Though he was often hailed as a reformer in the lead-up to his election as Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani’s performance since his inauguration has not brought about a new era of openness in Iran. Despite the continued threat of repression, a number of Iranians showed their solidarity with political prisoners in the...

Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday described the fallout from what it described as the “first major political defeat” for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a failed campaign by the Rouhani government to convince Iranians to put aside and forgo government assistance programs that had been developed under previous administrations. The campaign had...

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani this week urged European leaders to chart an “independent” foreign policy course, the latest in what has become a string of statements from top Iranian leaders suggesting that Washington’s European allies should split from the U.S. in their approach to the Islamic republic: “The miscalculations of...

As Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 28, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned it is a grave mistake to dismiss Iran’s threats to wipe Israel off the map as mere rhetoric. Today, just like then, there are those who view Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the result of...

A letter written by Iranian dissident Emad Bahavar that was recently smuggled out of the country’s notorious Evin prison paints a grim picture of the conditions under which political prisoners are held in the Islamic Republic. The contents of the letter casts doubt on Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s widely-assumed ability...

Turkish outlet Today’s Zaman on Tuesday described a rush by Iranian banks to open and expand branches in Turkey in the aftermath of “growth restrictions” being lifted: Bank Mellat, which has been in Turkey since 1982, faced restrictions in 2012 which led to a decline in its growth due to...