Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Iran

MERIP’s First Decade of Iran Coverage from Political Challenge to Revolution
MERIP Reports no. 86, March/April 1980. Cover photo by Behzad Touhidi.MERIP Reports no. 87, May 1980. Cover photo by Dorothy Grant.
MER Article

MERIP’s First Decade of Iran Coverage from Political Challenge to Revolution

MERIP’s coverage of Iran from the organization’s founding in 1971 up through the 1979 revolution and the early years of post-revolutionary state formation remain an invaluable resource for understanding and teaching the history of Iran’s long 1970s. MERIP writers in this period were grappling with the meaning
Naghmeh Sohrabi • 8 min read
Labor Organizing on the Rise Among Iranian Oil Workers
The Mahshahr petrochemical plant in Khuzestan province. Raheb Homavandi/ReutersFigure 1. The sources of the raw data for these maps are news articles published in Hrana, Akhbar-e Rooz, and Radio Zamaneh. The 2020 map covers strikes reported from August 1 to September 6, 2020, and the 20201 map covers strikes from June 19 to August 2, 2021.Figure 2. Monthly protests reported in ILNA.Figure 3. Monthly number of counties with protest reported in ILNA.
Current Analysis

Labor Organizing on the Rise Among Iranian Oil Workers

Oil workers in Iran have been striking since June 19, 2021, leading some observers to ask whether protests are becoming routine within the existing political system or are a prelude to a bigger uprising. The authors explain what makes these strikes remarkable, why Iran's neoliberal policies pushed w
Mohammad Ali Kadivar, Peyman Jafari, Mehdi Hoseini, Saber Khani • 14 min read
Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians
A post on the Collective for Black Iranians Instagram page. Art by Mina M Jafari.Art by Mina M Jafari.Produced by the Collective with Sahar Ghorishi, from the Black is Beautiful series.Produced by the Collective with resident artist Mina Jafari.Produced by the Collective with artist Sahar Ghorishi.
MER Article

Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians

The groundbreaking work of the Collective for Black Iranians is the first and only effort of its kind in Iran that brings together the voices of Black and Afro-Iranians, sharing their stories and experiences to foster greater racial consciousness and combat the anti-Black racism endemic to the Irani
Beeta Baghoolizadeh, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda • 13 min read
Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians
A post on the Collective for Black Iranians Instagram page. Art by Mina M Jafari.Art by Mina M Jafari.Produced by the Collective with Sahar Ghorishi, from the Black is Beautiful series.Produced by the Collective with resident artist Mina Jafari.Produced by the Collective with artist Sahar Ghorishi.
Current Analysis

Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians

The groundbreaking work of the Collective for Black Iranians is the first and only effort of its kind in Iran that brings together the voices of Black and Afro-Iranians, sharing their stories and experiences to foster greater racial consciousness and combat the anti-Black racism endemic to the Irani
Beeta Baghoolizadeh, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda • 13 min read
Labor Activists, the Living Wage and State Law in Iran
General view of workers on a production line manufacturing face masks at a factory in Karaj, Iran. June 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via ReutersThe letter by factory workers attached to the labor law delivered to the Shush Labor Office in protest. Source: ILNA.
Current Analysis

Labor Activists, the Living Wage and State Law in Iran

Fruzan Afshar traces the contested politics and complex law of setting the minimum wage and cost of living figures in Iran. She shows how Iranian labor activists are making innovative use of the state's labor laws to secure political inclusion and a platform to voice demands.
Fruzan Afshar • 13 min read
The Savor of Memory
Kalam pilau. Photo courtesy the author.The two volumes of Ketab-e-Mostatab-e-Ashpazi (The Excellent Book of Cookery) by Najaf Daryabandari and Fahimeh Rastkar.Abgousht with accoutrements. Photo courtesy the author.
Current Analysis

The Savor of Memory

Laleh Khalili draws on memories from childhood, her experience of leaving Iran and her ongoing interest in cooking to review a series of classic and contemporary Iranian cookbooks. Through them she reflects on the politics of identity in the Iranian diaspora and the global circuits of foodways refle
Laleh Khalili • 17 min read
Going to War with the Coronavirus and Maintaining the State of Resistance in Iran
Fig. 1. “Doctors and Nurses! Your reward is with God.” Source: Office of Supreme Leader.Fig. 1. “Health Defenders.” Source: Student News Network.Fig. 2. “The Sacrifice Continues.” Source: Navid Shahed Gilan.Fig. 3. “The Nation’s heroes are always in the field,” original design and postage stamp. Source: Tehran Times.Fig. 4. “War, work until victory.” Source: Yanon Design.Fig. 5. A war medic and health care professional collapsed into one figure. The slogan reads, “The holy warriors of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” Source: Office of Supreme LeaderFig. 6. Source: Public Relations Office of Dezful Governorate.Fig. 6. “The trench is the same trench, the people are the same people.”Fig. 7. “Like Avini.” Source: Office of Supreme Leader.
Covid-19 Coverage

Going to War with the Coronavirus and Maintaining the State of Resistance in Iran

The Iranian government is fighting against the coronavirus pandemic not only with travel restrictions and social distancing rules, but also with ideological tools that promote unity and resistance. Through the production of posters and other media, Iran is creating connections between earlier battle
Kevin L. Schwartz, Olmo Gölz • 15 min read
The Gains and Risks of Kurdish Civic Activism in Iran
A Kurdish protestor holds a sign that says, “Kurdistan’s share of development is death,” referring to the Iranian president’s promises for economic development. Mariwan, Iran, October 6, 2016. Courtesy Kurdistan 24.
MER Article

The Gains and Risks of Kurdish Civic Activism in Iran

On July 13, 2020, two young Kurdish men, Diako Rasoulzadeh and Saber Sheikh-Abdollah, were executed by the Iranian government on fabricated charges of involvement in bombing a military parade in Mahabad in 2010. They were also members of Komala, a banned Kurdish political party. Amnesty International notes that, “There has
Allan Hassaniyan • 10 min read
The New Wave of Politics in the Struggle for Self-Determination in Rojhelat
An Iranian Sunni Kurd couple sit near their relatives at a recreational area in Marivan, Kurdistan province, 2011. Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters
MER Article

The New Wave of Politics in the Struggle for Self-Determination in Rojhelat

In an attempt to decolonize Kurdistan, at least discursively, Kurds refer to the Kurdish region of Iran as Rojhelat, instead of Iranian Kurdistan. Rojhelat, meaning “the place where the sun rises,” refers to the eastern portion of Kurdistan—the Kurdish homeland that stretches across four countries. This terminology has been
Sardar Saadi • 14 min read
The Elusive Quest for a Kurdish State
A boy rides a bicycle with the flag of Kurdistan in Tuz Khurmato, Iraq, September 24, 2017. Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
MER Article

The Elusive Quest for a Kurdish State

Kurdish communities in the Middle East have been struggling for independence, autonomy and civil rights since at least the 1880s. While Kurdish movements across the region have suffered from fragmentation, the more formidable obstacle to fulfilling Kurdish aspirations are regional and global geopoli
Djene Rhys Bajalan • 18 min read