https://znetwork.org/category/place/middle-east/iran/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:33:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/place/middle-east/iran/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294966 President Donald Trump seems to think he is King of the World, not just the United States. Even as he convenes his “Board of Peace” (“Board of Imperial Conquest” would be more apt) it looks like the US will soon illegally attack Iran, again, as it did last June. Congress needs to do its job [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-appears-likely-to-attack-iran-again-we-must-stop-this-illegal-act/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-iranian-officials-meet-for-new-negotiations-aimed-at-preventing-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-iranian-officials-meet-for-new-negotiations-aimed-at-preventing-war/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:15:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294841 US and Iranian officials are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 17 for a second round of negotiations over a deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program and averting war. The sides held indirect talks earlier this month in Oman, the first since Israel and the United States bombed Iran’s key nuclear sites during a brief [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-iranian-officials-meet-for-new-negotiations-aimed-at-preventing-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iranian-trap-neither-military-action-nor-nuclear-negotiations-can-solve-trumps-and-israels-conundrum/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iranian-trap-neither-military-action-nor-nuclear-negotiations-can-solve-trumps-and-israels-conundrum/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:45:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294769 The trajectory of the Trump administration’s Iran policy has undergone a profound recalibration since the beginning of 2026, transitioning from expectations of imminent regime collapse to the fraught terrain of nuclear negotiations. The proverbial elephant in the room is the fundamental recognition of previous miscalculation regarding Iran’s internal cohesion and deterrence capabilities. In January, the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iranian-trap-neither-military-action-nor-nuclear-negotiations-can-solve-trumps-and-israels-conundrum/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fiction-of-humanitarian-intervention/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fiction-of-humanitarian-intervention/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:31:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294762 Iranians are experiencing one of the darkest episodes in their country’s modern history. Nationwide protests against a repressive and corrupt state were met in January with unprecedented brutality. In the span of a short few days, under the cover of a digital blackout, thousands were massacred; the exact death toll is still unknown. By the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fiction-of-humanitarian-intervention/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leading-papers-call-for-destroying-iran-to-save-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leading-papers-call-for-destroying-iran-to-save-it/#respond Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:25:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294611 The United States has no right to wage war on Iran, or to have a say who governs the country. The opinion pages of the New York Times and Washington Post, however, are offering facile humanitarian arguments for the US to escalate its attacks on Iran. These are based on the nonsensical assumption that the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leading-papers-call-for-destroying-iran-to-save-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/peyman-viyan-the-people-have-no-patience-left-for-the-regime/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/peyman-viyan-the-people-have-no-patience-left-for-the-regime/#respond Sat, 07 Feb 2026 02:52:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294456 Protests that erupted across Iran and Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhilat) have now entered their second week, marked by mass participation. In cities across the country, people remain in the streets day and night. On the previous night, millions took to the streets in dozens of cities across Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Qazvin, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/peyman-viyan-the-people-have-no-patience-left-for-the-regime/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294283 Venezuela, under threat following the attacks of January 3, and in perspective alongside the historical mirror that is Iran, allows us to study the models of classic oil nationalism and pragmatic resistance. But beyond the economy, some analysts have put forward the theory that Venezuelan and Iranian oil is not just a business, but vital [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-currency-crisis-sparks-protests-and-attracts-foreign-meddling/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-currency-crisis-sparks-protests-and-attracts-foreign-meddling/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2026 15:24:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294251 In early January, several currency trackers briefly displayed the Iranian rial’s value as “$0.00,” unable to process the speed and scale of the depreciation, making it unexchangeable on important international trading platforms. The fallout quickly translated into a protest in Teheran’s bazaar district and eventually led to a mass unrest. Unlike the 2019 fuel price [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-currency-crisis-sparks-protests-and-attracts-foreign-meddling/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/governing-crisis-sanctions-austerity-and-social-unrest-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/governing-crisis-sanctions-austerity-and-social-unrest-in-iran/#respond Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:10:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294189 On December 28, 2025, protests erupted across multiple cities in Iran in response to currency collapse and spiraling living costs. As the exchange rate grew more volatile, sections of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and commercial centers shuttered. Rapidly shifting prices made imports, pricing and trade impossible. The state moved quickly to implement an emergency measure embedded in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/governing-crisis-sanctions-austerity-and-social-unrest-in-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-biggest-threats-the-iranian-people-face-are-america-and-israel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-biggest-threats-the-iranian-people-face-are-america-and-israel/#respond Tue, 27 Jan 2026 17:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294065 Israel’s longstanding campaign to lure Washington into war with Iran seems to have fizzled once again—for now, anyway. But in their attempt to invent a casus belli, their spy agencies employ tactics—disinformation, infiltration, and incitement of rioting—that help sustain the patently false impression that Tehran, not Tel Aviv, is home to the Middle East’s cruelest [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-biggest-threats-the-iranian-people-face-are-america-and-israel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:10:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293747 The question is not if the US and Israel will attack Iran, but when. In the nuclear age, the US refrains from all-out war, since it can easily lead to nuclear escalation. Instead, the US and Israel are waging war against Iran through a combination of crushing economic sanctions, targeted military strikes, cyberwarfare, stoking unrest, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293697 Estimates of the human cost of the unrest vary dramatically; U.S.