If you flip through any glossary of specialized terminology, you won’t find the term “class-based internet” or a precise definition of it. However, by implementing this project over the past 20 years, the rulers of the Islamic Republic have compelled Iranian internet users to adopt a term to describe it. Class-based internet refers to the […]

The Iranian Parliament Research Center recently published a study indicating that nearly 55% of students ranked in the top 3,000 in the national university entrance exam come from the top two economic deciles. The study warns that access to higher education in Iran, both in terms of quantity and quality, is significantly unequal. One major […]

During the Mihssa Movement, universities in Iran were one of the main strongholds where the cry of “Women, Life, Freedom” was raised by students and professors. The demands of this section of the scientific community were completely in line with the demands of the people; demands that led thousands of people to take to the […]

In the first hours of the military operation known as “Epic Wrath,” which began on February 28, 2026 (9 Esfand 1404), a series of air and missile strikes targeted various infrastructures across Iran. Meanwhile, Minab County in Hormozgan Province, due to its strategic proximity to logistical and military infrastructure, became one of the main centers […]

Children are among the first victims of war; whether they are present in war themselves or killed as a result of an act of war; whether they are armed and fire in one direction, or are not present in war and are killed or wounded in its turmoil. Even merely witnessing the catastrophe of war […]

Lost in the chaos of Iranian news, a story with catastrophic depth was the story of an old man raping a boy in Tabriz, which led to personal revenge by the boy’s family, who sent the old man to the hospital and into surgery; revenge whose instrument was a wooden sofa leg. In this note, […]

Over its 44-year history, the Fajr Film Festival has gone through different periods which, based on the documented record of this state-run festival, I divide into three main eras: 1) the era of enmity and camaraderie; 2) the era of misery; 3) the era of disgrace. The first era began in February 1983 (Bahman 1361). […]

Iran’s underground cinema, as a semi-independent and often marginal sector of the country’s film production, has consistently navigated the intersection of legal restrictions, cultural pressures, and media representations. These films, produced outside the official mechanisms of Iranian cinema, not only provide a platform for expressing real social and ecological experiences, but also serve as vehicles […]

In the heart of the night, the sound of sirens passes through the sleeping cities. The sky is on fire, walls tremble, and the silence of homes is shattered. War, this merciless word, has once again awakened from the slumber of history and cast its shadow over the lives of humans. But amidst the ruins, […]

Makran is a region in southeastern Iran that extends from the Strait of Hormuz to the east and begins at Minab, continuing to the Sindh River in Balochistan, Pakistan. This region is of special importance due to its geopolitical location and is recognized as an international waterway. Makran holds strategic value for both Iran and […]

A while ago, the government spokesperson announced that the medical government intends to relocate the capital from Tehran to the Makran region and this matter is under consideration. (1) Many countries throughout history have changed their capitals for various reasons, the main reason being the increase in population in the capital and balanced development in […]

In periods of heightened external threats, the concept of national security naturally becomes the focus of public policymaking. In such circumstances, the expansion of state authority, the strengthening of security institutions, and the restriction of certain civil liberties are often justified by invoking the “necessity of security.” This logic is based on the assumption that […]

At important historical moments, what changes more than anything else is not only political and economic structures, but the way time itself is experienced. In such moments, societies no longer move along the ordinary continuum of past and future; rather, they become trapped in a kind of prolonged and suspended present. A major event has […]

Crimes against national security have always been regarded among the most sensitive and severe areas of criminal law. In all legal systems, governments consider the protection of secrets, classified information, vital facilities, and security structures to be among the fundamental elements of their political and sovereign survival. For this reason, espionage is recognized as one […]

Narrative literature in Iran has been tangled with the perspective of the majority and their definition of voices and narratives that are of interest to the general society. As a result, communities or individuals who are not considered part of this majority have no place in the literary scene. Marginalized communities in any country not […]

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a dangerous threat that can lead to a decrease in personal and professional quality of life, jeopardize the well-being of both men and women, weaken gender equality, and impose costs on companies and organizations. In recent years, movements around the world have formed to draw more attention to the […]

