https://znetwork.org/category/place/middle-east/iran/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Wed, 21 Jan 2026 20:01:45 +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-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 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bang-and-stunning-boomerang/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bang-and-stunning-boomerang/#respond Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287345 1. Bitter Tastes of Old Obsession  Sudden Israeli attack against Iran amid the nuclear negotiation with the United States is indeed a bizarre category by itself and by any standard of conduct in modern international relations. First, there’s the question of credibility of a power that pretends to be in the business of leadership in the world. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bang-and-stunning-boomerang/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/atomic-bombings-at-80-john-pilger-another-hiroshima-is-coming-unless-we-stop-it-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/atomic-bombings-at-80-john-pilger-another-hiroshima-is-coming-unless-we-stop-it-now/#respond Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287067 The late John Pilger was an Australian-British journalist and filmmaker based in London. Pilger’s more than 60 documentary films can be seen on the web site: www.johnpilger.com. In 2017, the British Library announced a John Pilger Archive of all his written and filmed work. The British Film Institute includes his 1979 film, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/atomic-bombings-at-80-john-pilger-another-hiroshima-is-coming-unless-we-stop-it-now/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-the-war-strategic-distrust-and-the-collapse-of-western-legitimacy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-the-war-strategic-distrust-and-the-collapse-of-western-legitimacy/#respond Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286691 In June 2025, while indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States were still underway, Israel followed soon by the U.S. launched a military attack on Iranian territory. The attack, met with a 12-day Iranian response of surprising scale and coordination, marked not just an escalation in Middle Eastern tensions but also a deep rupture [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/after-the-war-strategic-distrust-and-the-collapse-of-western-legitimacy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/legacy-media-manufactures-consent-for-intervention-in-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/legacy-media-manufactures-consent-for-intervention-in-iran/#respond Sun, 27 Jul 2025 15:17:50 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286624 Since Israel attacked Iran in June, the opinion sections of the United States’ two biggest newspapers have been carrying water for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in their efforts to overthrow Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Of the 105 opinion articles and letters to the editor published in the New York Times and the Wall [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/legacy-media-manufactures-consent-for-intervention-in-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mainstream-media-beat-the-drums-for-war-with-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mainstream-media-beat-the-drums-for-war-with-iran/#respond Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:49:48 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286050 As Gaza continues to crumble and Gazans continue to starve, one might have been forgiven for expecting our mainstream press to cover the United States’ and Israel’s lurch toward war with Iran cautiously, minding the exorbitant costs of vindicating state violence. A close survey of five national news organizations’ coverage of the bombings of Iran, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mainstream-media-beat-the-drums-for-war-with-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/making-terrorism-a-meaningless-word/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/making-terrorism-a-meaningless-word/#respond Wed, 09 Jul 2025 18:03:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285980 The US has removed Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise from its list of designated terrorist organizations just days after the UK added nonviolent activist group Palestine Action to its own list of banned terrorist groups. The western empire will surely find ways to be even more hypocritical and ridiculous about its “terrorism” designations in the future, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/making-terrorism-a-meaningless-word/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/misreading-and-misrepresenting-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/misreading-and-misrepresenting-iran/#respond Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:39:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285731 On Friday, June 13th, Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear, military, and civilian targets, just days before the scheduled sixth round of Iran-U.S. nuclear negotiations. The resulting twelve-day exchange culminated in U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow on June 22, followed by a ceasefire declaration from President Donald Trump the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/misreading-and-misrepresenting-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palantirs-shadow-war-on-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palantirs-shadow-war-on-iran/#respond Wed, 02 Jul 2025 17:58:38 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285705 As the dust settles on the “12 Day War”, it is ever-clearer that the conflict was a crushing defeat for Israel and the US. In retrospect, the Zionist entity’s sole success was a wave of assassinations in the conflict’s first hours. A fawning June 19th Financial Times report hinted cutting-edge technology drawing together diverse data [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palantirs-shadow-war-on-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-on-iran-is-fight-for-us-unipolar-control-of-world/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-on-iran-is-fight-for-us-unipolar-control-of-world/#respond Sun, 29 Jun 2025 13:44:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285614 Opponents of the war with Iran say that the war is not in American interests, seeing that Iran does not pose any visible threat to the United States. This appeal to reason misses the neoconservative logic that has guided U.S. foreign policy for more than a half century, and which is now threatening to engulf [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-on-iran-is-fight-for-us-unipolar-control-of-world/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/codependent-destruction-the-us-israeli-death-spiral/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/codependent-destruction-the-us-israeli-death-spiral/#respond Sat, 28 Jun 2025 14:55:14 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285583 The recent missiles screaming across Middle Eastern skies tell a story older than either Israel or America. As Iranian ballistic missiles pierce Israeli defenses and Israeli jets pummel Tehran’s nuclear facilities, we’re witnessing what historian Ilan Pappe calls the “last phase” of Zionism—a final, desperate attempt to complete through violence what decades of politics could [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/codependent-destruction-the-us-israeli-death-spiral/feed/ 0