Iran International
Negar Mojtahedi is a journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker from Vancouver, B.C.
Hjiab enforcement in Iran is evolving in strange new ways, Gissou Nia, an international human rights lawyer and director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council think tank, told the Eye of Iran podcast.
The surprise ceasefire between the United States and Yemen's Houthis this week underscored the unpredictability of diplomacy over Iran's nuclear talks as they head for crunch time over the weekend, experts told the Eye for Iran podcast.
Iran must agree to end all uranium enrichment in a nuclear deal or be prepared to face attack, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler told Eye for Iran.
Talks with Tehran aim to deprive Washington's Middle East nemesis of a nuclear weapon, but time will tell whether US President Donald Trump will carry through on his threat to bomb the country.
US-Iran talks are set to get trickier as the two foes thrash out technical details deciding the limits to Iran's nuclear activity and the scope of inspections, a former senior US negotiator told Eye for Iran.
Debate is growing in Washington over talks with Iran, with hawkish Republicans urging against appeasing Iran's theocratic rulers but some observers saying the mercurial president might have a historic shot at clinching a deal with Tehran.
As nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran edge forward, two former US officials warned the process is approaching a critical juncture—one that Iran may exploit to either extract deep concessions or run out the clock.
The Islamic Republic will seek a new lease on life in US talks, former Iranian diplomat Hossein Alizadeh told the Eye for Iran podcast, adding that Iran's rulers will never abandon their hardline ideology against the West.
Tehran and Washington are heading into high-stakes talks in Oman this weekend that could determine the path ahead: diplomacy or war. The outcome may shape not only regional stability, but the survival of the Islamic Republic, which has ruled Iran for more than four decades.
Under the shadow of US President Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iran and after over a year of punishing blows at the hands of Israel, a bruised Islamic Republic remains defiant and seeks a comeback.
Nearly fifty years later, Iran International can reveal the untold story of a critical US mission to Tehran ordered by President Jimmy Carter to determine whether Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shah could fend off a revolution.
Soroush Salehi campaigned to have Canada label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group but now the law for which he strived may eject him and others forced into the group as conscripts.
Ordinary Iranians are bearing unprecedented economic pain as their Islamic government's row with its hated enemies Israel and the United States ramps up and Tehran prioritizes military spending to shore up defense and its regional clout.
Canada’s main opposition leader Pierre Poilievre ruled out ever negotiating with Tehran, telling Iran International that the Islamic Republic cannot be trusted.
Iran is nearing a fork in the road, marked by what may be the most consequential decision yet to be made by the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei: war or a deal with the US administration of Donald Trump.
Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad took to the stand in a Manhattan Federal court Tuesday recounting the chilling moment she came face-to-face with the man who had been sent to kill her.
The testimony of an FBI agent Monday in Manhattan Federal court reveals Iran’s ties with the mobsters who they allegedly hired to kill dissident Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad.
The fast improving relationship between the United States under President Donald Trump and Russia may mean Moscow will seek more distance from Washington's Mideast nemesis Iran, Russian-born journalist and filmmaker Tanya Lukyanova said.
The mother of Khalid Mehdiyev, the gunman who tried to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, delivered emotional testimony in court Friday identifying her son's alleged co-conspirator Polad Omarov as the man who ordered the hit job.
A mobster, who admitted to trying to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on US soil in 2022, took the stand Thursday exposing the alleged links between Iran’s government and organized crime.
US President Donald Trump's letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei urging nuclear talks may represent a bid to engage directly with the country's veteran strongman and cut out technocrats who shepherded a previous agreement.
The ceasefire between Turkey and an outlawed Kurdish group could further empower Ankara to fill a regional power vacuum after Tehran and its allies were battered in warfare with Israel, foreign relations expert Henri Barkey told Eye for Iran.
Fearing for her life in Iran after converting from Islam to Christianity, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, 27, arrived at the United States southern border hoping for asylum.
To understand why a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestine remains so elusive, author and foreign correspondent Yardena Schwartz told Eye for Iran, one must first recognize that the conflict extends far beyond the two peoples.
Iran can rebuild nuclear facilities hit by air attacks which would delay but not ultimately destroy Tehran's disputed program, expert on US-Iran relations Sina Azodi told the Eye for Iran podcast.