Migration is a phenomenon that has a long history in human culture and history, especially among Iranians (the pioneers of migration literature in Iran, such as famous writers like Bozorg Alavi and Sadeq Hedayat). By examining all aspects of it, it is clear that the motivations for [forced] migration in recent years have been more […]

During the recent protests, we witnessed many bitter incidents and extra-legal actions in Iran. One of these cases was the restriction of treatment for protesters in various forms. According to reports published from the very first days of the protests, police and security forces attacked hospitals where injured protesters had been taken, creating heartbreaking scenes. […]

Following the sudden and quiet removal of the Iranian “Papilloguard” vaccine from pharmacies across the country, women who had been awaiting national vaccination to prevent infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) have been forced to turn to foreign vaccines at prices several times higher—vaccines whose cost is incompatible with the economic circumstances of many women. […]

The feminization of aging has presented major challenges for the global community, and Iran is no exception. While other countries have adopted effective strategies to address the feminization of aging and manage this crisis, in Iran, this crisis reveals its grim face in the increasing number of elderly people “abandoned” in parks, streets, and addiction […]

In recent decades, air pollution has become one of the most persistent and complex environmental and social challenges in Iran’s major cities; a challenge that, although seemingly an environmental and public health issue, functions far beyond an ecological crisis in sociological analysis. Today, air pollution has emerged as a “full-fledged social phenomenon”; a phenomenon in […]

Perhaps no object better illustrates water governance and management in Iran than the “aftabeh” (watering can). It is unclear exactly to which monarch’s era the historical origins of the aftabeh go back, but the mere mention of it brings to mind, for many, the image of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—a photo taken months before his return […]

In the past weeks, one of the main ports of the country suffered heavy consequences. On April 26, 2025, a terrible explosion occurred in the container area of Bandar-e-Jask port, which according to the latest reports, resulted in the death of over 50 people and injuries of more than 1000 people. The source of the […]

Wars in the modern economy are no longer merely military events; rather, they are multidimensional phenomena that simultaneously affect economic, social, and institutional structures. In the case of present-day Iran, in the year 2026 (1405), this characteristic is clearly observable, where the economy had already been facing chronic imbalances and war has acted as an […]

In recent years, the condition of pension funds—especially the Cultural Workers Reserve Fund and the performance of the Social Security Organization—has attracted the attention of many researchers, social activists, and fund members. The importance of this issue is evident not only in theory but also in practice, as its crisis-inducing consequences directly and significantly impact […]

In recent decades, the country’s pension funds—especially the Civil Servants Pension Fund, the Social Security Organization, and the Armed Forces Pension Fund—have faced a deep structural crisis. This crisis stems from chronic imbalance between resources and expenditures, unprofessional policymaking, and weak corporate governance in managing these institutions. The share of public budget contributions to cover […]

The essence of qisas (retributive justice) has long been based on a natural law: “You kill, you are killed; an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” This well-known principle existed long before the emergence of Abrahamic religions. Historical stone carvings—including the Code of Hammurabi, which dates back to 1800 BCE and […]

When I was reading the novel “Thursday Train” (1) by Anisa Dehghani, I came across a strange question: “It is possible to endure pain that is unique to you, but how can you endure pain that you must share with someone else?” “Thursday Train” delves into the lives of Iranians in the years after the […]

Narrative literature in Iran has been tangled with the perspective of the majority and their definition of voices and narratives that are of interest to the general society. As a result, communities or individuals who are not considered part of this majority have no place in the literary scene. Marginalized communities in any country not […]

The world has once again become accustomed to war. Images of destruction, displacement and death flash before our eyes every day; so much so that we sometimes forget that behind every image, there was a human being. However, not all victims are seen equally. For some deaths, official ceremonies are held, the media writes about […]

Before the recent war between Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other, the term “dual-use infrastructure” was mainly used in the specialized literature of the law of armed conflict and strategic studies. But with the expansion of the scope of military operations and attacks on facilities that appear civilian […]

