Marco Rubio’s invocation of ancient Persia in a speech championing Western power has given Tehran an opportunity to present itself as a defender of Iranian identity, even as critics recall the Islamic Republic’s own record of disparaging pride in the country’s pre-Islamic rulers.
Iran's hardline Kayhan newspaper accused former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of undermining national security and helping Washington by depicting the Revolutionary Guards as a threat.
A revisionist argument is emerging in Tehran over Iran’s nuclear strategy: that its longstanding policy of nuclear ambiguity failed its most important test when it did not deter the United States and Israel from attacking, and should now be reconsidered.
Iran has sharpened its criticism of a Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-Turkey defense pact after it became operational, warning against intervention in Yemen and questioning Pakistan’s role as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.
An editorial questioning Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf’s role as Iran’s lead negotiator has raised an awkward question in Tehran: who exactly is Kayhan criticizing, given that senior officials have said the parliament speaker was given the job with the Supreme Leader’s approval?
A senior hardline Iranian lawmaker has been named in an allegation involving unauthorized excavation for antiquities and treasure, while parliament is also examining a reported excavation case involving an unnamed member of the legislature.
Two surveys emerging from within or around Iran's political establishment paint a bleak picture of public confidence: deep skepticism toward state institutions, single-digit trust in political officials and overwhelming demand for change.
Rhetoric is hardening on both sides of the Iran-US standoff, with even Iranian analysts traditionally optimistic about diplomacy warning that relations are slipping back to “square one” as military and economic pressure intensifies.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi as defense minister, moving to fill a post left vacant since Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.
Senior Iranian military and security officials have been photographed wearing smartwatches, drawing fresh criticism of their basic security discipline after years of reports that Israel has used electronic devices around Iranian commanders to track and kill them.
The Islamic Republic is in a "slow meltdown" that may not bring it down soon but is narrowing its options as the economy sinks, repression deepens and divisions open up among its own hardliners, analysts told Iran International's Eye for Iran podcast.
Iran’s worsening economic crisis has opened an increasingly bitter argument over who is responsible, as the government points to outside pressure and market psychology while hardliners accuse Tehran’s own economic officials of making the situation worse.
Iranian officials and media have sharply condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UAE, warning Abu Dhabi over its deepening ties with Israel amid renewed tensions over three disputed Persian Gulf islands.
Tehran media see diplomacy with Washington as increasingly precarious but not yet dead, with the two sides far apart over the sequencing of any deal and the window for compromise appearing to narrow.
Continued contacts between Tehran and Washington, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, have intensified debate inside Iran over whether diplomacy can still produce a deal despite President Donald Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s latest proposal and what should happen if it fails.
Iran’s receipt of Washington’s response to its seven-point proposal for ending the Strait of Hormuz crisis has sharpened divisions in Tehran over whether to pursue further compromise or intensify pressure on the United States.
Attacks by hardliners on Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei following hardline lawmaker Hamid Rasaei’s imprisonment have intensified the rift among Iran’s conservatives.
Hardline Iranian lawmaker Hamid Rasaei was transferred to Evin Prison on Sunday to begin a 10-month sentence stemming from a complaint by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s judiciary said Monday.
Iranian reformists are helping sustain Washington’s pressure campaign by signaling that sanctions and other coercive measures are pushing Tehran toward negotiations and concessions, the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency argued Monday.
Iran on Saturday expanded limited imports of South Korean home appliances through its border trade system, five years after Ali Khamenei ordered restrictions on products from LG and Samsung.
Iranian hardliners have intensified attacks on President Masoud Pezeshkian after he signalled nuclear flexibility and backed negotiations with Washington in a Fox News interview.
The IRGC-affiliated Fars News criticized Iran’s executive vice-president on Friday for joining Saudi officials in a cake-cutting ceremony marking the kingdom’s National Day in Tehran, which it said created an overly “friendly” image at a time of heightened regional tensions.