Protester Ahmad Batebi, Face of Iran’s 1999 Revolt, Speaks to Kayhan Life
By Ahmad Rafat
Tehran University students staged a mass protest on July 9, 1999, after the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence shut down the Salam newspaper for publishing a secret memo by the former deputy intelligence...
Dual Nationals Imprisoned in Iran Face Uncertain Fate
By Ahmad Rafat
Efforts by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe have once again highlighted the plight of dual-national Iranians, who are imprisoned on fabricated charges by...
Whirling Dervishes: An Interview with Painter Irandoust Moghadam
By Ahmad Rafat
The Iranian artist Hossein Irandoust Moghadam was born in 1978 in Iran to an Iranian mother and a Chinese-Iranian father. He was recently in London for an exhibition at London's Gallery 8,...
Iranian Official Stands Trial In a Court in Sweden
By Ahmad Rafat (in Stockholm)
May 4 marked a remarkable day in the Iranian nation’s historic quest for justice when a court in Stockholm concluded trial proceedings for an Iranian national, Hamid Nouri, accused of...
ANALYSIS: Iran’s June Elections Loom Over Vienna Talks, U.S. Rejoining Nuclear Deal
By Ahmad Rafat
A fifth round of talks on the U.S. rejoining the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, is currently taking place in Vienna. Former U.S....
ANALYSIS: Why Sweden Was Silent About Iran’s Alleged Assassination Plots
By Ahmad Rafat
On Feb. 15, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Lennart Billstrom publicly denounced the Iranian government’s involvement in a plot to assassinate three Swedish Jewish citizens.
In a conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian,...
ANALYSIS: What Obama Writes About Iran In His Bestselling Memoir
By Ahmad Rafat
Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land has been a mega-bestseller since its release on Nov. 17. As of late December, more than 3 million copies of the 751-page tome...
EXCLUSIVE : Detained Italian Journalist Is Islamic Republic’s Latest Hostage
By Ahmad Rafat
On Dec. 19, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) took the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala into custody as she was leaving Iran for Italy. After her detention, Sala was swiftly transferred to...
ANALYSIS: Will Global Sanctions Be Reimposed on Islamic Republic of Iran?
By Ahmad Rafat
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—the three European signatories (E3) to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal – have officially triggered the “snapback” mechanism restoring all...
Natanz Explosion: A Game Changer?
By Ahmad Rafat
Ellie Cohanim was the U.S. deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism at the U.S. State Department during the Trump administration, and the Department’s first Iranian-born Jewish representative.
While working for the...