An ultimatum by US President Donald Trump to Hamas is doomed to fail unless Tehran faces a genuine threat and consequences for backing the group, Michael Pregent, a former US Intelligence officer and military adviser told Eye for Iran podcast.
Iranian refugees in Turkey are facing expulsion to parts unknown or a dreaded extradition back to Iran as rules around their presence changed after the United Nations handed over asylum responsibilities to Ankara.
US President Donald Trump's policy on Iran is a muddle lacking any coherent strategy, his former national security advisor John Bolton told Iran International’s Eye for Iran podcast, speaking after Trump pulled his security detail despite an alleged death threat from Tehran.
The clerical establishment in Tehran has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of Generation Z and hopes now to win the loyalty of Gen Alpha, Middle East analyst Holly Dagres told Iran International.
35-year-old Iranian refugee Sina Rostami, who is detained in a Turkish deportation camp for not having proper documentation, is routinely awakened in the morning with the strike of a jailer's baton.
The United States for the first time ever spared Iran criticism for its human rights record at the 48th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Friday.
The Leighee family travelled from Chicago to Washington DC, braving the January chill to queue for hours at Donald Trump's victory rally, a day before his inauguration.
A ceasefire deal announced this week between Israel and Hamas signals a defeat for the Palestinian militant group's main backer Iran, a former hostage in Tehran who also influenced the ceasefire negotiations told Iran International.
As US President Jimmy Carter was laid to rest this week, the specter of 1979 arose anew. For Yitzhak Segev, Israel's last military attaché in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, Carter shares blame for the ayatollahs' rise.
Mehran Abtahi was a 37-years-old newlywed studying to become an environmental engineer at a Canadian university when his life was tragically taken from him.
At the start of 2024, Iran appeared to be riding high: ever closer to the threshold of nuclear weapons, its regional allies harassed Israel on multiple fronts and its Yemeni acolytes the Houthis choked commercial traffic from the Red Sea.
The last United Nations (UN) Security Council for 2024 warned Iran about any further escalation by Tehran's allied armed group in Yemen, the Houthis.
Ahmad Moradi Talebi went for his usual evening stroll with his then pregnant wife on August 10, 1987, in Geneva, Switzerland. It would be his last.
Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump both failed to halt Iran’s march toward nuclear weapons, Representative Brad Sherman, one of the strongest Democratic voices in the US Congress opposing the Islamic Republic told Iran International.
The sudden downfall of Syria's Bashar Al-Assad has put his main backer Iran on the backfoot while giving Turkey the upper hand in a transformed Middle East.
US President-elect Donald Trump declined to answer reporters who asked him on Monday whether he was considering a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities during a press conference at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
If you had asked Donald Trump’s former Iran envoy Elliot Abrams last year how he assessed Iran's strength, he would have told you its fearsome array of armed affiliates was a powerful guarantee of its staying power.
Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy was never aimed at regime change, his last special envoy for Iran told Iran International. It was about making a deal.
When Canada’s former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler penned an op-ed warning of the dangers of Iran's transnational repression and plots to assassinate dissidents - he did not yet know he too was already a target.
The stunning advances by Syrian rebel forces, which could ultimately unseat Bashar al-Assad, threaten to dismantle two decades of costly Iranian efforts to create dominance in the region.
Syria’s second largest city Aleppo fell to rebel forces within a mere 48 hours of their launching a shock offensive. Now they push forward on the road to Damascus.
An Iranian movie depicting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander with close ties to Iran’s Supreme Leader as a hero is set to screen at a Canadian film festival this weekend, stoking controversy in the Iranian-Canadian diaspora.
Syria could be the next theater in the evolving struggle between the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state, former Israeli intelligence official and advisor on Arab affairs Avi Melamed told the Eye for Iran podcast.
The murder of Israeli Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Dubai over the weekend, if linked to Iran, could herald a new front in the Islamic Republic's multi-faceted war with Israel.
New bipartisan legislation aimed at increasing the penalties for crimes committed by foreign adversaries targets Iran’s government and the hired criminals it allegedly employs to kill opponents on American soil.
Iran is technically capable of building a nuclear bomb and the diplomatic impasse over its disputed program could end in a "path of increased military action," including military escalation either by Iran or Israel, a top former UN weapons inspector told Iran International.
A proposed censure of Iran for its lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog raises important questions at a critical time after Donald Trump’s reelection when Tehran faces regional weakness, economic pressure and Israel.
