Protests broke out among shopkeepers in central Tehran on Sunday after a sharp slide in the rial, with videos sent to Iran International showing crowds chanting antigovernment slogans.
Iran’s economy slipped back into contraction in the first half of the current year as inflation accelerated and the rial sank to record lows, compounding the pressure on President Masoud Pezeshkian as his government seeks approval for a tight budget starting on March 21.
Air quality across wide parts of Iran deteriorated sharply on Saturday, with official data showing pollution reaching “unhealthy for all” levels in large areas of Tehran, Khuzestan and Isfahan provinces.
Iranian security and law enforcement forces prevented families of political prisoners executed in the 1980s, including during the mass killings of summer 1988, from entering Tehran’s Khavaran cemetery on Friday to commemorate their relatives, according to activists and witnesses.
Iran’s theocracy exits 2025 battered yet still standing, with analysts telling Eye for Iran that Tehran is interpreting survival after a punishing war with Israel, regional losses and domestic strain as grounds for taking greater risks in 2026.
Iran’s handwoven carpet industry has fallen to its lowest level on record, hit by US sanctions, restrictive foreign-currency rules and regional instability that have driven exports close to collapse, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Comments by Iran’s foreign minister describing international sanctions as having blessings have sparked a wave of criticism from economists and social media users, many accusing senior officials of being detached from the economic hardship faced by ordinary citizens.
Afghan refugees deported from Iran have faced arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings after returning to Afghanistan, according to an investigation by Afghanistan International.
Iranian psychiatrists are warning of a sharp rise in acute psychiatric emergencies linked to drug use, particularly among adolescents, raising concerns that the country may face a wave of long-term psychotic disorders if the trend continues.
A network of tunnels formed by illegal underground excavations beneath Tehran’s Grand Bazaar has triggered official warnings over serious safety risks, while raising questions about their purpose and those behind the digging.
An Iranian photographer who travelled to Russia in search of work says he was coerced into joining the Russian army and sent to fight in Ukraine, pro-Kyiv media outlet UNITED24 Media reported, citing an interview with the 34-year-old man.
Sweden is investigating suspected aggravated corporate espionage at a sensitive healthcare-related company involving two brothers of Iranian origin, with TV4 reporting police are examining whether unique medical technology was intended to be taken to Iran.
The Israeli military said on Thursday it killed a senior operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (IRGC-QF) in a joint operation with the country's intelligence agency in northeast Lebanon.
A second former Afghan security commander opposed to the Taliban has been killed in Iran in under four months, raising concerns among Afghan ex-military figures living in the country.
Israel lacks the capacity to fight a prolonged war with Iran, an Iranian daily affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps wrote, saying that any renewed conflict would be far costlier and longer than a previous 12-day confrontation.
Iran’s Supreme Leader approved the development of compact nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles in October, reversing years of restraint after Iran’s June war with Israel, the Italian Institute for International Political Studies said in a report on Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they will hold a military drill on Thursday and Friday in Tehran province, warning residents they may hear loud sounds during the exercise.
Mohammad Javad Zarif’s latest Foreign Affairs article follows a familiar pattern in his narrative: recasting Tehran’s militarization and domestic repression as reactive responses to external pressure rather than deliberate internal choices.
A group of UN human rights experts and more than 400 prominent women from around the world on Tuesday urged Iran to halt the execution of political prisoner Zahra Shahbaz Tabari held in Lakan Prison in Rasht.
Iraq’s electricity ministry said on Tuesday that Iranian gas supplies had stopped entirely, cutting between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts from the national power grid and reducing supply hours.
Iranian pharmaceutical industry figures warned that illicit Iranian-made medicines are increasingly appearing in Afghanistan, undercutting legal exports and deepening shortages at home.
Iran’s parliament convened a closed session with senior government officials on Tuesday to assess economic conditions, as lawmakers said subsidy and currency policies had not translated into tangible relief for many households.