Iran protests

A man checks old banknotes in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on March 3, 2025. Iran's parliament sacked the country's finance minister on March 2 after impeaching him over soaring inflation and a plunging currency, state television reported. (Photo by Atta KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Public backlash as Iran closes $3.7B corruption case, largest in its history

With only two former ministers receiving lenient sentences, the $3.7 billion embezzlement scheme has reignited national debates on systemic corruption amid an increasingly dire economic climate.

A general view shows the Milad Tower in Iran's capital, Tehran, on Feb. 23, 2025.

Analysis

Iran steps up crackdown on Sunni militancy: How far could it go?

The question of Sunni militancy, which stems from decades-long systematic marginalization of Iran's Sunni minority, has added to an array of challenges Tehran's radical Shiite government is currently grappling with.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

People carry a banner during a march demanding truth and justice for Kurdish activists, Paris, Jan. 11, 2025.

27 Kurdish civilians, activists arrested in Iran following protests

After protests over the death sentences of Kurdish political prisoners, Iranian authorities arrested at least 27 people across the Kurdistan region.

Iranians lift up a flag and the mock up of a missile during a celebration following Iran's missiles and drones attack on Israel, on April 15, 2024, at Palestine square in central Tehran.

Analysis

Iran's turbulent 2024: Regional losses, economic pains and impending threats

Iran is bidding farewell to a 2024 rife with severe setbacks ranging from the Gaza war and escalating tensions with Israel to major geopolitical shifts and a faltering economy at home.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Latest News

Analysis

Iran coal mine tragedy highlights prevalent corruption, workers' plight

Iranian miners look on at the scene of a blast at a coal mine in Tabas in Iran's Khorasan province on September 22, 2024. The blast caused by a gas leak at the coal mine in eastern Iran has killed at least 50 people, state media said on September 22, in one of Iran's deadliest work accidents in years. (Photo by Mohsen NOFERESTY / IRNA / AFP) (Photo by MOHSEN NOFERESTY/IRNA/AFP via Getty Images)

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

What’s behind Javad Zarif's resignation from Iran’s new government?

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Iranian Foreign Minister, flashes victory sign during an election rally in support of Iranian presidential election candidate Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran, Iran, on June 24, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. After the election with a historically low turnout on Friday, Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's presidential election candidate and former reformist member of the Iranian parliam

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Even as Iran denies $500M arms deal with Armenia, foothold in Caucasus is priority

Armenia's foreign minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, meets with his counterpart from Iran in Tehran on July 24, 2023.

Women activists face 'severe sentences' in Iran, as new president vows easing of restrictions

Two Iranian women are walking in the street of Tehran with optional covering.

Iran protest

The Takeaway: Can sanctions curb Iran's protest crackdown?

Plus, a top Republican lawmaker questions the Biden administration's Syria policy and the US announces support for Lebanon's security forces.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels, Jan. 25, 2023.

Israel's president holds talks on Iran and Hamas hostages during EU visit

In Brussels, Herzog was expected to raise the issue of two Israeli nationals — Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed — captured by Hamas

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

2 police officers gunned down in Iran's protest-hit southeast

The attack occurred in an area that has seen the worst of the violence from Iranian security forces determined to crush the anti-government protests that have rocked the nation over the past four months.

The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington, DC, January 19, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Breaking | Last Updated: January 23, 2023, 10:05 pm

US targets Iranian officials with human rights sanctions

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 10 Iranian individuals and one entity connected to the protest violence.

This photograph taken on January 22, 2023 shows German, European Union and French flags and the facade of the French National Assembly. (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

EU rolls out new Iran sanctions but does not designate IRGC as terrorists

European foreign ministers have added 37 names to the list of Iranian individuals and entities subject to sanctions, but did not call for designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist group.

A protester holds a portrait depicting the slain top commander of the Iranian revolutionary guard corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani while praying, during an anti-German demonstration condemning Germany's support of Berlin-based Iranian opposition TV stations and anti-government protests in Iran, outside the German embassy headquarters in Iran's capital Tehran on November 1, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran top official threatens EU militaries as IRGC terror designation looms

Europe’s ties with the Islamic Republic have been worsening since the anti-government protests began in Iran last year.

FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: January 19, 2023, 2:08 pm

European Parliament slaps sanctions on Iran's IRGC

The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to blacklist Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and to sanction the Iranian leadership.

Europe parliament

European Parliament overwhelmingly urges EU to designate Iran's IRGC as terrorist

Members of the European Parliament called today on European leadership to add the Iranian revolutionary Guards to the list of terror organizations.

Namazi

Pressure on Biden mounts with Namazi hunger strike in Iran

As Siamak Namazi, a US citizen, starts a week-long hunger strike to protest his seven-year detention, Iran said his release is possible if the United States shows the "political will" to reach a deal.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Jan. 17, 2023.

Turkey, Iran to step up cooperation on Ankara-Damascus thaw

While the top Turkish and Iranian diplomats appear to be on the same page over the ongoing Damascus-Ankara rapprochement, both foreign ministers also raised contentious issues during the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Turkey.

A Yemeni woman shops at a market in Yemen's third city of Taiz, on December 15, 2022. - Yemeni society, although deeply conservative, has traditionally allowed space for individual freedoms. But this is changing under the Huthi movement, which was founded with the aim of pushing for a theocracy. (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP via Getty Images)

Women's campaign in Yemen protests Houthi dress code rules

Houthi forces require women to wear a black abaya that covers their entire bodies.

Iranians enjoy a walk in a park during snowfall in the capital Tehran on Jan. 15, 2023.

Gas-rich Iran apologizes to citizens over chaotic shortages

Despite sitting on the world's second-largest gas reserves, Iran has in recent days witnessed the chaotic management of its household gas heating, which is adding further to a host of unaddressed public grievances.