Iran’s economic crisis is deepening, and with few answers for a population becoming poorer, Tehran is signaling how it may respond if economic anger again spills into the streets: repression and lethal force.
Iran's president spent Tuesday assuring Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi that Tehran would return to the Islamabad framework if Washington did. As he spoke, news broke that two Saudi tankers had been hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
A dispute over Iran’s nuclear enrichment program has escalated into a broader political fight after President Masoud Pezeshkian’s son and adviser Yusef Pezeshkian defended remarks questioning whether enrichment is worth its costs during wartime.
China’s refusal to bow to US sanctions has raised hopes in Tehran that Beijing could blunt Washington’s new economic offensive, but a debate inside Iran reveals doubts over how far China is willing or able to go on Iran’s behalf.
As Washington targets the financial and trading networks Iran has used to withstand years of sanctions, economists and analysts in Tehran are debating how much more economic hardship the country can absorb to survive a prolonged economic war.
Two years ago the editor of Iran's most hardline newspaper said management of the country's biggest online retailer would "fortunately" pass to those who serve the state. It is now chaired by a former spokesman for the supreme leader's business empire.
Regional diplomacy around Iran appears to be gathering pace, with Pakistan, Oman and potentially Qatar seeking to turn an emerging agreement over the Strait of Hormuz into a path back to negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
As Washington intensifies its economic campaign, Iranian politicians and analysts are offering sharply different prescriptions for dealing with the United States: from resistance and phased negotiations to new trade routes or waiting Donald Trump out.
Since Mojtaba Khamenei was named the Islamic Republic's third supreme leader, no one has seen him or heard his voice. That looks like weakness. It is worth asking whether it might instead be postponing the system's political death.
Iran's drawdown of strategic fuel reserves has reached a “red alert” level and could exhaust remaining stocks within weeks, fueling disagreement between President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Revolutionary Guards, informed sources told Iran International on Wednesday.
Iran's parliament approved an amended section of a bill aimed at countering foreign influence on Tuesday, setting out definitions for foreign governments, foreign agents and a broad range of contacts with foreign entities, state media reported.
Mohsen Rezaei’s threats to halt Iranian oil exports, target countries cooperating with the United States and comments suggesting a possible nuclear shift have triggered a debate in Tehran over his authority to outline such policies as tensions escalate.
Iranian officials have dismissed Washington’s “Economic D-Day” as another failed attempt to cripple the country, but analysts inside Iran warn that an economy weakened by war may be far less capable of absorbing the latest US pressure campaign.
Iran’s leadership may see an end to the war as necessary under mounting US economic pressure, but that does not mean Tehran will heed Washington’s demands, experts say, warning that the pressure could instead drive it toward further escalation.
IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi praised Iran’s state broadcaster for its performance during the war with the US, throwing his weight behind an institution that has clashed with President Masoud Pezeshkian and drawn criticism from Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
A warning by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf that Iran cannot endure if its people go hungry has exposed tensions in Tehran over acknowledging economic strain, with hardliners arguing that signs of weakness will encourage further US pressure.
The men who spent the war demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz have returned to demanding control of women's clothing. As the fighting subsides, Iran's hardliners are pressing to revive a hijab law the state itself suspended for fear of new protests.
President Masoud Pezeshkian's government has formally opposed a bill aimed at countering foreign intelligence infiltration, saying it violates citizens' rights, restricts academic ties and could accelerate the emigration of Iranian experts and researchers.
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has strongly backed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, warning that Iran could face serious problems if the opportunity created by it is lost.
Officials of Iran's Basij militia can be heard on a leaked recording weighing the risk of a new round of protests and the danger that members will be identified online, a rare glimpse of the anxiety inside the force the state sends against demonstrators.
An Iranian state television presenter has sparked widespread criticism after saying “southern Iran be sacrificed for southern Lebanon” while dismissing criticism over the damage caused by recent US airstrikes on Iran’s southern provinces.
Iranian lawmakers have advanced sweeping legislation that could send people to prison for speaking to journalists, academic cooperation and unauthorized contact with foreign embassies, dramatically expanding the conduct security agencies could treat as foreign infiltration.