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Writings

  • Why did Iran crack down on a pro-hijab rally?

    Published by the National If you hear of Iranian police forcibly bringing an end to a hijab-related rally in front of the parliament, you might imagine this was a classic case of the Islamic Republic suppressing its pro-democracy civil society. But on March 29, the Iranian police forces did this to an entirely different crowd:…

  • Iran’s coming concessions to Trump

    Published in Al Majalla Although Iran and the US are not directly talking to each other, indirect talks have been ongoing. Earlier this month, Trump revealed that he had sent a letter to the Iranian leadership. It was delivered to Iran by a leading Emirati diplomat, Anwar Gargash. The last time this happened was in 2019 when Japan’s then-prime…

  • Iran’s reformists have a lot to feel despondent about

    Published in the National With a reputation for making dramatic pronouncements, Mohammad Javad Zarif’s resignation as Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs earlier this month – his second in seven months – didn’t raise many eyebrows. One expert even joked about it, saying: “Life is what happens between two Zarif resignations.” Many expected the veteran career diplomat…

  • A Battle for the Soul of the West

    Published by the Atlantic For President Donald Trump, last month’s spat at the White House with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was “great television.” To the rest of us, it was a horrifying realization of our worst fears: a real-time crumbling of the Euro-American alliance, which has been the bedrock of the international order since 1945.…

  • The Iranian Dissident Asking Simple Questions

    Published by the Atlantic Sadegh Zibakalam is in trouble again. The retired 76-year-old professor of political science was already serving an 18-month sentence for criticizing the Iranian regime. He came out on medical furlough—only for Tehran’s prosecutor to start investigating him again. Now Zibakalam, one of Iran’s best-known public intellectuals, whose combined followers on Instagram, Facebook, and X total almost 2…

  • The Oscars give a window into the depth of Iranian cinema

    Published in the National Getting an Oscar nomination is quite rare for countries outside the US and Europe. So, it’s a testament to the power of Iranian cinema that this year two films from the country were nominated. Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig competed as one of the best five nominees for Best International…

  • The Axis of Resistance Keeps Getting Smaller

    Published in the Atlantic The Iranian regime spent decades building the Axis of Resistance, a coalition of anti-Western militias that extended Tehran’s influence deep into the Arab world. But what takes years to build can collapse seemingly overnight. Iraq is the latest country in which many leaders are attempting to move out of Iran’s orbit.…

  • A student’s murder in Tehran should remind Iran’s leaders they have enough trouble at home

    Published in the National The list of grievances Iranians hold against their security forces is so long that it’s hard to predict which ones could lead to protests at any given moment. A recent impetus was a brutal murder that doesn’t seem to be political at the first glance but, like many things in Iran,…

  • Trump’s game of hardball with Iran

    Published in Majalla US President Donald Trump has long had a consistent position on Iran: He doesn’t want to change the country’s rulers, but he does want to change their behaviour, chiefly to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon. In order to get there, he is intent on bringing back his first-term policy of maximum pressure,…

  • For Trump, the debate in Iran around tackling financial crimes presents an opening

    Published by the National The acronym FATF probably doesn’t mean much to most people around the world. It refers to the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based intergovernmental organisation seeking to tackle money-laundering and financing of terrorism. But this relatively obscure body is almost a household name in Iran given its central role in political debates…

  • My Favorite Cake: That daring quest called life

    Published in Universal Cinema Long before I watched My Favorite Cake, I was struck by the power of some of the scenes shown in its trailer. I wasn’t alone and this wonder was shared by thousands of Iranians who watched the viral trailer. In a particularly memorable scene, Mahin (Leyli Farhadpour) pours a glass of wine for…

  • Why Reading Lolita in Tehran Holds Up

    Published by the Atlantic The past few years may well be remembered as the nadir of Iranian-Israeli relations, and the first occasion when the two countries attacked each other directly. But they were also a golden period for Iranian-Israeli collaboration in cinema. In 2023, Tatami was the first-ever film to be co-directed by an Israeli (Guy Nattiv) and…

  • Breakfast with Giraffes: Iranian absurdism for absurd times

    Published in Universal Cinema Iranian cinema has long been known for its poetic films and, more recently, for its intense dramas. But one oft-ignored Iranian genre is comedy, a rarity on the festival circuit. In the Iranian box-office, however, comedies often do well.  Soroush Sehhat’s Breakfast with Giraffes is one example. Although it hasn’t been shown in…

  • Iranian politicians’ debate over sending aid to California is revealing

    Published by the National The wildfires currently rolling through southern California have brought unprecedented damage to the Golden State and dominated global headlines. Thousands of miles away from the US, in Iran, the wildfires have become the subject of a revealing political debate between the country’s divergent political factions. It can be seen as a…

  • Lisbon as a flaneur

    Published on my Substack Last September, I spent a week in Lisbon, long one of my favorite cities. I was there for a conference, but I knew I have a lot of free time and had decided to use it to engage in being what I love most: a flaneur. I had flaneured in Lisbon…

  • Iran’s Return to Pragmatism

    Published by the Atlantic The Iranian presidency seems to be a cursed position. Of the eight men who have held it before the current president, five eventually found themselves politically marginalized after their term finished. Two others fell to violent deaths in office (a bomb attack in 1981, a helicopter crash in 2024). The only exception is…

  • Despite Pezeshkian’s limited powers, the tide is turning in favour of internet freedom in Iran

    Published by the National Iran is often in the news for its regional and international affairs, but in recent weeks a domestic political issue has dominated the headlines in the country – censorship of the internet. Ordinary Iranians have had limited access to the internet for very many years now. Thousands of websites are banned,…

  • What does Trump want from Iran?

    Published by Al Majalla Donald Trump is still a few weeks away from the White House, but every decision he makes is watched closely by a host of stakeholders around the world. What we do know is that the president-elect is notoriously unpredictable, especially when it comes to Middle East policy. Observers are thus looking into his…

  • RIP, the Axis of Resistance

    Published by the Atlantic Iran’s Axis of Resistance, an informal coalition of anti-Western and anti-Israeli militias, was already having a terrible year. But the loss of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad may have dealt the knockout blow. Syria was both the organizing ground and the proof of concept for the Axis. Assad owed his throne…

  • Assad’s Opponents Are Building a New Order

    Published by the Atlantic A carnival of joy has erupted in Syria with the fall of the strongman Bashar al-Assad. Syrians have waited a long time and paid a heavy price for this jubilation. Thirteen years ago, the country’s revolution began with peaceful demonstrations; since then, by one estimate, more than 600,000 Syrians have lost their lives.…