Society

A World Cup fixture etched in Iran’s memory since the 1990 Rudbar-Manjil earthquake gained a grim new echo after twin quakes struck Venezuela as Brazil and Scotland met again 36 years later.

Daily electricity and water outages disrupted life across Iran as summer began, with residents blaming years of underinvestment and deteriorating infrastructure despite officials citing rising demand and shrinking water supplies.

Many Iranians fear that a diplomatic opening with the United States could come at the cost of renewed social restrictions at home, as reports of stricter hijab enforcement begin circulating following the recent war.

Opium poppy cultivation in some villages of the Zagros mountains in western Iran has evolved from a hidden, scattered practice into an essential part of the rural subsistence economy, an Iran International investigation found.

At least eight Iranian banks suffered widespread service disruptions on Tuesday, leaving customers unable to access many electronic and card-based services days after a separate outage affected four major banks.

Bread prices across Tehran province have risen by as much as 100%, pushing the cost of one of the most important staple foods sharply higher and raising fresh concerns over government plans to overhaul the country's subsidy system.

Soaring gym fees and shrinking household budgets are forcing many Iranians to abandon sports and fitness activities, turning what was once a routine part of daily life into an unaffordable luxury, according to messages sent to Iran International.

High school students in several Iranian cities gathered outside education offices on Monday, demanding that final exams be postponed after a compressed testing schedule left them with too little time to prepare.

Iran’s official medicine market is being hollowed out as policy instability, currency disruptions and shortages push more patients toward illegal sellers, counterfeit drugs and informal supply networks, industry figures and officials have warned.

Nearly one-third of registered adoptions in Iran over the past decade were illegal, according to state welfare data, exposing a hidden child-transfer market that advocates say can leave babies vulnerable to sale, abandonment, domestic servitude and other forms of abuse.

Baluch women were beaten during protests over local mining projects in southeastern Iran, renewing attention on the Islamic Republic’s treatment of one of the country’s poorest and most heavily policed minorities.

As Tehran and Washington move toward a memorandum to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, messages from inside Iran show anger that the deal speaks of uranium, Lebanon and money, while ordinary Iranians remain absent from the text.

Iran’s World Cup match with New Zealand was not just a football game but a rare glimpse into the trauma and deep divisions many Iranians carry at home and abroad.

Deepening poverty in Iran is driving a rise in child labor, exposing children to sexual exploitation, violence and malnutrition, the head of Iran's Association of Social Workers warned on Sunday.

Iran’s parliament research arm warned the country’s power grid could face a 13,640-megawatt summer peak deficit, about 17% of projected demand and roughly a third of the country’s average 2024 electricity load, as war damage deepens chronic power shortages.

Citizens across Iran say soaring food prices have reduced household diets to the bare minimum needed to stave off hunger, with nutrition and variety increasingly out of reach.

Tourism businesses report empty rooms, mounting losses and growing pressure to cut jobs as rising living costs push travel out of reach for many households.

Simple pleasures, personal goals and everyday purchases have become out of reach for many Iranian teenagers, who told Iran International that economic hardship is reshaping their lives and dimming their hopes for the future.