Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
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U.S. foreign policy in the Middle EastSlave to the Trumpian impulse
Beyond the latest crisis with Iran, current U.S. Middle East policy is nothing if not chaotic. Many fear that the Trumpian approach could irreparably damage future U.S. administrations and international order as a result. By Stasa Salacanin
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Interview with the artist Parastou ForouharIranian society in shock
Every year German-Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar travels to Iran to commemorate her parents who were killed by secret service agents. This year, the funeral service coincided with the nationwide protests in Iran. Interview by Farhad Payar
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Film review: Hossein Pourseifi's "Morgen sind wir frei"Love in the time of revolution
"Morgen sind wir frei" – Tomorrow we'll be free – charts a love story under the baleful glare of a face painted on the side of a building in Tehran. It is a film about the hopes of a German-Iranian family during and after the revolution in Iran with all the pain of terror, oppression and separation. By Maryam Ansari
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Reassessing the Islamic RepublicDid the Iranian revolution deliver?
According to the well-known Tehran political science professor, Sadegh Zibakalam, if Iran were to hold a referendum on the Islamic Republic today, over 70% would clearly oppose it. Forty years on from the foundation of the Islamic Republic, Ali Fathollah-Nejad revisits the promises of the revolution to explore why this is the case
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The West versus the Islamic Republic?Iran's 40 years of strife
The 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution might have offered the West an opportunity to reflect on the failure of four decades of disengagement to bring the Islamic Republic any closer to collapse – or the region any closer to peace. Instead, the Trump administration has doubled down on hostility, with nothing to show for it. By Javier Solana
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The Republic of Iran turns fortyA theocracy at the crossroads
In its 40th year, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in a state of disintegration, says one of the country's strategists. The theocracy has arrived at a crossroads and the world cannot be indifferent to its future direction. Essay by Ali Sadrzadeh
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The summer of 1988A dark chapter in Iranian history
In the summer of 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree sentencing thousands of political prisoners to death. Monireh Baradaran was a left-wing activist in prison at the time and witnessed her cellmates being picked up for execution. Interview by Farhad Payar
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Geopolitics in the Middle EastEnd the Arab-Iranian tug-of-war
You can’t change regional geography, notes the political analyst Khaled Hroub. Iran and the Arabs will always be neighbours, but we can change and re-shape history and politics. The common interest must therefore lie in ending the period of conflict and moving towards co-operation and regional security
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The Islamic Republic turns 39At risk of Syrianisation?
Was the recent unrest in Iran merely a harbinger of a bigger political quake? Prominent sociologists and political scientists are predicting some more extensive social shock waves. And one man who made his name during the revolution has offered his apologies to the Iranian people. By Ali Sadrzadeh
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Protests in IranNo revolution in sight
Forty years after the start of the Islamic Revolution, Iran is once again convulsed with protests. Many of the economic problems facing the country today resemble those in the 1970s, and the regime appears to be scarcely less repressive and ossified than it was back then. Nevertheless, the current protests are unlikely to be the beginning of a new revolution, says Ulrich von Schwerin
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Iran′s ″Holy Defence″Dulce et decorum est...
Iran has many museums dedicated to its rich history. Nevertheless, those places that focus on events during which Iranians and other prominent 'Defenders of Islam' lost their lives, enjoy special status. By Philipp Breu
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Obituary: dissident Ebrahim YazdiAn emblematic figure of Iranian politics bows out
The image of Ebrahim Yazdi, who passed away on 27 August aged 86, fittingly portrays the paradoxes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Those involved in Tehran′s political scene of the last twenty years knew him as the opposition, an ′Islamic liberal′ and supporter of democratic reforms. By Marina Forti