Tehran is prepared to step in to protect Iraq’s political system if formally requested, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq said on Friday.

Iran’s handwoven carpet industry has fallen to its lowest level on record, hit by US sanctions, restrictive foreign-currency rules and regional instability that have driven exports close to collapse, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Comments by Iran’s foreign minister describing international sanctions as having blessings have sparked a wave of criticism from economists and social media users, many accusing senior officials of being detached from the economic hardship faced by ordinary citizens.

Afghan refugees deported from Iran have faced arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings after returning to Afghanistan, according to an investigation by Afghanistan International.

A network of tunnels formed by illegal underground excavations beneath Tehran’s Grand Bazaar has triggered official warnings over serious safety risks, while raising questions about their purpose and those behind the digging.

Cafés—and the social life that has grown around them—have become the latest battleground for Iran’s hardliners, who increasingly see their control over everyday behavior slipping out of reach.

Sweden is investigating suspected aggravated corporate espionage at a sensitive healthcare-related company involving two brothers of Iranian origin, with TV4 reporting police are examining whether unique medical technology was intended to be taken to Iran.

An Iranian photographer who travelled to Russia in search of work says he was coerced into joining the Russian army and sent to fight in Ukraine, pro-Kyiv media outlet UNITED24 Media reported, citing an interview with the 34-year-old man.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it killed a senior operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (IRGC-QF) in a joint operation with the country's intelligence agency in northeast Lebanon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President George W. Bush in 2001 that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons but that Moscow would not assist Tehran in acquiring sensitive technologies, according to a newly released memorandum of their first face-to-face meeting.

Israel lacks the capacity to fight a prolonged war with Iran, an Iranian daily affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps wrote, saying that any renewed conflict would be far costlier and longer than a previous 12-day confrontation.

There is a cruel ritual in Iranian opposition politics: some voices abroad constantly interrogate the “purity” of activists inside—why they did not speak more sharply or endorse maximalist slogans, why survival itself looks insufficiently heroic.

Iran would be destroyed if the Islamic Republic is overthrown, former president Mohammad Khatami said, arguing that reform was the only viable path for change and warning against radical movements.

Iran will not yield to international pressure to allow renewed inspections of nuclear sites hit by the United States in June, the head of the country’s atomic agency said on Wednesday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had seized a tanker in the Persian Gulf carrying millions of litres of smuggled fuel, in the latest maritime interception announced by Tehran in the strategic waterway.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has instructed domestic media outlets to refrain from publishing what it described as biased or false reports about Venezuela, according to a directive reviewed by Iran International.