Pressure by Iranian authorities on women footballers has intensified following resignations from the national team in protest at the quashing of nationwide protests with deadly force, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Iran is entering a phase of persistent unrest, driven by decentralized “minor triggers” and deepening economic and legitimacy pressures that repression alone may no longer contain, senior analysts said at Iran International's townhall in Washington DC.
Iranian courts sentenced Christians to more than 280 years in prison in 2025, according to a joint report by four rights groups, in what advocates describe as a widening use of national security laws to suppress religious dissent.
Student walkouts at schools across Iran this week underscored the continuing political presence of a younger generation that has remained deeply engaged despite months of arrests and repression.
Forty days after more than 36,500 protesters were killed in a two-day crackdown in January, Iranians are marking the traditional chehelom not only in cemeteries but also in the streets and hospitals where the dead fell – a scale of loss that is reshaping how the country mourns.
A man who says he was deployed during Tehran’s January crackdown describes watching protesters shot and helping load bodies into refrigerated trucks, including a little girl whose earrings had been taken before her body was thrown inside.
Iranians and the government held rival ceremonies Tuesday marking the 40th day after the January 8–9 protest killings, with families staging independent memorials as officials organized a state event critics called an attempt to “appropriate” the victims.
Forty days after Iran’s deadly January crackdown, senior officials repeated claims of foreign influence while some insiders—even from the hardline camp—offered sharply different explanations.
Memorial ceremonies marking 40 days since the killing of protesters were held across Iran this week despite a heavy security presence, with mourners gathering at gravesides, performing traditional rituals and often chanting against the country’s rulers.
Tehran's decision to form a committee to investigate violence during January protests has been met with widespread skepticism, including from some moderate voice inside Iran who say only an independent investigation can establish credibility.
Widespread rallies by Iranians abroad, held in response to a call by exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, drew an outpouring of support from inside Iran, with many describing the gatherings as a renewed source of hope and unity.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday urged police to manage public unrest with the least possible cost, over a month after a sweeping crackdown on protests in which more than 36,500 people were killed.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the United States will never succeed in toppling the Islamic Republic and warned that even the world’s strongest military can suffer crippling blows.
About a quarter of cafés in parts of Iran have shut down in the past three months, according to a senior industry official who says protests, legal pressure and economic strain have severely affected the sector.
As President Trump weighs options against Iran, he faces a legacy‑defining choice that could reshape the century, with the Islamic Republic at its most precarious moment since 1979 after years of US pressure and a determined popular uprising.
A 17-year-old protester wounded during Iran’s January protests was later killed after being taken into custody by security forces, according to testimony and forensic analysis gathered by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC).
New details from eyewitnesses and medical staff in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman indicate that security forces opened fire and killed dozens of protesters attempting to reach a statue of slain IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in early January.
Iran has sentenced at least 14 protesters to death in group online trials, people familiar with the matter told Iran International, with additional indictments accusing detainees of acting against the country’s security on calls from the US president and Israel.
Security forces raided the village of Chenar in Asadabad county, Hamedan province, arresting hundreds of residents after surrounding the area early Monday, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
A court in Iran has issued death sentences to 14 protesters who took part in the recent unrest, holding the proceedings online, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Social media platform X removed premium verification badges from senior Islamic Republic officials, triggering a surge of blue-ticked parody accounts that impersonate them and blurring the line between official statements and satire.
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.