More than 150 Iranian lawmakers have accused the judiciary of failing to enforce hijab regulations, claiming this has encouraged growing public defiance and contributed to what they describe as “lawlessness” and “moral decline.” In a letter to Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, 155 MPs said the judiciary has become passive and urged it to [...]

Behind normal storefronts in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, a covert trade in fast-acting sedatives commonly used as rape drugs is thriving. These substances leave victims conscious but defenseless and often unable to remember what happened. Research by Iran International shows these drugs are easily purchased in markets with almost no enforcement or public awareness. A contact [...]

Private clinics in Iran have been asking nurses—mostly women—to agree not to marry or have children as a condition for being hired. Iran’s Nursing Organization chief, Ahmad Nejatian, said this is illegal and unethical. He explained that because most nurses are women of childbearing age, they have the right to marry and become mothers. [...]

Iranian sports coach and taekwondo athlete Hanieh Shariati Roudposhti was detained in Tehran after performing acrobatic moves in public without wearing a headscarf, according to the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. Security forces reportedly arrested her on Sunday night and took her to an undisclosed location. Her social media accounts were seized and later [...]

Protests erupted across at least five major Iranian cities as pensioners, nurses, and oil sector workers demanded fair wages and payment of long-overdue benefits. Retirees from Iran’s Telecommunications Company rallied in cities including Tehran, Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Khoy, denouncing corruption and unpaid allowances. In Kermanshah, nurses protested over more than a year of [...]

Iran is facing a worsening nutrition crisis, with about 120,000 deaths each year linked to poor diets. Around 35% of all deaths are tied to malnutrition, caused by high food prices, reduced intake of dairy, meat, fruits, and vegetables, and severe vitamin deficiencies—especially vitamin D, which affects up to 70% of the population. Many [...]

Iran’s leadership is facing growing fears of renewed nationwide unrest as United Nations sanctions deepen the country’s economic crisis. Following the collapse of nuclear negotiations, the sanctions have worsened inflation—now around 40%—and caused the rial to plummet past 1.1 million per dollar. Millions have fallen deeper into poverty, with unemployment rising and trade and oil [...]

Iranian human rights activist Reza Khandan has not been allowed to visit his wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a well-known human rights lawyer, for over nine months because she refuses to wear the mandatory hijab during prison visits.Khandan, who is serving a 3½-year prison sentence for opposing Iran’s hijab law, began a sit-in protest on September 30.Twelve [...]