Writings

Published by the Atlantic One summer in Brooklyn, a controversy broke out in my dog-park group chat. Dedicated to the upkeep of the park and welfare of our canines, our chat had never indulged in politics before. But someone was now complaining that a dog-insurance company was “Zionist,” and a passionate debate ensued. This American-based…

Published by the Atlantic A bright line runs through Iran’s domestic movement for democratic change: on one side, frank opponents of the regime, and on the other, proponents of incremental reform. One figure stands out for bridging that divide, making him one of Iran’s most promising political prospects. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister, is…

Published by the Atlantic The Islamic Republic of Iran is a constant source of anguish for its own people, its neighbors, and the broader world. The government likely executes more people than any state except China. It imposes bizarre restrictions on its citizens, especially women (who are barred from singing solo, cycling, or smoking a…

Published by the Atlantic Last month’s war with Israel and the United States lasted only 12 days, but Iran is likely to feel its consequences for years. The country’s intelligence services failed to prevent Israel from assassinating many top military officials, and now the Iranian regime is lashing out in all directions. It has handed…

Co-written with Alexis Grennel for the Atlantic An emphatic advocate of Palestinian rights has won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor by 12 points—a shocking margin that he owes, in part, to the support of an outspoken Zionist. The partnership between Zohran Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander doesn’t just showcase…

Published by the Atlantic America’s Saturday-night attacks on Iran have amplified an ever more open debate in Tehran over the future of the country and whether Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should remain in power. In the days leading up to the American intervention, a group of Iranian businessmen, political and military figures, and relatives of…

Published by the Atlantic Sepideh Qolian, a 30-year-old Iranian labor activist, spent two years in Tehran’s Evin Prison, where she wrote two books, one of them a celebrated prison memoir in the form of a baking cookbook. Just last week, Qolian was released—and three days later, Israeli missiles and drones began striking targets inside Iran.…

Published in the Atlantic News of the Israeli attacks on Iran reached me in the United States just before 5 a.m. Tehran time. The city had been hit in multiple places, and strikes meant for Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists had brought down residential buildings across the city. So I figured my friends and…

Published by the Atlantic Having once described Donald Trump as Israel’s “greatest friend ever,” Benjamin Netanyahu must be watching with some consternation as the American president enthusiastically pursues a nuclear deal with Iran. After all, the Israeli prime minister made every effort to stop the Obama administration’s Iran deal in 2015. Trump exited that deal in 2018,…

Published by the Atlantic Opposition to women’s rights has helped fuel authoritarian movements in Russia, Hungary, Brazil, and the United States. That the same is true in South Korea, which is holding an early presidential election tomorrow, is perhaps less well known. There, the role of anti-feminists is particularly stark, helping to put women’s issues at the very…

Published by National Days after a huge explosion rocked Shahid Rajaee Port in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, some of the fires continue to rage. Authorities say it could take up to three weeks to put them all out, but the economic, social and political reverberations from the blast are likely to last much longer.…

Published by Al Majalla Offering both carrots and sticks is standard procedure in diplomatic negotiations, but US President Donald Trump takes it to new heights. Whatever else he might prevaricate on, he has always been consistent on Iran, giving it two options: Either agree to a deal that assures the world you are not building…

Published by the National Late March is happy season in Iran as the festival of Nowruz marks the end of winter and the start of a new calendar year. But the government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian had little to celebrate even as it marked its first Nowruz, having received blow after blow last month.…

Published by Perry World House A few months into the second Trump administration, its differences with the first are evident. One major difference concerns the balance of power between various forces inside the Trump camp. The second administration is more willing to be disruptive, but that also means its internal workings are more stable. To…

Published by the Atlantic In the first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second term, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeatedly rejected the U.S. president’s offer of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, just as he had during Trump’s first term. Tehran would not talk to this U.S. administration, Khamenei insisted. And even if it did…

Published by the Atlantic Donald Trump loves letters. We know this from his first term, when he exchanged 27 letters with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in the course of 16 months and wrote a particularly memorable missive to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In his second term, he has already found an unlikely new pen pal: Iranian Supreme…