As diplomatic horizons narrow and domestic hardships mount, Iran appears to endure less through strategic vision than an ad hoc survival economy backed up by China, Russia and its armed allies abroad.
Half a century of rule built on clerical authority has secularized Iran, available data suggests, with most still believing in God but not in the theocracy.
The political storm over a marathon on Iran’s Kish Island may have started as a dispute over unveiled participants, but it now reflects a deeper struggle between a society pushing for change and institutions intent on reasserting control.
Simultaneous visits by senior Turkish and Saudi officials to Tehran last weekend were widely seen as a move by the two US allies to explore new channels to manage rising regional tensions through dialogue with Iran.
A lopsided war with Israel and the United States in June rattled Iran’s political order, but it survives through smarter coercion and the disarray of forces that might otherwise bring it down.
Tehran warily watches events in the Caribbean as its ally Venezuela faces the largest US military deployment in the region in decades, which US officials describe as a bid to confront narco-terrorism
Under unprecedented strain at home and abroad after the June war, Tehran is adopting new tones and messaging to steady its own base.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s latest rebuke shows that Iran’s turn to nuclear ambiguity is deepening concerns and may accelerate an escalation that all sides insist they want to avoid.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has drawn fire over his decision to hand leadership over a crucial new energy body tasked with confronting an acute power crisis to a bureaucrat with no background in the sector.
Iran is facing one of its most severe droughts in 60 years, with more than half its plains suffering drastic groundwater depletion and the term “water bankruptcy” becoming more palpable by the day.
Europe is no longer a mediator but a co-architect of US-led pressure on Iran, and the relationship post-snapback is likely to harden into a more openly adversarial phase.
Europeans may have intended to pressure Tehran when they demanded last month an end to Iran’s “occupation” of the three Persian Gulf islands, but the move instead exposed how badly they misread Iran’s public mood.
As Iran’s capital Tehran endures its worst water crisis in living memory, few recent global cases offer clearer lessons than Cape Town in South Africa in 2018.
Iraq’s parliamentary election on Tuesday unfolded under the shadow of foreign influence from the United States and Iran which have for two decades vied over the future of the war-battered Arab nation.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
Iran’s Central Bank’s latest quarterly report shows capital flight hit a historic peak in the spring of 2025, underscoring the depth of the country’s financial strain.
The new push for an electricity grid linking Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan grid promises closer energy integration but could leave Tehran more exposed to Moscow’s leverage as rival corridors threaten to dilute its regional role.
A British inquiry into a pro-Iran charity reflects a mounting Western struggle to balance freedom of religion with efforts to confront Iranian political influence as Tehran's ties with Western Europe and North America plumb new lows.
Almost half a century after young revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei once again defended the move, leaning into the original break between the arch-foes and all but ruling out rapprochement.
Tehran is in a tougher position after the 12-day war and the return of UN sanctions but may not be as close to collapse as some Iranians might like.
A new report by Iran’s Statistical Center (ISC) reveals a sharp acceleration in food inflation, hitting millions of families where it hurts most.
ExxonMobil’s return to southern Iraq this month underscores how far Baghdad has surged ahead of Tehran in exploiting their shared border oilfields—and how the two neighbors’ fortunes are diverging.