Iranian activist Reza Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been released from custody in Iran, his lawyer said in a post on Facebook on December 23. Lawyer Mohammad Moghimi wrote that following Khandan's release, both Sotoudeh and activist Farhad Meysami ended hunger strikes that were partially motivated by support for Khandan.

In recent years, Iran has projected its power across the Middle East, from Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen. One of the keys to its success has been a unique strategy of blending militant and state power, built in part on the model of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The acknowledged principal architect of this policy is Major General Qassem Soleimani, the long-serving head of Iran’s Quds (“Jerusalem”) Force. Without question, Soleimani is the most powerful general in the Middle East today; he is also one of Iran’s most popular living people, and has been repeatedly touted as a possible presidential candidate. By Ali Soufan.

Global soccer body FIFA has been urged by its own human rights advisory panel to...

Justice minister claims Alireza, found alive in morgue and now on life support, survived penalty so will not be 're-executed'

A new study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School claims that Wikipedia might hold the key to understanding how Iran censors, and controls, the internet. The answer, in four words: with a heavy hand.

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 140 injured in a double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Iran's nuclear deal with the West is not intended to let more of its oil into the market, the White House said, but an easing of the ban on European shipping insurance may help smooth crude exports to its big Asian customers.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has been featured in an online music video, entitled Nowsafar

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has hit Borazjan, Iran, about 35 miles from the country's sole nuclear power plant, killing 7 and injuring 30.

In sharp contrast to the openness and transparency of our time, the Iran nuke deal, a major diplomatic development, was negotiated covertly in Oman and discretely in Geneva. Is this the return of diplomacy to ‘normality’ after an unrealistic shift to the open digital diplomacy so enthusiastically promoted a few years ago? http://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/iran-nuke-deal-secret-negotiations-era-transparency

President Hassan Rouhan has brought some moderation to Iran, but not when it comes to executions.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it had sent a second live monkey into space and brought it back safely, the latest demonstration of the country's missile capabilities, state news agency IRNA reported.President

After three years of turmoil, the Middle East is set to spiral even further. This year, expect violence in Iraq to skyrocket, as Iranian influence grows in Baghdad (much to Saudi Arabia's dismay).

A deal for Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief will take effect on January 20.

The deal, agreed in talks with world powers in November, envisages easing of some international sanctions on Tehran. US President Barack Obama welcomed the news but said more work was needed to strike a long-term deal. He threatened new sanctions if there was a breach.

The Iranian government has started handing out food packages for millions of its citizens both to help those with low income and to try to lower inflation on food, local news media reported on Monday.

An admiral of Iran's Northern Navy Fleet said warships under his command have been dispatched to skirt U.S. maritime borders for the first time, in tit-for-tat move aimed at protesting the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf. Afshin Rezayee Haddad was quoted Saturday by the semi-official Fars News Agency as saying the deployment of the vessels, the number and type which he did not reveal, "has a message."

Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195m, according to documents seen by Reuters news agency - a move that would break a UN embargo on weapons sales by Iran. The agreement was reached at the end of November, the documents showed, just weeks after Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, returned from Washington, where he lobbied the Obama administration for extra weapons to fight armed rebels.

The Panamanian-flagged vessel was boarded by Israeli naval commandos in the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, displaying on Monday what Israel said were seized, Iranian-supplied missiles bound for militants in Gaza, urged the West not to be fooled by

Iranians are wrestling over whether it is time to widen public access to the Internet and television.

Russia may revise its stance in the Iranian nuclear talks amid tensions with the West over Ukraine, a senior diplomat warned Wednesday. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency, that Russia didn't want to use the Iranian nuclear talks to "raise the stakes," but may have to do so in response to the actions by the United States and the European Union.

Iran is building a non-functioning replica of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that analysts believe may be for propaganda purposes, The New York Times reports.

For the past 20 years images and news from Iran have been fairly consistent. There are women in burqas, public demonstrations with burning flags, executions, and the ongoing threat of nuclear weaponry. Yet, in this 80 million-plus population lies a hidden life; albeit one that, against the conservative and theocratic laws that exist, still pervades the culture. A young photographer named Hossein Fatemi did a photo series of the “Iran that we never see.”

When he felt the noose around his neck, Balal must have thought he was about to take his last breath. Minutes earlier, crowds had watched as guards pushed him towards the gallows for what was meant to be yet another public execution in the Islamic Republic of Iran...

Dramatic photos show how a murdered teen's mother forgave her son's killer after giving a last-minute speech to the crowd and then slapping him in the face

The Iranian regime has banned access to the WhatsApp messaging site, a popular site for many to communicate both inside and outside the country, stating that a Jewish “American Zionist” owns the site. The announcement came some two months after Facebook bought the company for a stunning $19 billion, and a regime official connected the move directly to the founder of Facebook.

It was a Thursday night in Istanbul and I was sitting on a patio at a going away party with three Persian cousins: two men living in Istanbul for graduate school and a woman living there who works as a journalist. I didn’t want to turn playtime into work time but the opportunity seemed too ripe to relinquish. How often do Americans actually meet Iranians? How often do we get to share a beer and actually try to understand each other? I had no idea what I was in for.

Going out in public without a hijab can get you 70 lashes and 60 days in prison, but these women are taking the risk

Cheap, widely available and used by students and housewives alike, crystal meth is taking the Iranian capital by storm. The author of a new book about the country reports on an addiction that even the repressive regime is struggling to control

The Iranian government has executed a billionaire businessman at the heart of a £1.5bn state bank scam, state television has reported.

An Iranian judge has ordered Mark Zuckerberg to appear in court and answer complaints about Instagram and Whatsapp, which Facebook owns. The move, while unlikely to succeed, highlights the split in attitudes between Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, and hardliners elsewhere in the country's administration.

In an unprecedented, three-year cyber espionage campaign, Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a bogus news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United States, Israel and other countries, a cyber intelligence firm said on Thursday. ISight Partners, which uncovered the operation, said the targets include a four-star U.S. Navy admiral, U.S. lawmakers and ambassadors, and personnel from Afghanistan, Britain, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

A heavy dust storm roared into Iran's capital Monday, blacking out the sun in a swirling cloud and tearing down trees in a squall that reportedly killed at least four people and injured 30.

When Iran faces off against Nigeria for a June 16 match in the FIFA World Cup, fans in both teams’ home countries may be hard-pressed to find a public spot to watch the game. In an attempt at crowd control, Iranian police banned cafes and restaurants from airing World Cup games, even Iran's own matches, the BBC reported Tuesday, citing local media. The decision came just weeks after the country banned women from watching the games with men in public cinemas.