Israelis and Iranians have been cast as enemies for so long, but during Iran’s uprisings their voices tell a different story as Iranians drew a line between themselves and the Islamic Republic.
As Iranians mourn those killed in the nationwide crackdown, state-aligned voices are falling back on familiar defenses: downplaying the toll, casting the protests as a foreign plot, and stripping victims of civic status by branding them religious enemies.
A leaked Tasnim memo seen by Iran International shows the IRGC media apparatus sought to manipulate narratives around the protests and crackdown, undermine exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, and frame the uprising as foreign-driven – not rooted in public anger at the Islamic Republic.
When Iran cuts off internet access, millions are plunged into more than digital silence. Mental health experts say the blackouts intensify anxiety, isolation, and trauma in a society already under extreme strain.
Regional powers including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Oman are trying to bring Iran and the United States to talks in Istanbul on Friday, officials say, to stave off war – starting with Tehran’s nuclear file despite a wide gap over US demands on missiles and allied militias.
Iran analyst
Iran International
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.
An Iranian diplomat posted in Austria has left his assignment and sought asylum in Switzerland, informed sources told Iran International on Tuesday.
A newly announced grassroots network of Iranian doctors, nurses, paramedics and volunteers says it will provide safe medical relief and neighborhood support amid what it describes as a deepening humanitarian emergency after the crackdown that followed nationwide protests.
Reza Bahmani Alijanvand, a 34-year-old Iranian protester, disappeared after attending protests in the central Iranian city of Shahin Shahr on January 8, and was later found dead in the cold storage of a cemetery, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
Iran International
US investigators are examining whether cryptocurrency platforms were used to help Iranian officials and state-linked actors evade sanctions, a blockchain researcher told Reuters, as crypto use rose sharply in Iran amid currency weakness and political unrest.
A sweeping government-imposed internet blackout has slashed sales, frozen online trade and pushed thousands of small businesses to the brink, according to business owners and industry groups, exposing deep vulnerabilities in Iran’s digital economy.
Iran’s currency has lost half its value in just six months and is now at risk of losing its role as both a store of value and a functioning currency, as households and businesses increasingly shift prices, savings, and expectations toward the US dollar.
Detainees in Iran are being forcibly injected with unknown substances inside detention facilities, according to eyewitness testimonies, informed sources and human rights monitors who warn of a growing pattern of deaths among current and former prisoners.
