Irán

Change Is Coming to Iran, Just Not the Change We Hoped For

On March 1, Iranians went to the polls for the first time since the protest movement of 2022 and the war in Gaza. The vote, for the Parliament and Assembly of Experts, which appoints the supreme leader, was far from a referendum on current leaders, though. The big result was the number of people who didn’t vote. Even if we are to believe official numbers, the turnout of this election marks the lowest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979: only 41 percent of Iranian voters showed up at the polls.

Regardless of the turnout, change would not have come at the ballot box.…  Seguir leyendo »

A still from the 1997 film "Taste of Cherry."

Iran today might be best known for two things: one of the most repressive regimes in the world and one of the most impressive cinemas in the world. The coexistence of the two is a conundrum that perplexes many people. How does a country known for ferocious repression of dissent and artistic freedom end up producing some of the most impressive films in the world? What does this tell us about the relationship between autocracy and art? And how are we to understand Iran’s cinema community, often a victim of the regime’s policies of censorship and persecution? Are Iranian films political by nature and, if so, what is their politics?…  Seguir leyendo »

An Iranian woman shows a voting document as she waits in front of a polling station in Tehran on 1 March, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty images)

Iran’s parliamentary and Assembly of Experts election held on 1 March should not be seen as a democratic exercise where people express their will at the ballot box. As in many authoritarian countries, elections in Iran have long been used to legitimize the power and influence of the ruling elite.

These elections come one year after Mahsa Jina Amini’s tragic death for improper veiling at the hands of Iran’s morality police – an event that sparked month long protests across the country. They also follow a brutal government crackdown, declining economic conditions and an uptick in executions.

Rather than build back popular legitimacy through inclusive elections, the political establishment led by the aging 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has prioritized a further consolidation of conservative power across elected and unelected institutions to prepare for clerical succession.…  Seguir leyendo »

Deux membres du Corps des gardiens de la révolution islamique montant la garde à côté d’un système de missiles antiaériens lors du rassemblement militaire « Ela Beit al-Moghaddas » (« Mosquée al-Aqsa») à Téhéran, en novembre 2023. Archives AFP

Alors que la guerre continue de ravager Gaza, le New York Times a révélé, dans un article publié mardi dernier et citant des officiels américains et iraniens, que Téhéran avait demandé à ses alliés dans tout le Moyen-Orient de suspendre leurs attaques contre les forces américaines, craignant que cela ne l’entraîne dans un conflit avec les États-Unis. Depuis le début du conflit, les Iraniens se sont en effet montrés calculateurs dans leur approche, montrant l’étendue de leur influence par le biais de leurs alliés au Liban, au Yémen et en Irak, tout en évitant de provoquer une conflagration régionale qui pourrait les impliquer directement et détruire leurs atouts les plus précieux.…  Seguir leyendo »

Missiles are on display by the side of the road in Tehran, Iran, on February 11. As global attention focuses on the war in Gaza, Tehran has been enriching ever-more near-weapons grade uranium. Hossein Beris//Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

The crises wracking the Middle East are simultaneously independent flashpoints and also a relatively integrated regionwide offensive by Iranian-backed armed gangs.

It’s sometimes unclear how much control Iran has over these militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and elsewhere.

Although Iran’s influence operates just beneath the earthquakes and tremors shaking the region, much like the Biden administration, Iran is serious about wanting to avoid a broader war.

Both are like Goldilocks, needing just enough but not too much.

But there are key differences. The United States is a status quo power — upholding security and stability is its regional brand.…  Seguir leyendo »

U.S. soldiers patrol an area in the town of Tell Hamis, in Syria's northeastern Hasakah governorate, on Jan. 24. Delil Souleimann/AFP via Getty Images

Three U.S. service members were killed near the Syrian border in northeastern Jordan by a drone from an Iranian-aligned militia over the weekend. U.S. troops are in the area to support the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State while also monitoring Iranian activity along the land corridor between Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. As tensions escalate in the Middle East, the frequency of attacks on U.S. troops in the region by Iran-aligned militias places American soldiers at greater risk than they have faced in years. With over 100 attacks reported since the onset of the Gaza conflict, it is time to ask whether the risks of maintaining these outposts outweigh their remaining benefits.…  Seguir leyendo »

Houthi supporters rallying in Sanaa, Yemen, January 2024. Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Since November, the Red Sea has become the site of escalating attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement, the armed group that governs most of Yemen’s population. These assaults, which the Houthi rebels say are designed to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, mark the emergence of a new conflict zone in the already volatile Middle East. By effectively closing the sea to cargo ships, the strikes have disrupted global trade and earned the Houthis unprecedented international attention.

