For two nights in January, Kazem says he was deployed in Tehran. He says he didn’t shoot at protesters but watched others and helped load bodies into refrigerated trucks, including a little girl whose earrings were torn off before she 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.
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).
The latest round of Iran-US talks in Geneva on Tuesday would likely not have taken place without sustained pressure from regional powers that leveraged their close relations with Washington to help avert a wider war.
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.
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.
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.
Iran, the United States and their Omani mediators struck cautiously optimistic notes on Tuesday after a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva, with officials on all sides pointing to progress while emphasizing that significant hurdles remain.
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 oil exports declined sharply at the start of 2026, new tanker-tracking data show, raising fresh questions about the durability of Tehran’s most important economic lifeline under renewed US sanctions pressure.
A tightening security atmosphere inside schools across several Iranian cities has prompted a new wave of student absences, according to messages sent to Iran International, with families saying classrooms no longer feel like safe spaces for their children.
President Massoud Pezeshkian’s increasingly public confrontations with Iran’s state broadcaster have exposed the limits of his authority, underscoring how one of the country’s most powerful institutions operates beyond the reach of its elected government.
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Institute for National Security Studies
Iran International
Political activist and human rights advocate
I am writing this from Tehran after three days of trying to find a way to send it: things may get a lot worse before they get any better.
There is a cruel ritual in Iranian opposition politics: some voices abroad constantly interrogate the “purity” of activists inside—why they did not speak more sharply or endorse maximalist slogans, why survival itself looks insufficiently heroic.
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.
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.