Iris Haggai, who lost both her parents on October 7, is one of several families of American victims, who have sued Iran, equipped with newly – unsealed documents revealing Tehran’s alleged fingerprints on the atrocities.
The Iran hawks chosen by president-elect Donald Trump mark a major shift in US-Iran policy, signaling early steps toward change in Iran, a Middle East expert and former British Army officer told the Eye for Iran podcast.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House could mean many things for the future of Iran, and no matter what unfolds when he takes office, his cabinet picks are offering some clues.
Iran and Israel may eventually halt their back-and-forth strikes, but this could remain the reality for both sides for months or even years, an Israeli insider and former Air Defense Commander (2015-2018) told Iran International.
The same person accused of engagement in an assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump and Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad also planned on targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, an unsealed US Justice Department indictment revealed.
Donald Trump’s second presidency could accomplish peace in the Middle East and his son-in-law Jared Kushner is the ticket, one American academic and Trump insider told Iran International.
An official in Jake Sullivan's office leaked information about Saudi Israeli peace talks just before the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, a US academic who assisted Jared Kushner in the Abraham Accords, told Iran International.
When an Iranian university student stripped down to her underwear—a move that drew global attention from figures like Richard Branson to Nobel Peace laureates—her protest refocused attention on the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Nikki Namdar is a left-leaning, liberal activist, who believes in a woman’s right to choose. She’s also Iranian- American and Jewish but in 2024 she’s voting for Donald Trump.
Iran's strike against Israel could be as early as after US elections polls close and will likely involve Israel's air defenses being the main targets in this round of the long-range missile war.
Iran created proxies to protect the Islamic government and now they're engaged in a direct conflict with Israel to protect their proxies, leading to a failed strategy, said one former spokesperson for the government of Israel.
In her first reaction to her father’s sudden execution in Iran this week, Gazelle Sharmahd was mute but spoke volumes with her silence.
Distance posed no challenge for the Israeli military, which demonstrated its ability to enter Iran and act at will, all while showing restraint, a leading urban warfare expert told Iran International.
The United States issued a warning to Iran at the United Nations Monday, saying that any further aggressive actions against Israel or US personnel in the region would result in severe consequences.
Israel views Iran as an existential threat post Oct 7 and has the will and desire for a long war with the Islamic Republic, one that could have devastating consequences for civilians on both sides, a military expert told Iran International.
Israel's impending strike on Iran could present a pivotal opportunity for dissidents to challenge and potentially overthrow the clerical government, according to an Iranian-Canadian human rights expert, and a former advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister.
Whatever Israel targets in Iran won't be a one-time strike but the beginning of a larger war between the two nations, a senior Israeli insider and former military official told Iran International.
Amichai Stein, a journalist with Israel's Public broadcaster Kan news, joined ‘Eye for Iran’ to discuss the impact of Yahya Sinwar’s death and what it means for the fate of the hostages and the Middle East going forward.
Canada designated Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian group responsible for leading "death to Canada" chants and burning the Canadian flag during an anti-Israel protest in Vancouver earlier this month, as a terrorist entity on Tuesday.
A Lebanese Shia, now seeking refuge in Canada after escaping Hezbollah indoctrination and surviving an assassination attempt by the Iran-backed group, has shared insider knowledge of Hezbollah's operations with Iran International.
Iran is nervous about potential Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities and is now using its controversial atomic program as leverage to send a message - not to the Israelis but rather to the United States, a Middle East security expert says.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in a Thursday speech in Arabic accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of holding the people of Lebanon hostage, calling on Lebanese citizens to reclaim their sovereignty from Tehran’s influence.
The Biden administration is reportedly losing trust with Israel’s government as strikes on Iran loom. That apparent distrust comes with risks and possibly some benefits, according to experts Iran International spoke with.
Frozen in time, families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas feel trapped in an endless October 7, 2023. They believe Iran holds the key to their release and blame its rulers for the attacks and the ongoing conflict.
Israel's retaliation options after Iran's largest missile barrage may include "regime symbols" like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's residence and targeting officials, which, while risky, are not off the table, according to a former IDF spokesperson.
As hundreds of missiles rained across Israel's skies, 40-year-old Itai Reuveni, an Israeli of Iranian descent, sought refuge in a bomb shelter with his family as his nation was attacked by the very country which was once his parents’ homeland.
