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Writings

  • Parviz Fattah: The new Ahmadinejad that may be running for president

    Published by IranSource of the Atlantic Council  No one was prepared for the avalanche of information Parviz Fattah unleashed during a live interview with Iran’s national broadcaster on August 8. The 59-year-old former energy minister named several top political personalities and organizations, including military bodies, who were using Mostazafan Foundation properties, an organization Fattah now heads, without… Parviz…

  • Outrage After Iran Erases Girls from a Math Textbook Cover

    Published by IranWire When Mohammad Taha Zanjani, a third-grade student in Iran, came home and showed his father the textbooks for his new school year, his father soon became livid. A quick check confirmed the rumors that had been swirling online. There was a major change in the design of a third-grade math textbook: all… Outrage…

  • Iran’s #MeToo Moment: First Steps of a “Long March”

    Published by IranWire It all started with a cringe-worthy tweet. “Kiss her lips on the first date and if she didn’t protest that means she’ll let you fuck her,” an Iranian man tweeted in Persian on August 6. “If she did protest, tell her ‘I was lost in your beauty and didn’t know what I was doing.’… Iran’s…

  • Barred from Iran, Baha’i scientist takes a quantum leap with Google

    Published by IranWire  Pedram Roshan has not lived in Iran for about 20 years. Memories of his country of birth are “fading,” every day, he says. But he vividly remembers the best definition of physics he ever heard in his life. It came not from a top Ivy League professor in the US but from… Barred…

  • Remembering the PS752 Victims

    Commissioned by IranWire, I had the honor to translate the tributes written to the victims of PS752, a passenger airliner shot down by Iran in January, 2020. Here are links to these tributes: Reera Esmaeilion   

  • Iranian State Media Decries Biblical Animated Film as “Zionist Infiltration”

    Published by IranWire There is no shortage of front page-worthy news in Iran these days. The country is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history, it is battling a horrendous pandemic, it has weathered a series of mysterious explosions and continues to hang political prisoners, leading to protest and dissent. But… Iranian…

  • More than Four Million Twitter Users Say: Don’t Execute These Three Iranian Protesters!

    Published by IranWire Twitter is well-known for acrimonious debate and Iranians on Twitter exemplify just how contentious the platform can get. Issues great and small often deeply divide Iranians, with the blue bird logo coming to be a symbol of these harsh divisions. Rarely does a political issue unite large swathes of Iranian public opinion.… More…

  • Iran’s Sorely-Missed Top Pop Singer Loses Beard for Charity

    Published by IranWire All the catastrophic consequences of the coronavirus lockdown aside, it has led to some amusing moments. Millions of people having to avoid hair salons for months resulted in our timelines being filled up with signature quarantine beards or amateur spouse-inflicted haircuts. With the gradual easing of restrictions, barbershops were Destination No 1… Iran’s…

  • What Happened to Us?

    Published by Tel Aviv Review of Books The story of the modern Middle East seen through the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. n the fall of 2017, I moved to the United States to start a PhD in History and Middle Eastern studies. I loved my department and had many friends, but my closest… What…

  • Hezbollah Teaches Antisemitism to Early Teens, Report Reveals

    Pusblished by IranWire What do you remember from sixth grade? A funny drawing in a chemistry textbook or a math problem no one could solve? If you went to a primary school run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, chances are one thing would stick out: the hatred of Jews.  

  • Iran Says He is an Israeli Spy. His Former Cellmate Says He is Innocent

    Published by IranWire The name Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd wouldn’t have rung a bell for most of us until a few days ago. That is, until the Iranian judiciary published a picture of him and claimed that he had been working with US and Israeli intelligence spy on General Ghasem Soleimani: the former commander of Iran’s external operations who was… Iran…

  • Hotdocs Festival I Mayor (2020): Ramallah, Open City

    Published by Universal Cinema Among the absurdly bad faith (or shockingly ignorant) arguments made to justify the occupation policies of Israel toward the Palestinian people are those that point out at how vibrant and fun can life be in many of the Palestinian cities under Israeli occupation. How could it be so bad if they… Hotdocs…

  • Revealed: The Key Role Iran Plays in Syria’s Economy

    Published by IranWire The Middle East is perhaps the least integrated region in the world. Two of its biggest countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are involved in a cold war, and numerous blocks pit countries big and small against each other, making inter-state trade difficult. Where there are close economic ties, the relationships are often… Revealed:…

  • The new man of power in Iran’s parliament

    Published by the Atlantic Council According to an old dictum, the best leaders are those who don’t ask for the job. By such logic, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the fifty-eight-year-old who became the new speaker of the Iranian parliament on May 28, is not very qualified. The conservative soldier-cum-politician has never hidden his ambitions for power.… The…

  • Khamenei’s Open Dream: Finishing Where Hitler Left Off

    Published by IranWire Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has many distinctive characteristics that ensure he stands out. He is the third-longest ruling leader in the world. He is one of the very few who claim a mantle of divine sovereignty. He is unique in asking for 300,000 of his own citizens, the Baha’is of Iran,… Khamenei’s…

  • UK’s Israeli Film And TV Festival Goes Virtual

    Published by Universal Cinema If it wasn’t for the pandemic, London’s Jewish Community Center (JW3) was going to have a busy week ahead. It had long been scheduled to host Seret, UK’s Israeli Film and TV festival from 21 to 30 May, 2020. But the three cheerful women who founded the festival eight years ago… UK’s…

  • True History Of The Kelly Gang (2020) | Anarcho-Freudian Fantasies In The Antipodes

    Published by Universal Cinema Magazine Ned Kelly, the late 19th-century Irish-Australian gang leader, has long had a hold on creative imaginations. Executed at the young age of 25 in 1880, Kelly had led a gang that fought the authorities head on in pre-confederation Colony of Victoria. He went on to become a legend of Australia’s bushranger… True…

  • May Day Without Crowds

    A Historian Reflecting on May Day and the Pandemic Published by Bare Life Review Long before I decided to become a historian, taking part in May Day always made me think historically. The commemoration of the workers’ rally in Chicago on May 4, 1886, the “holiday of the proletariat,” has long had that historic ring.… May…

  • Can Qasem Soleimani’s young daughter continue his path?

    Published by the Atlantic Council’s Iran Source  Late March marks the ancient holiday of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. But with Iran one of the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Nowruz had a somber tone this time around. Being avid users of Instagram, Iranians took to the photo-sharing app to share their mood on… Can…

  • Why sanctions on Iran should be lifted now

    Published by the New Arab What do Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Senators Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the New York Times editorial board and Human Rights Watch have in common? They have all called for easing of the US sanctions on Iran which have hampered the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and thus endangered the… Why…