A gathering of thousands of teenagers at a Tehran mall to meet a popular YouTuber exposed a widening blind spot in Iran, some sociologists suggested: a generation whose values, social lives and sources of authority increasingly lie beyond the state's understanding.
A social media exchange about steak struck a chord among Iranian users this week, turning one young user's dream into a broader conversation about economic hardship and political frustration.
In the quiet hours of Wednesday morning, municipal crews swept through Sanaei Street in central Tehran with sledgehammers, reducing sidewalk planters, benches, and concrete borders outside local cafes to rubble.
I wrote what follows just after midnight, unable to sleep at the thought of more executions at dawn. It is now early morning. The news has hit hard. I can't rewrite these words now. They belong to the hours before that hope disappeared. I leave them as they are.
Iranian social media users and news outlets have praised archaeologist Hamideh Choubak after Alamut Castle was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, highlighting her 25 years of work excavating and protecting the historic site.
A growing number of Iranians are financing healthcare with debt as medical costs rise beyond household incomes, a new Eghtesad Online report found, while authorities prioritize medical preparations for the Shiite pilgrimage, Arbaeen.
Thousands of mostly young Iranians packed a Tehran shopping mall on Friday to meet an online celebrity, offering a striking glimpse into a Gen Z culture whose stars, communities and reference points remain unfamiliar to many outside it.
Several cafés in central Tehran have been shut down after authorities renewed pressure over compulsory hijab, days after senior clerics called for stricter enforcement and weeks after the government briefly tolerated looser dress code during wartime pro-establishment gatherings.
The latest round of café closures in Tehran is a reminder to ordinary Iranians that wartime or otherwise, those in power still decide how much space they are allowed to occupy.
Women dominate Iran’s universities but remain sharply underrepresented in engineering and other technical fields, Iran’s vice president for women’s affairs said on Monday, calling for a review of admissions and the social barriers shaping their choices.
Rising daycare fees and mounting economic pressure are prompting more Iranian families to forgo kindergarten enrollment and rely on grandparents for childcare, raising concerns among sociologists about the long-term impact on children's social development.
A confidential report by Iran's presidency, leaked this week, records the highest public anger ever measured in any country and finds that nine in ten Iranians want change. Its advice to the leadership: manage the anger, not its causes.
Iranian pensioners say their monthly income no longer covers basic living expenses, with many forced to seek additional work as inflation continues to erode their purchasing power.
Iran's national team exited the World Cup in the group stage, yet two Iranians may still command Sunday's final: an exiled violinist on the halftime stage and the referee tipped for the whistle. Neither arrives representing the Islamic Republic.
Private photos of women posted on Telegram channels in Iran's western Lorestan province have triggered widespread fear and prompted more than 200 complaints, with authorities saying three people accused of running the channels have been arrested on Tuesday.
Many Iranians with disabilities have lost their living allowances after the State Welfare Organization halted payments from June citing a budget shortfall, the labor-focused news agency ILNA reported on Monday, adding that caregiver and hygiene subsidies have also been delayed.
Patients in Iran are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence for medical advice as healthcare costs outpace household incomes, prompting concerns from a public health expert that the technology could undermine treatment and trust between doctors and patients.
Women’s drug use has increased in Iran over the past decade, with cannabis products now the most commonly used substances among female users, a senior anti-narcotics official said on Sunday.
As Iran navigates renewed confrontation with the United States and uncertainty over a fragile diplomatic process, a deeper crisis is returning to the center of public debate: how much longer ordinary Iranians can absorb the economic cost.
Power and water outages have returned to several parts of Iran, residents across the country told Iran International on Friday, describing hours-long blackouts during intense summer heat despite official assurances the electricity network remains stable.
The strangest feeling in Tehran today is not fear or even despair. It is the sense that the fate of our country is being decided everywhere except by the people who live in it.
Hassan Nemazee inherited one of Iran’s best-known charitable legacies, lost his family’s fortune to the 1979 revolution and later found a new cause inside a US prison: justice reform.