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Iran Faces Bazaar Anger
Protests began last Sunday as merchants in major commercial and electronics centers in Tehran—including the Alaeddin and Charsou complexes downtown—closed their shops and took to the streets following the rial’s sharp and rapid decline. Reports also emerged of similar closures in other markets across several cities. Once again, the bazaar has moved to the forefront—an…
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A Gray-Zone Relationship: Egypt and Iran
For nearly four decades, Egyptian-Iranian relations have existed in a gray zone. At various points, contacts between Cairo and Tehran have taken place, but they never rose to a level of “normal” and sustained cooperation. At other times, relations appeared to go frosty and cautious, though they stopped short of a complete rupture. Today, several…
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Al-Sharaa, Iran, and the Syria–Iraq Relationship
After the change in Syria’s political leadership, Damascus and Baghdad have kept diplomatic channels open between them, although the latter has not removed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa from its terrorism list. Under Decision No. 62 of 2025, issued last October, Iraq’s Terrorism Financing Monitoring Committee amended the Syrian president’s name on its records, adopting his…
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Rearrested Development
الخميس 18 ديسمبر 2025 Welcome back to the MBN Iran Briefing. This week, we look into the violent rearrest of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and follow the revealing travels of the Iranian foreign minister. We’ll also explain the plummeting value of the rial, learn about a controversial shopping spree by the president’s…
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Egypt and Iran Protest Seattle World Cup Encounter
Egypt and Iran have both lodged formal complaints with FIFA over their scheduled match in Seattle during the 2026 World Cup, where local authorities plan to hold a celebration for the LGBTQ community. The football federations in both countries publicly rejected the idea of playing the June 26 match at Seattle’s stadium, where local organizers…
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Execution… Iran’s Weapon Against the Next Generation
Ismail Mirzadeh never imagined that the fate of his son Jilan would be sealed simply, Just as he does on any normal day, the 17-year-old left his home in Mahabad, in western Iran. He vanished into thin air until one day his name surfaced in a phone call: “He’s been executed. You will not receive…
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Iran’s Hidden Network: Front Companies and Nuclear Clean-Up Operations
The smoke bellowing from Iran’s vast nuclear complex in the Isfahan desert dissipated quickly, but the wreckage left behind by the “Twelve-Day War” remains visible reminder of a battle that, as it seems, did not fully eradicated Tehran’s atomic ambitions. A new investigation published this week by the Financial Times reveals that Iran’s covert procurement…
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The “Security Trap”: Iran Calls Expatriates Home
“My son’s fate has been unknown since he returned to Iran about six months ago. He returned after receiving an ‘assurance letter’ from the Iranian consulate in Sulaymaniyah,” says Fatemeh Mahmoudi, the mother of Sardar, in an interview with Alhurra. Like many Iranian expats, the young Sardar decided to return to Iran in response to…
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Iran Extends Its Reach
Ballistic missiles “without limits” – that is what Iran has been promoting since the beginning of October 2025, when Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decided to lift restrictions on the range of missiles, so that they can reach any target deemed necessary. In the midst of Tehran’s efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles, experts and…
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Iran’s Execution Frenzy
Iran has unleashed one of its deadliest waves of executions in more than a decade, as human rights groups warn that the death penalty is being used to silence dissent and instill fear. Activists say the surge reflects a deliberate campaign by Tehran to tighten control amid internal unrest and external pressures. The charges remain…