In Iran, hardliners are escalating rhetoric around the Strait of Hormuz, framing control and toll collection as a strategic red line and source of leverage, while experts and critics warn of legal, economic, and geopolitical risks.
Sharp disagreements among members of Iran’s negotiating team led them to abandon US talks in Islamabad and return to Tehran on April 11 following an order from Iran's top security official, sources familiar with the deliberations told Iran International.
Iran’s central bank has warned President Masoud Pezeshkian that rebuilding the country’s war-damaged economy could take more than a decade, sources familiar with internal deliberations told Iran International.
Reactions in Tehran to the collapse of the Islamabad talks suggest Iran’s leadership is settling on a dual message: defiance toward Washington’s pressure while still leaving the door to diplomacy open.
Iran has sent a negotiating team to the Islamabad talks with the United States spanning an unusually broad political spectrum—suggesting a possibly calculated effort to pre-empt future hardline backlash while pursuing negotiations.
Iran’s political establishment has largely rallied behind the decision by the Supreme National Security Council to accept a two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan, while critics warn the pause in fighting could harm prospects for political change.
As the newly announced ceasefire struggles to hold, Tehran is entering a contradictory moment marked by official celebrations, delayed funerals and renewed political infighting.
Israel’s campaign in Iran has reached far beyond missile depots and military command. Over roughly a month, it has also hit the architecture of domestic repression: intelligence compounds, police stations, Basij bases, judicial buildings, and senior officials tied to crackdowns.
Iranian hardliners on Friday branded former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif a “traitor” and accused him of espionage over his call to end the war, with a lawmaker urging the judiciary to arrest him along with former president Hassan Rouhani.
Iran’s state broadcaster has adopted a noticeably harsher tone toward dissent, increasingly framing domestic protests as part of a war waged by “enemies.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is facing a fierce political backlash after signaling a conditional willingness to end the war, exposing deep divisions within Iran’s political and military establishment over diplomacy versus continued conflict.
Iranian state television has escalated its messaging by warning citizens not to reveal the locations of officials hiding among civilians.
Rising tensions between the Pezeshkian administration and Iran’s military leadership have pushed the president into a “complete political deadlock,” with the Revolutionary Guard effectively assuming control over key state functions, informed sources told Iran International.
The rise of Mojtaba Khamenei is not an unexpected deviation within the Islamic Republic—it is the logical outcome of a system carefully engineered over nearly four decades by Ali Khamenei.
Jihad Nasr spent decades at the center of Islamic Republic projects spanning water, housing and energy, as well as nuclear-linked construction and overseas ventures, as a state-backed network built under reformist-era politics dug deep into Iran’s infrastructure economy.
Serious disagreements have emerged between Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and IRGC chief-commander Ahmad Vahidi over how to manage the war and its damaging impact on people’s livelihoods and the economy, sources with knowledge of the matter told Iran International.
Former Iranian diplomats are warning that the war between Iran, the United States and Israel could fundamentally reshape the Middle East’s security order, with some predicting a prolonged conflict and deeper regional instability.
Some Tehran commentators say any US attempt to seize Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf could play directly into the IRGC’s long-standing strategy of capturing American troops for leverage.
Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council under direct pressure from senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including newly installed IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi, according to informed sources.
Iran’s economy is no longer merely experiencing high inflation; it is exhibiting the structural symptoms of a nation losing faith in its own currency and facing a shift in its monetary regime.
A foundational figure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr’s rise signals not a shift, but a moment of clarity — the same hardline system, now accelerating and more visible than ever.
Remarks by Donald Trump suggesting backchannel contacts with a figure inside Iran’s government have stirred intense political debate in Tehran.