-based monitors such as HRANA report at least 2,571 people killed, while some outlets and activist networks have cited far higher figures, including claims of around 12,000 deaths. Iran’s streets have seen this story before, yet each time it unfolds, the emotional toll deepens and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-streets-of-iran-are-burning-and-so-is-the-myth-of-stability/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mujo-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mujo-in-iran/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2026 18:50:42 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293645 Anyone from the former Yugoslavia will immediately understand the title. Mujo is a legendary (though fictional) Bosnian character, the protagonist (together with his inseparable friend Haso) of countless jokes that generations of Yugoslavs grew up with. Wars took many lives, erased towns, and destroyed futures, yet Mujo survived even the darkest days of the Bosnian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mujo-in-iran/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-china-is-defying-trumps-tariffs-on-iran-trade/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-china-is-defying-trumps-tariffs-on-iran-trade/#comments Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:16:35 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293627 When President Trump announced in January that the United States would impose a sweeping 25 percent tariff on any country trading with Iran, the move was framed in Washington as economic pressure on Tehran. In Beijing, it was read very differently: not as an Iran policy, but as another chapter in America’s expanding use of economic [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-china-is-defying-trumps-tariffs-on-iran-trade/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-iran-a-retrospective/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-iran-a-retrospective/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293524 The Islamic Republic of Iran has long been accustomed to challenges, relentless pressure and widely believed misrepresentations about it.   As the current crises mount, so does the quandary among members of its political classes.  They all want change.  The hardliners want a return to the past; the reformers want a future unburdened by the past, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-iran-a-retrospective/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-respectable-opinion-on-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-respectable-opinion-on-iran/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293547 Iraq. Libya. Egypt. Syria. Gaza. Somalia. No CIA- and Mossad-constructed regime change operation in the Middle East has ever made life better for the ordinary people of the country, nor even delivered the promised increase in personal and political freedoms. The only limited improvement that might be gained comes from the lifting of Western sanction [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-respectable-opinion-on-iran/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-empire-strikes-back-trump-venezuela-and-ice/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-empire-strikes-back-trump-venezuela-and-ice/#respond Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1293480 In this livestream, Yanis Varoufakis and entrepreneur and commentator Arnaud Bertrand unpack what just happened in Venezuela, why it matters far beyond Latin America, and what people can do when “might makes right” is being sold as order. We also look at Europe’s response, the oil angle, and the wider shift towards more force, fewer [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-empire-strikes-back-trump-venezuela-and-ice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-iranian-people-should-determine-their-nations-future/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-iranian-people-should-determine-their-nations-future/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293483 It’s virtually impossible to predict what lies ahead for Iran and its people. But if President Donald Trump decides to take military action against Iran’s current regime, nothing good will come out of it. Iran’s Islamic regime is under incredible pressure as the protests that begun in late December over the collapse of the currency have morphed into a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-iranian-people-should-determine-their-nations-future/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-authoritarians-play-victim-from-minnesota-to-tel-aviv-it-is-an-admission-of-violent-intent/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-authoritarians-play-victim-from-minnesota-to-tel-aviv-it-is-an-admission-of-violent-intent/#respond Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293486 Fascists and various authoritarian personality types have a proclivity for playing the victim. Anyone who calls into question their brutal tactics is a terrorist/terrorist supporter who not only places them in mortal danger (i.e., As a rule, clad in body armor, heavily armed, and traveling in a belligerent pack) but the security and welfare of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-authoritarians-play-victim-from-minnesota-to-tel-aviv-it-is-an-admission-of-violent-intent/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/six-points-to-navigate-the-turmoil-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/six-points-to-navigate-the-turmoil-in-iran/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293456 Iran is in turmoil. Across the country, there have been protests of different magnitudes, with violence on the increase with both protesters and police finding themselves in the morgue. What began as work stoppages and inflation protests drew together a range of discontent, with women and young people frustrated with a system unable to secure [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/six-points-to-navigate-the-turmoil-in-iran/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/right-message-wrong-messengers-a-brief-history-of-oil-and-u-s-empire-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/right-message-wrong-messengers-a-brief-history-of-oil-and-u-s-empire-in-iran/#respond Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293437 Multiple things can be true at once. The Iranian people are engaged in a legitimate popular struggle against an entrenched political elite that has failed to meet their material needs and has answered demands for freedom and dignity with unconscionable violence and repression. At the same time, the U.S. has no political, legal, or moral [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/right-message-wrong-messengers-a-brief-history-of-oil-and-u-s-empire-in-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-protests-engulf-iran-israel-sees-an-opportunity/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-protests-engulf-iran-israel-sees-an-opportunity/#respond Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:46:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293357 Antiestablishment demonstrations across Iran escalated this weekend as reports emerged of large-scale violence by protesters and security services alike. Over half of the country’s thirty-one provinces are convulsed in protests, which first erupted on December 28 in the electronics section of Tehran’s central bazaar.  Traders had come out onto the streets in response to a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-protests-engulf-iran-israel-sees-an-opportunity/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-imaginary-peace-president/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-imaginary-peace-president/#respond Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292029 One of the most common claims about the Trump 45 administration is that “He didn’t start any new wars.” This is demonstrably FALSE. During his first term, Trump became the ultimate causal agent for every one of the current conflicts with Russia, China, Iran, and Venezuela. He not only maintained the trajectory of these conflicts [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-imaginary-peace-president/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-silent-victim-warfares-enduring-environmental-scars-across-the-middle-east-2/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-silent-victim-warfares-enduring-environmental-scars-across-the-middle-east-2/#respond Wed, 29 Oct 2025 18:15:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290601 The human cost of war is measured in lives lost and families displaced. However, a growing body of evidence from international organizations points to another, more enduring casualty: the environment. From the rubble-strewn landscape of Gaza to the fire-scorched lands of Lebanon and the industrial sites of Iran, military actions are unleashing long-term ecological disasters [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-silent-victim-warfares-enduring-environmental-scars-across-the-middle-east-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-untold-environmental-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-untold-environmental-genocide/#respond Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:10:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290294 On September 23rd, the UN published a little-noticed report highlighting a barely-acknowledged facet of the 21st century Holocaust in Gaza. Namely, the Zionist entity’s genocide is wreaking a devastating environmental toll not merely on occupied Palestine, but West Asia more widely – including Israel. The damage is incalculable, with air, food sources, soil, and water [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-untold-environmental-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/#respond Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:14:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289989 Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his hands already crimson with the blood of innocent Iraqis, to run post-war Gaza, brings to mind a distant era when London sent its politicians out to be viceroys in its global colonial domains. Consider Blair’s proposed appointment, made (of course!) without [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-huge-airbase-with-a-small-country-attached-to-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-iran-matters-what-every-american-needs-to-know/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-iran-matters-what-every-american-needs-to-know/#respond Tue, 07 Oct 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289622 Once upon a time the Iranian government was under the thumb of and in service to the interests of the United States and its Middle East colonial outpost, Israel.  The 1979 Iranian Revolution—the most consequential of the 20th century—changed all that. The establishment of the Islamic Republic brought to a close the 37-year obsequious reign [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-iran-matters-what-every-american-needs-to-know/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/portraits-of-resistance-voices-of-dissent-from-the-jin-jiyan-azadi-movement/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/portraits-of-resistance-voices-of-dissent-from-the-jin-jiyan-azadi-movement/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288654 September 16th, 2025 marks the 3rd anniversary of the state femicide of Jina Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old Kurdish-Iranian university student who died in a coma, after she was brutally beaten by Iranian security forces, over an alleged violation of the Islamic Republic’s strict veiling laws for women.  Both Amnesty International and Iran International [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/portraits-of-resistance-voices-of-dissent-from-the-jin-jiyan-azadi-movement/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-us-israeli-regime-change-in-iran-failed/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-us-israeli-regime-change-in-iran-failed/#respond Mon, 01 Sep 2025 15:11:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288000 On July 29th, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank that is enormously influential on Zionist entity ‘defence’ and security policy, published a document advocating for regime change in Iran, setting out potential methods by which Israel could achieve that malign end. In a bitter irony, much of the report’s contents not only attest [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-us-israeli-regime-change-in-iran-failed/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/#respond Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287926 France, the United Kingdom and Germany (the “E3”) on Thursday sent a formal letter to the UN Security Council asking for snap back sanctions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities, which they maintain breach the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or nuclear deal. The joint letter of the three governments complains that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/russia-china-reject-attempt-of-e3-to-reimpose-sanctions-on-iran-over-nuclear-program/feed/ 0