Sunnis and Shias are on the brink of civil war, and Islamism is emboldened. Two years after US withdrawal, Iraq is unravelling Iraq holds national elections on Wednesday , its first since the US left in December 2011. Relations between its Sunni and Shia communities have deteriorated and the country is on the brink of civil war as well as territorial disintegration. The elections are likely to sustain...
President Hassan Rouhani has been mute on extreme violence in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. But time is running out for him to change human rights in Iran Tehran University's outspoken professor, Sadegh Zibakalam, was asked recently in a heated debate on national radio why he fought to overthrow the Shah and endured two-year jail sentence. Furious about Zibakalam's views on foreign policy, especially...
The government pushes forward with the liberalisation of energy prices but continues cash payouts, which have become a lifeline for the poor and unemployed Iranian households have weathered a series of economic disasters since December 2010, when the implementation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's subsidy reforms led the prices of fuel, utilities and groceries to skyrocket. In a nation buckling under the...
Though concerns were not raised during nuclear talks, senior US official says Iran's ballistic missiles 'will have to be addressed' A senior US official on Sunday signalled optimism about a possible resolution of the Iranian nuclear dispute , but said Washington remained concerned that Iran's ballistic missiles threatened Gulf Arab states. Frank Rose, US deputy assistant secretary of state for space...
Interview Samereh Alinejad tells the Guardian she had no intention of sparing her son's killer, Balal, until the moment she asked for the noose to be removed from his neck The idea she might pardon her son's killer first came to Samereh Alinejad in a dream. It was a message she didn't want to hear. Abdollah Hosseinzadeh was stabbed and killed in a street brawl in the autumn of 2007 when he was only...
Rolling coverage of the day's political developments as they happen, including Tony Blair's speech on the need for the west to fight Islamist extremism, and reaction to it 8.55am BST Tony Blair has just delivered a major speech on the Middle East, and Islamist extremism. He thinks the west is being too complacent. Here's the full text. Tony Blair will warn the west it needs to take sides in the Middle...
Political prisoners describe being severely beaten by guards armed with batons at notorious Evin jail in Tehran Political prisoners in Tehran's Evin prison have allegedly been subjected to humiliating physical abuse, including being forced to run a gauntlet of guards armed with batons, it has emerged. Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has been silent despite chilling details being revealed by prisoners...
The imam's gift to a persecuted community is part of a growing trend of Iranians championing the rights of fellow citizens News from Iran has given me tremendous hope and optimism for peace between Iranians, regardless of faith and ethnicity. Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani, a prominent imam and scholar, has taken a stand for coexistence with the country's Baha'i minority. He has reminded us...
Tehran's heavy water reactor at Arak, one of the key issues in the talks, has been 'virtually resolved', according to vice-president The next round of expert-level talks over Iran's contested nuclear programme will be held in New York, the country's state news agency reported on Sunday. The report, by the ISNA agency, came a day after Iran's vice-president, Ali Akbar Salehi, was quoted by state television...
Fifth Avenue building owned by Alavi Foundation to be sold Sale 'raises doubt about credibility of American justice' Iran on Saturday criticised a US government move to seize a Manhattan skyscraper owned largely by a foundation that promotes its language and Islamic culture, saying this violated the right to religious freedom in the United States. According to a court document filed in New York on...
VP: plant will produce one fifth of planned plutonium Iran says US-registered Tehran plane used by Ghana Iranian state television on Saturday reported the country's vice-president as saying a dispute between world powers and Iran over its heavy water reactor at Arak has been "virtually resolved". Iran also said that a plane which landed in Tehran airport flying the American flag was leased...
Dozens of political prisoners injured, or put into solitary confinement following clashes in Evin prison in Tehran Iranian guards and intelligence officials have used unprecedented levels of violence against political inmates in one of the country's most notorious prisons, opposition leaders claimed on Friday Kaleme , a news website close to an opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has reported that...
The city all but shuts down after midnight apart from a few affluent party pockets where people turn a blind eye to illegal activity, like wearing too much make up and drinking alcohol The streets of Tehran turn deceptively quiet after midnight, but one anomalous corner in the affluent part of the city offers a rare glimpse of what goes on between four walls. In contrast to the deserted sidewalks...
Convict had noose around his neck when victim's mother approached, slapped him in the face and spared his life When he felt the noose around his neck, Balal must have thought he was about to take his last breath. Minutes earlier, crowds had watched as guards pushed him towards the gallows for what was meant to be yet another public execution in the Islamic republic of Iran. Seven years ago Balal, who...
Supreme leader sees family planning policy as an imitation of western lifestyle and aims to double Iran's population Iran's parliament is seeking a ban on vasectomies and a tightening of abortion rules as the country moves away from its progressive laws on family planning in an attempt to increase the birthrate. Two decades after Iran initiated an effective birth control programme, including subsidised...
Between 1936 and 1979, when hijab was not in force, family albums capture Iranian women's embrace of western fashion, as seen in movies, magazines and embodied by a succession of fashionable queens Continue reading... ...
Hamid Aboutalebi barred by US for links to embassy takeover Tehran says US stance violates international law Iran has no plans to name a new diplomat to the United Nations, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, after the US blocked its pick in a rare rebuke that could stir fresh animosity at a time when the two countries have been seeking a thaw in relations. The Obama administration said on Friday...
Arizona-born Amir Hekmati convicted of working for CIA Lawyer says sentence reduced to 10 years' imprisonment An Iranian news agency is reporting that an appeals court has overturned the death sentence of an American man convicted of working for the CIA , instead sentencing him to 10 years in prison. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Saturday that lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei says...
White House follows through on promise to deny visa to Hamid Abutalebi over his role in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis The White House has made good on a promise not to let an Iranian tied to the 1979 hostage crisis travel to the United States. The administration on Friday denied a visa to Hamid Abutalebi, who sought entry as Irans recently appointed ambassador to the United Nations. The visa denial...
President Carter warns the Iranians that the United States 'will use every legitimate use of power' to free the hostages held in the siege at the American embassy in Tehran President Carter warned the Iranians yesterday that "We will use every - and I repeat every - legitimate use of power to bring our people home safe and free." He was addressing a conference of newspaper editors in Washington....