‘They Deserved To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

Golnaz Esfandiari

The authorities have killed hundreds of protesters and arrested thousands of people since the demonstrations erupted in September. ( RFE/RL ) – In late November, three Iranian doctors traveled to the country’s western Kurdistan region, the epicenter of ongoing antiestablishment protests, to help treat wounded demonstrators. But within days of their arrival, […]