Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
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Iranian parliament approves cabinetMoving forward into the past
The cabinet of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has disappointed those who voted for change. Pezeshkian’s voters had only modest expectations – less oppression of women and easier access to the internet – but in the Islamic Republic, everything remains the same.
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Israel, the USA and the Islamic RepublicUnderstanding Iran's "offensive-defensive" strategy
April 2024 not only saw Iran's unprecedented direct assault on Israel but also a violent crackdown on women in Iran refusing to wear the hijab. So what is behind Tehran's conflicting sense of hubris and insecurity?
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The Iranian theologian and feminist Sedigheh VasmaghiA revolution in Islamic law
With her work, Iranian feminist and legal scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi is putting an end to male dominance in Islamic jurisprudence, striking at the very heart of the Islamic Republic.
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Iranian protest literatureEhtesham-Zadeh and the inner revolution
"Zan", Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh's short story collection, tells of Iranian women during the uprising in Iran, and of women in exile grappling in diverse ways with their identity and roots. A book about women, life and freedom that has arrived at exactly the right moment
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Parliamentary elections in IranTehran's election fiasco
Regime and society in Iran remain on a collision course with the actual turnout in the second round of Iran's parliamentary election last week estimated to have fallen below 40 per cent.
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Iran electionsWhy Tehran may announce a fake voter turnout
Banned from the streets, the protests in Iran continue. This week's elections will reflect just how much – or how little – popular support the Islamic Republic still enjoys
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Sunnis and Shias in IslamHow the Sunni-Shia split shaped the Islamic world throughout history
Toby Matthiesen's new book, "The Caliph and the Imam", explores both the origins of the Sunni-Shia divide, what the two branches of Islam have in common and how the split has shaped the Islamic world
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War in the Middle EastWhat's China's stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict?
Beijing is seeking to mediate in the war between Israel and Hamas. China has condemned both parties' violence. Despite this, public hostility towards Israel prevails
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Hamas-Israel conflictHamas violently forces detour from Saudi-Israel momentum
With its surprise attack against Israel, Hamas has violently shifted the world's eyes back to the Palestinians and dealt a severe blow to momentum to secure a landmark U.S.-brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia
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Iran and Mahsa Amini, one year onTehran's power base is fading
Prominent voices from within the Islamic Republic's inner circle of power – once spokesmen for the most radical factions – are now vehement in their criticism of Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader. They used the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death to drive home their condemnation. By Ali Sadrzadeh
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Iran protestsTehran dismisses university lecturers
University lecturers critical of the regime are being dismissed, while those loyal to the regime are being rehired: Tehran's Islamic regime is apparently reshaping the country's universities even more strictly according to its own ideas. By Iman Aslani
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Iran-Saudi dealThe Islamic Republic's dilemma
Iran's deal last spring with Saudi Arabia, brokered by China, highlighted the emergence of an unstable equilibrium in the Islamic Republic's foreign policy. Amin Naeni and Ali Fathollah-Nejad explore the inherent tensions