After weeks of increasingly devastating blows meted out by Israel against Iran's armed allies in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday directly addressed the Iranian people to predict the nigh downfall of their rulers.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN accused Iran's new president of "playing a game," claiming he is "lying, and unfortunately, some people are buying it" during his visit to New York.
A group of Iranian Americans have launched ‘Iranians for Trump’, a movement to mobilize support for presidential candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming US elections.
Iran is winning against the Americans in the Red Sea, through their proxy the Houthis, said a former Royal Navy Commander during an episode of Iran International’s podcast Eye for Iran.
Iran, through its proxies, has encircled Israel in a multi-front war that is slowly expanding as more violent and new fronts emerge. A former IDF spokesperson is now calling on the Israeli government to take the fight directly to the root cause: Iran.
Iran has reportedly supplied missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, defying Western opposition. This development coincides with Tehran’s increasing proximity to becoming a nuclear power, raising further global concerns
The United States and its Western allies seem unable to curb the increasing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, and a Navy commander may have offered some insight into the reason: not to anger Iran.
Iran is set to deliver ballistic missiles to Russia "imminently", Bloomberg reported on Monday, amid warnings by Ukraine's allies that the shipment will have serious consequences for the Islamic Republic.
The relationship between Iran and Russia is built on mutual benefits, and the strategic partnership formed in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine is now influencing Tehran and Moscow's foreign policies in their respective conflicts with Kyiv and Israel.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Iran's new government there is "no barrier" to engaging with the "enemy" on the nuclear issue. While Western media framed this as 'opening the door' to talks, some Iran watchers remain skeptical.
Israel and Hezbollah have stepped back from a regional war—for now. While daily rocket barrages persist along the Israel-Lebanon border, no clear winners have emerged, and the situation remains fragile and uncertain.
The sight of Hezbollah and Islamic Republic of Iran flags just outside the venue where Democrats held their national convention in Chicago this week is no longer shocking—but remains a troubling reality for many Americans.
The daily headlines predicting an 'imminent attack' from Iran against Israel since the killing of Ismail Haniyeh haven't materialized and may never do so—but the psychological warfare may be just as tormenting for civilians.
Iran's delayed retaliation to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month has seen the government become the center of dark humor while the psychological warfare plays out.
Israel's foreign minister has warned that Iran is attempting to open a new Eastern front in its proxy war against the Jewish state, with the IRGC's support, targeting Jordan and the West Bank.
As the region braces for Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel, experts specializing in Iran are not seeing a clear picture into the definite meaning behind Egypt instructing all its airlines to avoid Iranian airspace for a specific amount of time on a specific day.
The threat of Iran-Israel war is different now than when Tehran launched its first direct attack on Israel in April, an Israeli insider who previously served as Commander of Israel Air Defense Forces from 2015 to 2018, told Iran International.
Iran was behind the anti-Israel protests on at least one Canadian university in an attempt to undermine Western support for Israel and fuel divisiveness on Canadian soil, sources combating digital disinformation told Iran International.
The sounds of grief and images of white caskets as parents buried their children, killed by an Iran-made rocket launched from Lebanon into a remote Druze village, underscore the region's uncertainty and fears of a wider war.
Iran and Armenia have signed a major arms deal worth $500 million, a source familiar with the situation told Iran International, in a move that could anger Azerbaijan as Tehran supplies Yerevan its infamous suicide drones.
A deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis marks a dangerous escalation, representing a broader conflict between Iran and the West, according to a prominent Middle East expert.
Former US President Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration for Iran edging close to nuclear weapons at the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) Thursday evening.
A new report commissioned by the Hague Initiative refutes the EU foreign policy chief's argument for not listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the EU's terror list.
J.D. Vance has been chosen as Donald Trump's vice presidency pick, the Republican presidential nominee announced Monday, and that will have significant impact on American foreign policy on Tehran, according to Iran watchers.
Rapper Toomaj Salehi is reportedly facing two new charges that advocates said is an attempt by Iranian authorities to keep the iconic voice of Iran's opposition behind bars.
Canada's Opposition leader blasted the Iranian government on Tuesday for its abuses in Iran and on Canadian soil, issuing a warning to the country's newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Human rights organizations have documented an increase in deadly shootings by Iran’s security forces targeting Kurdish border couriers transporting goods into Iraq, who are trying to make money to survive.
