The late President Ebrahim Raisi was supposedly being groomed to succeed an aging Ali Khamenei. The succession is a complex process, more dependent on politics than religion.
Women, life, freedom: protests against the oppression of Iranian women in Iran in Ottowa, Canada, September 2022.
Taymaz Valley/Wikimedia Commons
Protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini have gone global. But in Iran there is a unique version, known as ‘amameh parani’, targeting a garment sacred to Shi’a clerics.
As calls for greater freedom grow, the author examines how secularism might work in Iran.
A placard with a picture of Mahsa Amini, whose death while being detained by Iran’s morality police has ignited a wave of protests across the country.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Iranian women have a long history of campaigning for their rights. The latest protests bring together a host of religious and gender groups suppressed by the country’s clerical regime.
Casting off oppression: women are taking off their compulsory hijab in protest against oppression.
EPA-EFE/stringer
Although the unrest that shocked Iran’s ruling elite appears to be over, there are several reasons to think this won’t be the last time disaffected citizens take to the streets.
Economic perceptions may decide Rouhani’s fate.
Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
Rouhani’s conservative rivals are exploiting growing pessimism about the economy, increasing the odds that someone more hostile to the West might become Iran’s next president.
The tentative Boeing jet deal prompted outrage among Republicans but barely a peep among Iran’s own conservatives, despite their aversion to warmer economic ties with the U.S.
Can Rouhani shake his shadow?
Raheb Homavandi/Reuters