Parody, has a well-established tradition within Persian satire, and is often referred to as “naghizeh.” Through parody, the satirist would ridicule an original work, subject, or author, by imitating its style or content. The original ادامه مطلب…

Summer is approaching in Iran and with it comes the seasonal public battle between the regime and women over Hejab-the mandatory covering of hair and body. Here is how it goes: for a few weeks ادامه مطلب…

Spoilers and “dark forces” are attempting to wreck efforts to clinch a historic compromise between Iran and the west on the country’s nuclear programme, senior members of Iran’s negotiating team have told the Guardian. Speaking ادامه مطلب…

There is a wee contradiction—most probably an error in theory—in the 2014 reanimation of Robocop that reverses the whole hero-villain dynamic of the film. At the onset, we are shown an American army of robots ادامه مطلب…

Now, this was not an unpredictable move on the part of Putin. Ukraine has always been a geopolitically and economically significant region for Russia, as Crimea houses a most strategic Russian naval base on the Black Sea coast, and as Ukraine with a population of 45 million constitutes a profitable market for Russia.

As a consequence, coupling Middle-Eastern traditional atrocity and French inspirational sentiments, the Bohemian helmer director, Rahimi, has set expressionism, self-fulfillment and life versus war, victimization and suppression.

Mr. Soleimani pairs his slippers with pedantic care. The stationery items on his desk are arranged with ardent adherence to the laws of geometry and his employees are efficiently worked to the last drop of energy. He is a meticulous perfectionist, a reception hall owner, a despot and a clinically morose individual. This is the story of Bist [Twenty] by Abdolreza Kahani.

As the West has tightened its sanctions on Iran and as Western leaders have rather proudly spoken of the effect of their policy, I thought it necessary to bring the forgotten group who suffer the most from the sanctions into mainstream discourse. This article indicates the impact of sanctions on the lives of millions of ordinary Iranians, whose situations are far removed from the political concerns of the sanctioning states. In so doing, I will first mention the growing idea of the West as Iran’s national enemy. The construction of this notion is attributed to the impact of sanctions on the daily lives of Iranians, who find these penalties demeaning and unjust. I will take this forward by explaining the side effects of this policy, which have political implications for the West’s dealings with the people of Iran in the long term.

A few months before the U.S. presidential elections of 2008, many of us Iranians would say “Yup… I knew it from the beginning… of course he is secretly an Iranian…” while referring to you! Most didn’t know this claim’s origin, not even the editors of the conservative Kayhan daily who published it as an exposé. Indeed it was a hoax, published on iTanz, a satirical Persian website. And it was invented by an Iranian satirist – me!

Without doubt, Ahmad Shamlou is one the most widely debated – and therefore recognized – contemporary poets of the Persian language. Some critics lionize him as a revolutionary figure, who overthrew the scholastic monarchy of classical versification and introduced a novel system while others violently oppose the poet, accusing him of wanting sufficient knowledge and skill to edit and annotate a great poet like Hafez, for instance.

Considering the escalation of violence in Syria with further advancement of the revolutionary movement, the fall of Bashar Asaad’s regime seems to be more likely than ever before. In other words his collapse relies on nothing more than a matter of time. Within the following report, we try to analyze the path to the end of the conflict leading to termination of current Syrian regime as well as the consequences of this event on the political situation of Iran.

The Arab Spring and the developments following it in the Arab countries have been accompanied with a new political culture and literature for these countries. One of the most important instruments of these states for suppression were forces who did not apparently have any influence in the society but their sudden violent and radical emergence shows that they had been groomed for such circumstances from many years ago.

Moving from one culture to another can be like an exciting experience or even a full of stress experience. Establishing connections between different cultures is as old as history. People raised up in their origin culture have always translocated for different purposes, like business, education or visit and the new society accepted them if they were generous or opposed them if they came for loot or to occupy; all of them experienced some personal and cultural difficulties. Difference between past and now is in a large amount of people that crossing cultures due to different aims.

The Iranian leaders have now set aside all ambiguous talks and now explicitly admit that they shall use any means possible to keep Bashar Assad in power. The downfall of Assad will paralyse Iran in the region and sever the strategic ties of Iran with Hezbollah disconnecting it from access to Israeli borders. Moreover, it would completely restrict the influence of Iran on Palestinian groups.

Delisting of the MEK has potentially enormous consequences for the Iranian regime and U.S.-Iran relations, and therefore the decision ought not to be taken lightly. Clearly, removing the MEK will be a political loss for the Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has long labored to marginalize the organization. When the European Union removed the MEK from its list of terrorist organizations, it was considered by most onlookers to be a serious blow for the Islamic Republic. However, it bears noting that the regime is expert in seizing political losses as opportunities for heightening its anti-foreign propaganda.

I then fully realized how important poetry still is in Iranian daily life, and I think I know part of the answer to the question why that is the case: poetry is also political, because its subtlety, its metaphors and double meanings allow poets to express their opinion in a country where having one can lead to death. In the West, poetry is indeed a pastime: we are living in such (political and social) luxury that we don’t need the subtleties of poetry as a vehicle for freedom of expression.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has recently designated former Maldives foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed as the Special Rapporteur to investigate the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Renowned Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad has written him an open letter: “It is not too late for many other families to still come forward and unravel the painful truth.”

The way in which our democracy dealt with Islam and Muslim immigrants course after 9/11 is of course rather hypocrite and silly. How many words have not been spoken in various European media (especially in North and Central Europe) about the essential danger of Islam? The entire Muslim part of the population was being generalized and criminalized, and this is a community that rarely had a leader who could retort.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is one of more than two million Iranians forced by politics to live abroad. The sooner he can return to making the films he wants to, preferably in and around his native country, the better, not only for Iran, but for all lovers of cinema in the rest of the world.

Makhmalbaf became a kind of roving ambassador for Mousavi’s Green Movement, giving interviews, writing op-ed pieces, donating his film prizes to the Green Movement, and making the rounds of various European capitals, the European Parliament, and the White House. He says he no longer has time to make films because he is too busy “working for the Iranian people”.