An Israeli Lebanese citizen says he was forced to flee his beloved motherland Lebanon 20 years ago because of Iran-backed Hezbollah, but now those same forces are terrorizing him all over again.
A lawsuit filed in a US federal court on Monday by Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL), alleges Hamas could not have carried out the October 7 atrocities against Israel without the support of Iran, Syria and North Korea.
The Arab league is no longer classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist entity, a move that experts say is a big win for Iran and serves to strengthen the Iranian proxy in Lebanon.
Natalie Sanandaji, a survivor of the October 7 atrocities, stood before a virtual panel this week to show a shared unity between Iranians and Israelis that she believes many either overlook - or are unaware of.
Iran has retained its place on the Financial Action Task Force’s(FATF) blacklist, for not respecting international banking and related rules after a meeting in Singapore concluded Friday.
Canada’s Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman has accused the Liberal government of deliberately leaking its plan to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
There's been a lot of reaction after the Canadian government designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terror entity, but what does it entail and how will it be implemented?
The Canadian parliament, across all three main party platforms, has unanimously passed the Toomaj Sanctions, related to the death sentence issued for a dissident Iranian rapper.
Navaz Ebrahim, who lost her sister and brother-in-law on the Ukraine International Airlines flight that was shot down in Tehran in 2020, said a recent Ontario court ruling is being used by Iran's cyber army to create misinformation and lies.
Northern Israeli residents who face daily attacks from Iran-backed Hezbollah say their lives have turned into "hell", and view the Islamic Republic of Iran as responsible.
Operatives of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are entering European ports, concealing their identity as seafarers while on board Iranian ships and oil tankers, sources familiar with the situation told Iran International.
Israel's latest strategy to take on its regional rival Iran is not with a weapon, but a new tool in its soft power arsenal which aims to bridge relations between the two nations locked in escalating tensions.
Britain, France, and Germany, also known collectively as the E3, submitted a resolution to the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors Monday censuring Iran.
Criminal gangs operating on the behest of the Islamic Republic of Iran are behind a string of terror attacks on Israeli embassies in Europe since October 7, according to Israeli and Swedish Intelligence agencies.
The United States is fully coordinating with its European allies to contain Iran’s nuclear program, a US official told Iran International on Wednesday.
A US court has issued a temporary order against Ramezan Soltan-Mohammadi, an employee of the Iran's Interests Section in Washington DC, who was seen threatening Iranian protesters to death last week.
Hardliners, hardliners and more hardliners are going to be the likely choices Iranians will have to choose from when it comes to next month’s snap election after the death of their president in a helicopter crash.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog warned on Monday that Iran is continuing to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade levels.
The Islamic Republic's loyalists on Friday violently attacked a group of Iranian dissidents who were celebrating Ebrahim Raisi's death in London, injuring at least four people.
Women covered in dark veils, wailing at the death of Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi in public displays of sadness, couldn't contrast more than the joy exhibited in street parties, morbid jokes, fireworks and more recently - nude photos.
The who's who of Iran-backed terror groups met in Tehran on the sidelines of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's funeral Wednesday.
An exclusive report by Fox News reveals the Obama-Biden State Department "actively interfered" to prevent the FBI from arresting individuals illegally in the US who allegedly supported Iran to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Members of Canadian parliament heard testimony Tuesday from Iranian human rights advocates, dissidents, victims and an exiled artist on the brutality of the Islamic Republic, and called on Ottawa to take more action.
An Israeli security expert, who served for 15 years as an intelligence officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), told Iran International that the war between Israel and Hamas is actually a war between Iran and Western values.
A tale of two narratives emerged on social media, after Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several other senior officials died Sunday in a helicopter crash.
There are several theories as to what may have led to the chopper crash that killed Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials in the mountainous terrain near Azerbaijan.
Iranians around the world are celebrating the disappearance and possible death of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi's after the helicopter carrying him and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday.
Reaction is pouring in from around the world, after reports of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashing near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan.
Israel’s retaliatory attack against Iran’s sophisticated radar system in Isfahan in April carried a strong message that the Islamic Republic’s defense capabilities could not match Israel’s military might, a top Israeli insider and ex-military official told Iran International.
