My Left Arm
“He turned back and said, ‘I want nothing more than for you to leave as soon as possible. What if you set off a grenade here?”
“He turned back and said, ‘I want nothing more than for you to leave as soon as possible. What if you set off a grenade here?”
“I trained myself to speak perfect Persian, mimicking the Tehrani accent so well that even my teachers couldn’t place me… They would ask, ‘Are you from somewhere near Tehran?’ and I would smile, pretending not to be proud of the answer I had long rehearsed: ‘No, I’m just Kurdish from here.’”
To me, Tehran is like its own planet—an isolated globe. One side tells one kind of story, and the other side tells a completely different one.
He stands two meters tall, bakes his own barbari bread in Belgrade, and taught himself the santoor without a teacher. Meet the Serbian professor who found his second home in Isfahan.
She debated Argo with the Basij, crashed a secret military base, and survived a staged interrogation. A German student’s dispatch from a surreal and unforgettable year in Tehran.
The Zan, Zendegi, Azadi movement showed that Persian and non-Persian, Kurd, Baluch, or any other ethnicity in Iran, are all actually on the same side.
Italian case reaffirms sanctioned Iranian financial institution’s right to EU-based banking services
Find the Affiliations of Over 200 Media Owners and Managers Here
The absence of independent journalism in Iran cannot be blamed solely on censorship and a lack of freedom. The political affiliations of supposedly independent newspapers’ owners and executives result in their narratives adhering closely to those of the government.
Pressure on the media in Iran intensified shortly after the 1979 revolution, beginning with the shutdown of the “Ayandegan” newspaper, the seizure of major newspapers “Kayhan” and “Ettela’at”, and the persecution of numerous journalists through imprisonment and execution. In the aftermath of the revolution, Khomeini’s
Mashregh’s problematic content is the brainchild of shadowy IRGC management
How a shadowy organization drives the IRGC’s media agenda
In the following two-part series of articles, we unwrap the IRGC’s three major media outlets: Tasnim and Fars news agencies, as well as the daily newspaper Javan.
Media orgs’ intentionally opaque ownership structure points to the IRGC
In the following two-part series of articles, we unwrap the IRGC’s three major media outlets: Tasnim and Fars news agencies, as well as the daily newspaper Javan.
China’s CNPC and SINOPEC have developed their foothold in Iran’s oil and gas sector through a network of subsidiaries.
China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and SINOPEC have acquired various contracts for the development of Iran’s oil & gas fields.
Chinese companies have been gaining exclusive access to some of Iran’s most productive oil & gas fields for the past two decades, despite limited efficiency at developing new projects, and to the long-term detriment of Iran’s ability to profit from its own energy reserves.
With protests mounting, officials turn to Beijing-backed tech companies that use local subsidiaries to sell a dystopian future
Doublethink research shows overwhelming government and bonyad ties with Iran’s “private” sector.
A rare move by U.S. Treasury acknowledges the economic over reach of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inside Iran.
How companies “privatized” under Ahmadinejad’s scheme only serve state-backed owners
A rare glimpse into the workings of Iran’s economic system was provided May 4 by Mohammad Sarafraz, the former chairman of state-run broadcasting giant the Islamic Republic Institute of Broadcasting (IRIB).
Corruption is Khamenei’s way of controlling the government and seizing more power.
An analysis of official data shows how top-performing companies are linked to bonyads, the government or both
Khamenei’s office puts up obstacles to transparency to protect its own interests
As Iran’s economy struggles, Khamenei’s office is founding new companies in tech, finance and pharma
An insider’s testimony about the genesis of bonyads and the dynamics of Iran’s pseudo-privatization.
Why this essential term must be redefined for an Iranian context.
A bill addressing the leading cause of corruption has languished in the Majles for over two years.
The lives, business interests, and influential connections of the late president’s five children.
The late president established a corrupt system that continues to benefit elite clans, including his own.
The late president’s youngest son and his wife, Maryam Salari, are at the heart of an extensive business network.
The two daughters of the late president have wide-ranging business interests, based in both inheritance and marriage.
The late president’s middle son, now serving a 10-year jail sentence, was mired in business scandals for decades.
Gareth Smyth talks to Yossi Alpher about his latest book, Death Tango, focused on the 2002 Arab Summit
Marriages involving girls aged 10 to 14 climb despite societal toll.
Commander claims special units carry only nonlethal weapons, despite reported death tolls in the 100s in past protests.
Sugar mill workers continue to demonstrate for payment of back wages, reinstatement of fired colleagues.
Serving a five-year sentence after participating in a 2018 labor strike, she was out on leave with COVID-19.
Five incarcerated on political charges, including labor activists Shapour Ehsani Rad and Esmail Gerami, now in prison’s medical unit.
Demonstrators chant “Justice is a lie” ahead of Iranian president’s arrival.
Eggs, a common substitute for meat, now triple the average price Americans pay.
Haft Tappeh sugar mill strike enters second week, while police attack protesting Kerman coal miners with water cannons.
Soaring food prices primary culprit as inflation rate over past 12 months hits 50%.
Multiple job actions by teachers and petrochemical workers across the country.
State Welfare Organization’s ability to aid them is limited.
Musician held in solitary confinement for the past week according to online claims.
120 million doses paid for at a reported cost of nearly $6 billion, less than 4 million doses produced.
Report describes depletion of crucial aquifiers and dammed reserves nearing crisis point.