Domestic Politics

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has issued a confidential directive to domestic media, instructing outlets to limit coverage of the European move to trigger the UN snapback mechanism and avoid content that could cause public concern or market instability.

Iran has charged comedian Zeinab Mousavi over her satire of Ferdowsi, the 10th-century Persian poet behind the epic Shahnameh, using the controversy to stir patriotism after the war with Israel.

The government will soon be unable to cover health care expenses, an Iranian parliament member warned on Wednesday, citing rising costs, insurance debts, and an aging population.

Allegations by an Iranian official suggesting Russian complicity with Israel in attacks on Iran have sparked debate over the value of Iran’s long-touted strategic partnership with Russia.

A recent speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has energized hardliners who see it as a mandate to silence reformists advocating direct talks with Washington and nuclear concessions.

A conservative daily in Tehran has accused the Taliban of deliberately withholding water to pressure Iran, urging the government to use diplomatic, economic and other tools to punish the group.

Ahmad Khatami, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader and a representative of the Supreme Leader, criticized the Reform Front’s recent manifesto, saying its proposal for suspending uranium enrichment mirrored US demands.

A prominent Iranian conservative figure alleged that Israel seeks to orchestrate leadership change in Tehran by assassinating members of the Assembly of Experts to pave the way for former president Hassan Rouhani, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

Moderates’ call for an overhaul of Iran’s political order has drawn fierce conservative backlash, with some critics invoking reformist appeals of 2003 that ended in bans, prison, and exile.

Iran’s former intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi warned that domestic injustices and political exclusion risk eroding national cohesion, saying Iranians should not be treated as if unity is only demanded in wartime.

A reformist call to suspend uranium enrichment, release political prisoners, and curb the Revolutionary Guards’ power has intensified debate over Iran’s future at a moment of heightened pressure.

Even without open war, Israel and Iran are locked in a psychological battle—one marked by devastating Israeli intelligence strikes and more modest but highly publicized Iranian attempts to recruit and infiltrate the Jewish state.

An outlet affiliated with Iran’s Guards warned on Tuesday that recent calls by reformist politicians for sweeping changes in domestic and foreign policy echoed mistakes made by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A fierce battle has erupted inside Iran’s political establishment over the country’s future, with moderates urging sweeping reforms and hardliners branding their proposals a thinly veiled bid for regime change.

Iran’s Reform Front called for major political and nuclear policy shifts, including a voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment, the release of political prisoners and an end to the repression of dissent.

Amid deteriorating ties with Europe and the looming threat of another war with Israel, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian is under mounting attack from Tehran’s hardliners, who question both his competence and his political judgment.

With the supreme leader’s retreat from view since the 12-Day War with Israel, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) appear to have taken on his role as political disciplinarian, nudging senior figures to keep their feuds out of public view.

Pressure is building inside Iran’s political establishment for a fundamental change of course, with former president Hassan Rouhani joining a growing chorus warning that continued rigidity could lead to paralysis or trigger renewed unrest.