Deciphering the Iranian leader's call for a 'resistance economy' | Gareth Smyth
As with the nuclear agreement, supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Rouhani may have more in common than in dispute over the economy and foreign investmentThe relationship between Ayatollah Ali...
View ArticleWhy so many Iranians have come to hate the hijab
Over the years the state crackdown on women’s dress has become more of a show to placate the country’s hardline base. Our correspondent shares stories from her personal repertoire illustrating the...
View ArticleUS had extensive contact with Ayatollah Khomeini before Iran revolution
Documents seen by BBC suggest Carter administration paved way for Khomeini to return to Iran by holding the army back from launching a military coup Iranian leaders have reacted with fury to reports...
View ArticleThe lure of conspiracy theories in Iranian politics
Do documents support the claim from BBC Persian that the United States helped Ayatollah Khomeini gain power in 1979?‘A tempest in a teapot’ was how Gary Sick described the recent reports by BBC...
View ArticleRemoval of the heart: how Islam became a matter of state in Iran
Some academics argue the Safavid Shahs gave Iranian Shiism a rule-fixation and abandonment of spirituality it has never lostThe crowning of Ismail as king of Iran in Tabriz in 1501 was low-key, as was...
View ArticleFrancis Bacon and gay Iranian artist Bahman Mohasses shown in Tehran
Exhibits include works by Francis Bacon and gay Iranian painter Bahman Mohasses – bought before Islamic revolution of 1979A remarkable collection of modern western and Iranian art that had been...
View ArticleSam Dastyari: The day my mother wasn't executed
Is there such thing as a western view of death? The Labor senator reflects on his family history in an effort to understand the random nature of lifeMy mother, whose name is Ella, likes to tell me...
View ArticleThe House of Saud is still in denial | Nesrine Malik
Despite crown prince Mohammed’s pledge of reform there is no honest acknowledgement yet of what lies behind Saudi Arabia’s malaiseSomething is definitely afoot in Saudi Arabia this time. For decades,...
View ArticleIran is not near a precipice, but vast changes are afoot | Masoud Golsorkhi
Street protests in Iran are about public anger with the economy but do not signal a downfall of the reformist governmentShortly after Christmas, conservative opponents of the reformist Iranian...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on Iran and sanctions: the EU stands firm | Editorial
The nuclear deal was never perfect. But the Trump administration’s determination to derail it could have terrible consequencesThree years ago, the Guardian welcomed the Iran nuclear deal as a triumph...
View ArticleTrump is risking more than a war of words with Iran | Simon Tisdall
The president’s fatal ignorance could result in a conflict much bigger than any convenient crisis manufactured for the midtermsDespite the giggles that greeted Donald Trump at the UN this week, the...
View ArticleThe week in radio and podcasts: Fall of the Shah; How to Burn a Million Quid
The BBC revisits the Iranian revolution in gloriously hammy style, while the KLF’s antics strike a surreal note stillFall of the Shah | BBC World ServiceHow to Burn a Million Quid | BBC Radio 4Continue...
View ArticleHow Iran's 'filmfarsi' remains the biggest secret in cinema history
For many Iranians, the oft-forgotten films are a souvenir of a lost past, painting a picture of life before the 1979 revolutionShortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution, the country’s national...
View ArticleIranian students take over US embassy in Tehran - archive, 5 November 1979
5 November 1979: Up to 100 hostages taken and captors say they will be held until the US government agrees to return the deposed ShahSeveral hundred Iranian students yesterday occupied the US embassy...
View ArticleAria by Nazanine Hozar review – coming of age in divided Tehran
This powerfully crafted debut explores the darkness and hope of a city on the brink of revolutionBeginning in 1953 and closing in the wake of the Iranian revolution, Nazanine Hozar’s epic novel is...
View Article‘Iranian culture has huge depths and continues to be relevant today’
Five thousand years of Iranian art goes on show at the V&A this month. A private collector who lent many of the works reveals what light these treasures cast on the countryThe drive from London to...
View ArticleProtests spread in Iran as President Raisi vows to crack down
Demonstrations that began with death of Mahsa Amini while detained by morality police pose biggest threat to regime in 13 yearsIran’s president has vowed to “deal decisively” with protests that are...
View ArticleGuns, veils and unflinching stares: the banned work about the heroes of...
Three decades ago, Shirin Neshat infuriated Iran’s government with her photographs of the heroic women who had lived through its revolution. Their defiance echoes today’s brave Mahsa Amini protestersA...
View ArticleIran protests are at do-or-die moment, says son of former shah
Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in 1979, urges west to give active support and proscribe Revolutionary GuardsThe Iranian revolution is at a do-or-die moment, requiring western governments to...
View ArticleThe women forced out of Iran: ‘Every act of resistance is a spark of hope’
As Iranian girls rise up against the iron rule of the Islamic Republic, seven women – from a boxer to a politician – talk about why they had to flee their homelandParastou Forouhar, artistContinue...
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