The attacks have done an especially good job of earning the Houthis attention—and support—from Iran. Traditionally, the militia has been a second-tier partner for the Islamic Republic, which tends to work more closely with Hezbollah and other militia groups that share its anti-American ideology.…  Seguir leyendo »

The time has come to declare gender apartheid a crime.

For decades, Iranian women have faced various forms of gender-based discrimination at the hands of the Islamic Republic. Systematically and purposefully, Iranian officials have advanced the subjugation of women, girls and others through the use of all instruments and powers of the state.

They have instituted a complex web of discriminatory, degrading and dehumanizing laws, policies and practices in stark contravention of Iran’s obligations under international law. Women and girls face limits and restrictions in all aspects of our lives — from our education and employment, to our dress and bodily autonomy.…  Seguir leyendo »

At a rally in support of Palestinians, Tehran, November 2023. Majid Asgaripour / Reuters

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Iran’s government has sounded bullish, even triumphalist notes. “The Zionist regime’s defeat in this event is not just the defeat of the Zionist regime”, contended Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a speech last month, referencing Israeli setbacks on the battlefield. “It is also the defeat of the U.S”. At the beginning of January, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi boasted that his country’s enemies “can see Iran’s power, and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities”. And a few days later, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson declared that the so-called axis of resistance—the network of partners and proxies Iran backs across the region—is more “coherent, resilient and united than ever”.…  Seguir leyendo »

L’entrée de la prison d’Evin. Téhéran, octobre 2022. — © Wana News Agency / VIA REUTERS

Sans avocat, pas d’accès à la justice. La protection des libertés fondamentales et des droits humains dont toute personne doit pouvoir jouir, que ceux-ci soient économiques, sociaux et culturels ou civils et politiques, exige que chacun ait effectivement accès à des services juridiques fournis par des avocats et des avocates indépendants.

Le 24 janvier 2024 se tient la 14e édition de la Journée mondiale des avocats en danger dédiée à la profession d’avocat en Iran. Cette journée commémore le massacre d’Atocha, un attentat terroriste post-franquiste commis par des activistes d’extrême droite dans le centre de Madrid, calle Atocha 55, la nuit du 24 janvier 1977, au cours duquel quatre avocats furent assassinés.…  Seguir leyendo »

A local resident shows a mountain at the Koh-e-Sabz area of Pakistan's south-west Baluchistan province where Iran launched an airstrike, on 18 January 2024. Photo by BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images.

A local resident shows a mountain at the Koh-e-Sabz area of Pakistan's south-west Baluchistan province where Iran launched an airstrike, on 18 January 2024. Photo by BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images.

The recent escalation of tensions between Iran and Pakistan has fuelled concerns of a potential spillover of conflict from the Middle East into South Asia. Events in recent months have highlighted Iran’s role as a volatile geopolitical actor through its support for regional proxies like Hamas and the Houthis.

But on 16 January, Iran took direct action and carried out attacks on alleged strongholds of the militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran.…  Seguir leyendo »

Why Iran Doesn’t Want a War

The war in Gaza has now gone where many feared it would, expanding into conflict in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the Red Sea. With America’s repeated strikes against the Houthis in Yemen this month, fears of a larger regional conflagration are steadily growing.

Present in each of those arenas is Iran — and the question of whether Tehran and its powerful military will enter a wider war.

For years, Iran has provided funding, arms or training to Hamas and Hezbollah, which are fighting Israel, and to the Houthis, who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea. Iran has also launched its own strikes in recent days in retaliation for a deadly bombing earlier this month, claiming to target Israeli spy headquarters in Iraq and the Islamic State in Syria.…  Seguir leyendo »

Posters of the former Hamas leader Ahmad Yassin, the former chief of the Iranian Quds Force Qassem Soleimani, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah; and the Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat in Sanaa, Yemen, January 2024. Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

On January 12, the United Kingdom and the United States launched military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. These attacks were a response to the group’s assaults on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which have disrupted global trade. The Houthis’ actions briefly made them the most prominent members of a military coalition that has become increasingly active across the region following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri and other Hamas leaders in Beirut on January 2. For following their deaths, Hezbollah’s commander, Hassan Nasrallah vowed retribution and declared that the fight against Israel required nothing less than an “axis of resistance”.…  Seguir leyendo »

The USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Eastern Mediterranean on November 03, 2023. (Photo by US Navy Janae Chambers/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Attacks in recent weeks by Yemen’s Houthis on ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait have increased calls in Washington for a forceful US military response directed at Iranian proxies – and at Iran itself.

Officials in the Department of Defense as well as senior officers in the US military have expressed concern about what they view as a relatively timid US response to the Houthi attacks.

