Iran
Songs Beneath the Bombs
As U.S. and Israeli missiles rained down on Iran, music emerged as a means of fostering resilience and a tool of resistance, but the war’s destruction has left many artists struggling to support themselves.
A Pattern of ‘Double-Tap’ Strikes
A New Lines investigation has found a pattern of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Iran being carried out after civilians and first responders had gathered at sites that were already hit.
The ‘Third Gulf War’ And Its Aftermath
Iran stoked conflict abroad for 40 years to avoid ever fighting at home. But the end of American restraint set off a cascade that led to the ‘Third Gulf War’ and the likely hollowing out of the regime.
I Grew Up in Iran and the Gulf. This War Risks Breaking the Bonds Between the Two
An Iranian academic who has spent years studying and living across the region reflects on what the recent war risks destroying — not just infrastructure, but the centuries-old transnational ties that have held its people together through every previous rupture.
The Last Temptation of Trump at the End of a Failed War
Trump has backed himself into a corner with Iran. Any deal risks appearing, in his eyes, like a humiliating failure, one his opponents will mock. He knows this. His opponents know this. The weight of that constraint presents a dangerous equation as the president threatens escalation.
From ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ to ‘Anyone Is Better Than These’
In December and January, the Islamic Republic faced the largest popular uprising in its history, which it crushed violently. In an open letter to an imprisoned Iranian sociologist, the prominent scholar Asef Bayat meditates on the significance of those protests and the future of Iran.
The Long Shadow of the Iran-Iraq War
The Iran-Iraq War cast a very long shadow, one that looms over the current conflict and continues to influence the strategic culture of the Islamic Republic. It created a siege mentality and the idea of “faith and firepower.” Weeks into the current war, Iran has not run out of either.