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Summary
A group of hardliners held protest rallies against an emerging deal with the United States in Tehran and Mashhad, accusing Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of being an infiltrator and compromising with the US.
Summary
A group of hardliners held protest rallies against an emerging deal with the United States in Tehran and Mashhad, accusing Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of being an infiltrator and compromising with the US.
US, Pakistan say Iran deal set for Sunday as Tehran split clouds signing
US President Donald Trump and Pakistani officials said an Iran-US memorandum of understanding is set for electronic signing Sunday, but Tehran’s path to signing is being clouded by hardline backlash, disputes over nuclear terms and the fate of frozen funds.
ANALYSIS
The uneasy mix of diplomacy and pressure in Canada’s Iran policy
Canada’s response to the latest Iran crisis reflects the contradiction at the heart of Western policy toward Tehran: a continued call for diplomacy with a government it simultaneously treats as a source of terrorism, repression and regional instability.
Iran officials threaten Hormuz escalation as Trump says deal is near
Hours after threatening to hit Iran “very hard,” President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran was close, leaving Iranian officials to balance threats of retaliation with signals that talks over Hormuz, sanctions relief and a fragile ceasefire are still alive.
Iran Protests
How Nourabad Mamasani became an early flashpoint of Iran’s January bloodshed
Days before nationwide protest calls for January 8 and 9, Nourabad Mamasani was already under fire. Accounts received by Iran International describe live ammunition, snipers and heavy weapons used in a crackdown that culminated outside the town courthouse.
War-Torn Economy
War damage adds new strain to Iran’s blackout-prone power grid
Iran’s parliament research arm warned the country’s power grid could face a 13,640-megawatt summer peak deficit, about 17% of projected demand and roughly a third of the country’s average 2024 electricity load, as war damage deepens chronic power shortages.
As prices soar, Iranian diets shrink to survival level
Citizens across Iran say soaring food prices have reduced household diets to the bare minimum needed to stave off hunger, with nutrition and variety increasingly out of reach.
Iran eco-tourism operators warn of closures as travel dries up
Tourism businesses report empty rooms, mounting losses and growing pressure to cut jobs as rising living costs push travel out of reach for many households.
Iran Influence Network
US probes NIAC founder Trita Parsi for possible deportation - Free Press
The US State Department is investigating NIAC founder Trita Parsi and weighing whether to revoke his green card, The Free Press reported, in a case that revives long-running questions over Tehran’s influence in Washington.
Iran Sanctions
INSIGHT
Tehran pushes back on reported US plan for frozen assets
Reports that Washington is considering using frozen Iranian assets to compensate Persian Gulf allies for damage allegedly caused by Iran have triggered a backlash in Tehran, where access to the funds remains a central demand in negotiations with the United States.
INSIGHT
Iran defrocks cleric after challenge to state-backed Shiite narratives
Iran’s Special Clerical Court has sentenced dissident cleric Abdolrahim Soleimani Ardestani to six years in prison, a fine and removal from the clergy, months after his public challenge to state-backed Shiite narratives drew threats and political pressure.
Faith in diplomacy further dented by Iran-Israel exchange
The brief exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel revealed a reality that weeks of ceasefire and diplomacy between Tehran and Washington had obscured: neither side appears willing to absorb a blow without responding, even if doing so risks a return to wider war.
Tehran seeks to draw a line around Lebanon
Iranian officials and media outlets say Tehran's missile strike on Israel in response to attacks on Beirut has established a new red line: future attacks on Hezbollah and Lebanon could trigger direct Iranian retaliation.
'Nothing is over': Iran-Israel conflict enters a new phase
Iran and Israel have paused direct attacks, but Tehran's latest warning suggests the conflict may be evolving rather than ending.
Iran's Arab neighbors turn to 'dark' transfers to keep oil moving
Iran's Arab neighbors are increasingly using shipping methods long associated with Tehran's sanctions-evasion network to keep crude exports flowing amid disruption in the Persian Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm TankerTrackers.
Inside the Iranian missile base hit by Israel near Najafabad
Videos showing explosions, smoke and possible missile impacts in areas near Najafabad in central Iran appear to point to Israeli attacks on the Ahmad Kazemi complex, one of the Revolutionary Guard's most important missile bases.
Student protests over university entrance exam rules continue across Iran
Student protests over Iran’s university entrance exam system continued on Sunday, spreading across at least 20 provinces as pupils demanded changes to rules that give school grades a decisive role in university admissions.
In Case You Missed It
Eye for Iran Podcast
Tehran Insider
Tehran’s youth emerge from war more cynical, not more hopeful
On Sanaei Street in central Tehran, young people spill onto pavements and crowd around tiny tables late into the evening, smoking and laughing as if the war never happened.
Abroad they talk, at home they hang
One thing never stops here: executions. War or no war, talks or no talks, crisis or calm, the machinery moves at its own pace: steady and unbroken, as if insulated from everything else.
