Monday, February 2, 2026
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Sattar, Iranian Performers Honor Khuzestan Protests With Song Khunestan 

By Ahmad Rafat   Khunestan (“Land of Blood”) is a song written in tribute to this summer’s bloody protests against water shortage in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, which resulted in 11 deaths and some 700...
Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces

ANALYSIS: Iran’s Militia Networks in the Middle East and Africa

By Ahmad Rafat Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has given the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) one month to either integrate the Iraqi military or lay down its arms and become a political organization. The PMF, also...

Jailed Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi In Competition at Venice Film Festival

By Ahmad Rafat The Venice International Film Festival turns 90 this year. Originally launched in 1932, it is the oldest international film festival in the world. The 79th edition of the festival, organized by La Biennale...

ANALYSIS: Iran and Israel Are On the Brink of An All-Out Military Conflict

      By Ahmad Rafat In the aftermath of the large-scale drone and missile attack launched by the Islamic Republic on Israel on April 13 and 14, there are heightened concerns about the possibility of a full-blown...

Israeli Museum Celebrates Iranian Graphic Art

By Ahmad Rafat An exhibition of contemporary Iranian poster art is currently on in a highly unexpected location: the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. Ending on November 19, the exhibition is a...

Iranian Director Rasoulof Likely To Attend His Cannes Festival Premiere

By Ahmad Rafat Iranian Director Mohammad Rasoulof, who has left Iran secretly, will reportedly be on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of his latest film, “The Seed of The...
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Banned Iranian Director Ali Ahmadzadeh Wins Top Award At Locarno Film Festival

By Ahmad Rafat Ali Ahmadzadeh — an Iranian filmmaker who was banned earlier this year from leaving his country — has won the top award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland for his movie...
Baghdad

ANALYSIS: Iraq Is the New Battleground for Iran and Israel

By Ahmad Rafat Israel has opened a new front in its war against Iran. After Lebanon and Syria, the conflict between the two countries has now spread to Iraq. There have been a series 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: Biden Is Giving A Gift to Islamic Republic on Mahsa Anniversary

By Ahmad Rafat The U.S. government is handing over $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets and releasing five detained Iranians as part of a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, in exchange for the...