Amirhadi Anvari
Iran International
Amirhadi Anvari is an Iranian investigative journalist specialised in current Iranian political and economic affairs.
Iran International
Amirhadi Anvari is an Iranian investigative journalist specialised in current Iranian political and economic affairs.
Two competing futures are being sketched for Iran: a bleak “Syria-style” slide into chaos, or a more optimistic path grounded in economic research and detailed transition planning by the Iran Prosperity Project, tailored to the country’s specific realities.
The killing of 36,500 people in just two days represents a scale of violence without precedent in the history of repression under the Islamic Republic – and one that stands out even when compared with some of the deadliest episodes of state violence and full-scale wars worldwide.
Iran cannot simply rewind to the weeks before the protests began. The crackdown hardened public anger, while an already overstretched economy and energy system lost what little room they had to absorb another shock.
Iranians abroad staged at least 168 protests across 30 countries and 73 cities, turning the uprising inside Iran into a global wave of demonstrations that surged after internet shutdowns.
It began with metal shutters dropping in Tehran. At two neighboring shopping centers, shopkeepers on Dec. 28 pulled down their doors as security forces moved in, and the first chants rose from the corridors into the street.
Iran’s protest slogans have shifted from reformist appeals in the 2009 Green Movement demonstrations to more prominent calls to reinstate the monarchy ousted in 1979, transcending Tehran's central political divide between moderates and hardliners.
Iran is not a war-torn country, yet four decades of Islamic Republic rule have driven mass emigration. UN data show over five million registered refugees or asylum seekers since 1980, with millions more leaving legally – about one in every 15 Iranians now living abroad.
A covert unit of cyber agents is at the forefront of Iranian efforts to surveil perceived enemies and was behind failed bids to kill Israelis in Turkey, leaked documents obtained by Iran International and an informed source revealed.
Records compiled by Iran International show that since the ceasefire with Israel in late June, at least 50 explosions and fires have struck 19 provinces, raising questions over their cause.
Iran’s international air traffic has plunged to a fifth of pre-war levels, ten days after authorities reopened the country’s main airports following a ceasefire with Israel.