Technological developments in recent decades have made the boundary between military and civilian objectives more ambiguous than ever. Universities, research centers, biomedical institutions, data networks, and communications infrastructure, while having civilian functions, can in some cases play a direct or indirect role in states’ defense capabilities. This situation has transformed the concept of “dual-use” from […]

The extent to which a legal system adheres to the rule of law cannot be measured solely through criminal laws or court decisions; one of the most accurate measures of its assessment is the way in which individuals who are deprived of their liberty for any reason are treated. Contrary to popular belief, prison is […]

Last July, events occurred in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad that have had little precedent in the history of this prison. The detainees of the protests of last January are still present in this prison in large numbers. Although the number of detainees has decreased from more than a thousand to about four hundred during this […]

What is solitary confinement, what are its conditions, is it essentially torture or punishment, and how does it debilitate a prisoner and cause his psyche to go into turmoil? How does loneliness and disconnection from the world destroy humanity, and why does the Islamic Republic, in its unparalleled and advanced set of physical and mental […]

This is a picture of a flower. Shiraz Tabrizi Sparkle Sufism, mysticism, asceticism, and some other names refer to a school of Islam that, based on the teachings of each chain of this school – which I will refer to as Sufism – believes in the different sects of Islam that the commandments of religion […]

Following the arrests of Christians in Iran clearly shows that in recent years, Iranian government authorities have targeted the Christian community for suppression. Reports indicate that from May to August 2016, 79 Christian citizens were arrested and a large number of them were interrogated and sent to prison. It is believed that many arrests have […]

Each time, the government finds a new pretext to take human lives; a government that, throughout its existence, has shown that it places no value on the lives of citizens. The latest example became clear during the war between the United States and Israel and Iran, when it was revealed that for years, massive budgets […]

Following the escalation of military tensions and attacks by the United States and Israel, the judicial process of dealing with charges of “espionage” and “collaboration with hostile states” in Iran has entered a new phase. What is more controversial than the laws themselves is the way they are implemented: expedited proceedings, lack of transparency, and […]

To understand the mechanisms of power in the Islamic Republic, no point is as significant as execution, because in this system execution is not merely a judicial punishment, but a political instrument for producing fear, silencing dissent, and pushing society toward silence and marginalization. Each time the Islamic Republic has faced crisis, war, or instability, […]

The ugliest—and perhaps most familiar—face of human society is “war.” This can be read between the lines of the book An Introduction to Polemology by Gaston Bouthoul. In this work, he explains how no law, treaty, or prohibition can stand against war. In a case study, the book describes the international restrictions and global pressures […]

Introduction: Terminological explanation In this article, the concept of the general power of the state is consciously used, not political sovereignty. This choice of language is not accidental. The state here is not simply the construction of political power, but an institution that, in the logic of public law, is responsible for implementing the law, […]

During the recent protests, we witnessed many bitter incidents and extra-legal actions in Iran. One of these cases was the restriction of treatment for protesters in various forms. According to reports published from the very first days of the protests, police and security forces attacked hospitals where injured protesters had been taken, creating heartbreaking scenes. […]

The protection of human dignity is a fundamental principle of international human rights law and the basis for the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. Deprivation of liberty refers solely to the deprivation of freedom of movement, and states are still obliged to guarantee the fundamental rights of prisoners, including the right to health, […]

Early parent-child interactions form the foundation for a child’s psychosocial development in the context of society. However, exposure to a neurodevelopmental disorder in a child presents fundamental challenges to this cognitive structure and preconceived parenting goals. Autism spectrum disorder is a group of complex neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by persistent deficits in social interaction, verbal and […]

War fundamentally transforms the labor market by destroying infrastructure, massive population displacement, collapsing economic activity, disrupting education and health systems, and rupturing social networks. Although the consequences of war affect all segments of society, its economic effects on women are deeper and more lasting, as women not only face reduced job opportunities, income, and economic […]