This follows Sen. Tom Cotton’s proposal for ‘ massive retaliation’ against Iranians operating in Iraq and Syria, and presidential candidate Tim Scott advocating ‘ attacking Iran, not just warehouses in Syria’ during Republican debates.…  Seguir leyendo »

A screen grab captured from a Houthi Media Center video shows the cargo ship Galaxy being hijacked by Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen in the Red Sea on Nov. 20, 2023. Houthis Media Center/Anadolu via Getty Images

So risky has the Red Sea become since Houthi militants started their attacks on shipping that, since late November, over 350 container ships—plus all manner of tankers, bulk carriers, car carriers, and other merchant vessels—have diverted to other routes. That means massive logistical challenges that involve not just new charts and more fuel but getting crews and cargo to alternative staging posts. Because shipping is extraordinarily efficient, most won’t notice a thing. But if the attacks on shipping continue, we’ll start paying for the service. And we would do well to anticipate Houthi-like campaigns in other waters.

Not a day passes without more turbulence in the Red Sea.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ebrahim Raïssi, le président du régime islamique d’Iran, était invité au Forum mondial sur les réfugiés organisé par l’ONU à Genève, le 13 décembre. Il a finalement dû annuler son voyage du fait d’une plainte pour crimes contre l’humanité déposée à son encontre par trois Iraniens résidant en Suisse [la délégation iranienne sera donc conduite par le chef de la diplomatie, Hossein Amir Abdollahian].

Le Forum 2023 est parrainé par cinq Etats, dont la France, et coorganisé par le gouvernement suisse et le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR). Rappelons qu’Ebrahim Raïssi, également appelé le « bourreau de Téhéran », a été membre du « comité de la mort » qui avait ordonné l’exécution sommaire de plus de quatre mille prisonniers politiques en 1988.…  Seguir leyendo »

La militante et journaliste Narges Mohammadi, à une date inconnue. Photo fournie par la Fondation Narges Mohammadi, le 2 octobre 2023. - / AFP

Je tiens à exprimer ma gratitude envers les honorables membres du comité Nobel de la Paix pour avoir attribué le prestigieux prix Nobel de la paix au magnifique mouvement « Femme, Vie, Liberté » et à une femme emprisonnée, défenseure des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie. Je suis reconnaissante pour votre soutien significatif et déterminé.

Je suis convaincue que l’impact indéniable du prix Nobel de la paix sur la puissante mobilisation des Iraniens pour la paix, la liberté et la démocratie sera largement supérieur à celui de ma lutte et de ma résistance personnelles. C’est une source d’espoir et d’inspiration pour moi.…  Seguir leyendo »

The leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, General Hossein Salami, during the swearing in ceremony for Iran's new president at the parliament in the Islamic republic's capital Tehran on August 5, 2021. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Since its start, the war in Gaza has been thought of as potentially foreshadowing a direct conflict between Iran and Israel. Hezbollah continues to threaten to open a new front in the war, and Iranian hard-liners have welcomed their country’s direct intervention. Last month, Iran’s former foreign minister, Javad Zarif, mentioned a letter written by hard-line officials to Iran’s supreme leader attempting to persuade him to engage in the conflict with Israel on behalf of Hamas.

The likelihood of an expanded regional war, however, is low. Despite the slogans echoed by Iranian hard-liners, the reality of Iran’s strategic thinking is more circumspect.…  Seguir leyendo »

En el complejo y capital momento interior que vive España, destaca la atención prestada a una noticia aparentemente encuadrable en el apartado de "Sucesos". Con Irán al fondo: el conocimiento del caso por el disparo a Alejo Vidal-Quadras -el 9 de noviembre, a quemarropa, en pleno día y en el centro de Madrid- ha sido encomendado a la Audiencia Nacional. Lo que entraña apreciar, de saque, indicios de atentado terrorista, sin perjuicio de que pueda acabar en el Juzgado de Instrucción si esta pista no se consolida. Vidal-Quadras, desde el hospital, ha señalado a Teherán, entendiendo que su trabajo defendiendo a los opositores del régimen podría haberle puesto en la diana.…  Seguir leyendo »

People gathered at Imam Hossein Square in Tehran to watch Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's speech regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, on 3 November 2023. Photo by HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images.

Since the 7 October attacks on Israel, Iran’s support for Hamas and its broader regional goals – most importantly, its long-standing hostility towards Israel – have come into sharp focus.

Questions over Tehran’s direct role in the attacks were quickly quashed by US and Israeli officials as well as Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

These denials are a stark reminder that Iran’s regional strategy and broader objectives are a key destabilizing force that requires a coordinated regional and international response.

Iran-backed groups across the Middle East – what Tehran calls the ‘axis of resistance’ – have threatened and attacked Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and groups in Syria and Iraq, signalling their intent to join a transnational fight and raising the stakes of Israel’s war.…  Seguir leyendo »