Revelers feast and jump over fire to mark the beginning of the new year, but recent protests across Iran and the faltering economy have cast a pall over this year's celebrations.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are restoring full diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by China, a move that could reduce tensions in the region and that asserts China's growing influence in the Gulf.
Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after years of tensions, including a devastating attack on the heart of the kingdom's oil production.
Iran has jailed up to 20,000 people in months of protests against the regime. The announcement that it's pardoning prisoners is an empty gesture, a human rights lawyer says.
In an interview with NPR in Tehran, Iran's foreign minister dismisses the protests that have spread in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death, saying "nothing important had happened."
The Iranian American businessman's hunger strike marks seven years after he was left out of a prisoner swap when the Iran nuclear deal took effect. He's appealing to President Biden for action.
Ali Reza Akbar, who once worked for Iran's defense ministry, was executed despite international outcry over his death sentence and those of others held amid protests.
There are now four men known to have been executed since demonstrations began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini. All have faced internationally criticized, rapid, closed-door trials.
The protests that have gripped the country since September may have diminished to some extent recently, but demonstrators in Iran reached by NPR insist the protests will not die out or fade away.
Taraneh Alidoosti, the 38-year-old star of the Oscar-winning 2016 film The Salesman was released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison nearly three weeks after her arrest.
The real-life "Spider Killer" murdered 16 women in Iran between 2000 and 2001. The case inspired Holy Spider, which has resonated abroad during a time of amplified state violence in Iran.
The executions are Tehran's main response to protests that have swept the country since September, and are seen as a sign that Iran's clerical leadership intends to continue a violent crackdown.
Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie The Salesman, was detained after she made an Instagram post about the first man recently executed for crimes committed during nationwide protests.
The U.S. had to beat Iran to advance in the World Cup. Iran had to just tie in order to move on. The U.S. will go up against the Netherlands in the Round of 16.
