The body bags at Tehran’s main cemetery were stacked in their many hundreds on rows and on shelves, according to an eyewitness, who found among the corpses of slain protestors his friend, a 41-year-old mother of two.
The reported killing of thousands of protesters across Iran in just two days has raised a central question: who carried out the deadliest crackdown in the country’s living memory?
At least 52 prisoners were executed in Iran based on prior non-political convictions during a period of nationwide protests and an ongoing internet shutdown, US-based rights group HRANA reported on Friday.
Recent statements by Iranian officials and their apparent acceptance by some foreign leaders have created a misleading sense of reassurance about the state’s response to the latest protests.
Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Ahmad Khatami called for the execution of detained protesters and the arrest of anyone who supported the protests, delivering the remarks during his Friday sermon.
Iran’s judiciary said on Thursday that Erfan Soltani, a protester detained earlier this month, has not been sentenced to death, rejecting earlier claims by his family that such a ruling had been issued.
Iranian-American activists are calling on US authorities to deport relatives of senior Iranian officials who are living in the United States, according to a report published by the New York Post on Wednesday.
Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi on Thursday outlined his vision for how Iran could reposition itself at home and abroad after five decades of isolation and confrontation with the world if the Islamic Republic were toppled.
The events of the past two weeks in Iran point toward an openly regime-change movement, with protesters calling for the end of the Islamic Republic itself.
What is unfolding in Iran is a clash between a state that treats isolation and sacrifice as strategic virtues, and a society no longer willing to bear the economic and human cost of the Islamic Republic’s ideological and regional ambitions.
Turkey has adopted a calculated caution during the recent waves of protests in neighboring Iran, avoiding endorsement of those who took to the streets while stopping short of backing Tehran’s violent crackdown.
A review of public statements by Iran’s senior officials since late December suggests a marked hardening of tone as protests escalated, a shift that coincided with a sharp intensification of the state’s security response.
State media in Iran have widely circulated images of damaged mosques and burned Qurans inside, blaming protesters they brand “terrorists” and portraying its deadly crackdown on a protest uprising as a sacred defense of holy places.
Several foreign influencers supportive of the Islamic Republic have published content portraying life in Tehran as calm despite an escalating deadly crackdown on protests across the country amid an internet blackout.
Any US military action against Iran risks falling short if it mirrors past “one-off” strikes without sustained political and economic pressure, analysts warned during an Iran International Insight town hall on Wednesday amid mounting fears of a US attack.
Uncertainty over Iran’s direction deepened on Wednesday as unrest at home coincided with mixed signals across the region, with military movements and diplomatic steps raising the risk of a broader conflict.
Israel’s apparent inaction amid Iran’s widespread unrest may look counterintuitive, but it reflects a long-standing strategic calculation rather than hesitation.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday Washington is tracking what he described as a surge of capital flight by Iran’s ruling elite, as fears grow over the possible collapse of the Islamic Republic amid unrest and threats of a US strike.
A 25 percent tariff on US imports from any country that trades with Iran appears aimed at punishing third countries, but it is likely to hit Tehran far harder.
Visiting lecturer, Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA)
Institute for National Security Studies
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
There is a cruel ritual in Iranian opposition politics: some voices abroad constantly interrogate the “purity” of activists inside—why they did not speak more sharply or endorse maximalist slogans, why survival itself looks insufficiently heroic.
The Iran projected on social media these days—brunch parties, rooftop concerts, fashion shows—is real, but only as a tiny fragment of the country’s reality, where most ordinary people struggle to make ends meet.
