Project

Iran on the Edge

After a hotly contested presidential election that resulted in street riots and a disputed claim to a renewed mandate by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran stands at a crossroads: between reformist and conservative leadership, between its revolutionary past and its post-revolutionary future.

Ahmadinejad's claimed landslide was met with angry disbelief by the country's reform movement; it also gave renewed urgency to the many unresolved issues that face Iran at home and abroad. How will Iran manage its approach to the Arab World? How will it deal with its rapid demographic growth? How will it manage its image through media outreach-to the Arab World, Turkey, the West, China, Russia and Africa? How will it manage a population, especially among the young, for whom the Islamic Revolution has turned stale? Iason Athanasiadis reports from Iran as these social, regional and evolutionary political developments loom large.

December 27, 2009 | The Washington Times

Iranian Reformist's Nephew Killed During Protest

Iranian police opened fire on demonstrators Sunday, killing the nephew of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and several others and creating new martyrs and momentum for Iran's opposition on the holiest day for Shi'ite Muslims.

Witnesses and opposition Web sites said that clashes took place in Tehran and at least two other cities and were the most massive in several months. Among the dead was Seyed Al Hossein Mousavi, 35.

Press TV, an English-language channel run by the government, said Mr. Mousavi was killed by "unknown assailants."

November 17, 2009 | GlobalPost

Grave of Iran Protester is Desecrated

The grave of Neda Soltan, the Iranian demonstrator whose murder, captured on a cellphone video, became an international symbol for resistance to the Ahmadinejad regime, has been desecrated, according to eyewitnesses in Tehran.

Neda Agha Soltan was killed at the height of the anti-government protests that rocked Iran during the post-election unrest in June. Within hours of her death on the streets of central Tehran, a shocking video of her death went viral, making her the most iconic victim of the Iranian conflict.