Tehran Bureau | The Guardian

Some academics argue the Safavid Shahs gave Iranian Shiism a rule-fixation and abandonment of spirituality it has never lost The crowning of Ismail as king of Iran in Tabriz in 1501 was low-key...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/29/iran-shia-islam-matter-of-state

Lake Urmia’s grim destiny reflects a wider trend of enviromental problems in Iran, including an over-reliance on dams, extreme weather patterns, climatic changes, poor irrigation practices and ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/sep/23/iran-lake-urmia-environment

Rouhani is losing ground as his fundamentalists opponents push slogans oddly similar to those of Donald Trump and the Brexiteers The latest poll from IranPoll, the Canadian outfit linked to Ma...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/13/polling-gives-a-dark-forecast-for-iranian-president-hassan-rouhani

Do documents support the claim from BBC Persian that the United States helped Ayatollah Khomeini gain power in 1979? ‘A tempest in a teapot’ was how Gary Sick described the recent reports b...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/jul/01/iran-conspiracy-theories-khomeini-carter

The United States in 2009 listed Kassim Tajideen as a financier of Hezbollah, the Iran-allied Lebanese party, leaving him shut out from banks with no legal redress Put aside any image of a glob...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/may/25/kassim-tajideen-us-treasury-hezbollah-tehranbureau

Playful seriousness abounds in this exhibition at New York’s Rogue Space gallery Holy Cow. The title of Allahyar Najafi’s painting captures the playful seriousness that abounds in IRAN X CU...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/may/10/iran-x-cuba-beyond-the-headline-review

Massive water transfer schemes are no solution to Iran’s growing problems with drought A grand vision of eliminating water scarcity looks attractive for tens of millions of people in the deser...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/09/iran-desalination-water

For the sick, it doesn’t matter whether sanctions or government mismanagement is more to blame for the dire state of Iran’s health service. A doctor-in-training gives us an inside look I le...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/may/03/desperate-remedies-inside-a-neurosurgery-ward-in-iran

Over the years the state crackdown on women’s dress has become more of a show to placate the country’s hardline base. Our correspondent shares stories from her personal repertoire illustratin...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/28/iranian-women-hate-hijab-tehranbureau

Cancer and other chronic diseases are reportedly sweeping Iran’s prisons and inmates are routinely denied access to proper medical care. A group of prominent professors urge the President to in...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/27/iran-president-rouhani-open-letter-prisoners-urgent-need-medical-care-tehranbureau

On the complex regional chess board, Iran wants better relations with Moscow even as the Russians have extended their intelligence co-operation with Israel in Syria Ali Larijani, Iran’s parlia...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/25/iran-russia-israel-tehranbureau

The reformists used to give up when their candidates were disqualified or defeated in the first round - now they ask voters to go tactical. The remaining parliamentary seats are up for grab next ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/22/iran-runoff-parliamentary-elections-tehranbureau

As with the nuclear agreement, supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Rouhani may have more in common than in dispute over the economy and foreign investment The relationship between Ayatoll...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/19/iran-resistance-economy-tehranbureau

A former US negotiator doesn’t think European companies should shun doing business with the Islamic Republic. Just do your due diligence and keep records, says Richard Nephew United States gov...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/13/untangling-irans-web-of-sanctions-after-the-nuclear-deal

Iranians have long used traditional remedies to cure all kinds of ailments - pennyroyal to soothe, chicory to purify, marjoram to lift the spirits. But a rapid recent growth in traditional medici...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/11/iran-traditional-medicine-herbs-regulation-tehranbureau

Photographer SABYL GHOUSSOUB always wanted to take pictures of the country, but he was’t interested in veiled women, clerics or the underground scene in Tehran. The road less traveled led to De...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/08/iran-men-of-dezful-pictures

Irib’s monopoly has gone, but burying its head in the sand only harms state broadcasting as a whole, argues ROHOLLAH FAGHIHI. Even conservatives agree For 25 years, the Islamic Republic of Ira...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/06/iran-state-tv-challenge-social-media

As 160 under-18s wait on death row in the Islamic Republic, an NGO is raising blood money and public awareness to halt executions of juvenile offenders On the night of 22 March 2009, 17-year-ol...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/mar/31/iran-juveniles-saved-death-row-imam-ali-society

The post-sanctions era: a “golden page in history ”, a turning point in the economy, or business as usual? According to the popular western media narrative, Iran is now ready to talk to the w...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/ng-interactive/2016/mar/30/sanctions-western-misunderstanding-and-religion-100-iranians-share-their-views

Animal lover Maryam Sanei has set up a hospice for unwanted pooches. A draft law penalising those who harass stray animals was referred to the President’s office last month I called Maryam San...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/mar/29/iran-maryam-sanei-hospice-stray-dogs