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Rigorous arguments, grounded in evidence and attentive to consequences, on Iran and its place in the world.

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The Shah and Queen Farah Pahlavi visit the Tehran Research Reactor at its inauguration in 1967, during Iran’s period of rapid industrial and scientific development. Photo: Manoto
Essay

The Iran My Great-Grandfather Built

An old company book leads Noor Afshar to reconsider the Iran her great-grandfather helped build. Tracing GAMMA’s history across the 1979 Revolution, she reflects on industrial achievement, family memory, and what survives political rupture.

Noor Afshar
Economic Hardship and Survival Entrepreneurship
Analysis

Economic Hardship and Survival Entrepreneurship

Economic hardship is pushing more women into street vending in Iran. Their growing presence reveals the pressures on household incomes and middle-class livelihoods, while raising questions about women’s participation in public commercial spaces.

Nader Habibi
The Islamic Republic’s Houthi Gamble
Analysis

The Islamic Republic’s Houthi Gamble

The Houthis offer Tehran a source of regional leverage. Yet continued escalation could strengthen Saudi Arabia’s security partnerships, complicate Tehran’s relations with China, and deepen the Islamic Republic’s isolation, turning an instrument of pressure into a strategic liability.

Raafat Shamieh
What Quiet Streets Cannot Tell
Analysis

What Quiet Streets Cannot Tell

Repression can quiet Iran’s streets while obscuring public grievances. As Tehran weighs confrontation and diplomacy, apparent calm offers little certainty about how society would respond to further economic and military pressure.

Behnam Nodoushan
The Iran Economic Transition Papers
Analysis

The Iran Economic Transition Papers

A future political transition in Iran would inherit urgent financial obligations. The Iran Economic Transition Papers examine how to finance the first 180 days and build the conditions for lasting prosperity.

Cinna Seifi
For Iran and Its Future
Essay

For Iran and Its Future

Iran & Global Affairs brings together writers, scholars, and practitioners to discuss Iran and its place in the world. It offers a forum for informed debate about the country’s future, individual freedom, pluralism, and accountable government.

Babak Rezaee
IGA ONE

One issue. One argument. One page.

A concise policymaker brief developed by the Iran & Global Affairs platform team, distilling consequential analysis into what matters, why it matters, and what to watch.

IGA Challenge: the strongest counterargument, addressed directly.

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History, Art & Culture

Iran cannot be understood through contemporary politics alone.

Essays on history, visual culture, architecture, literature, heritage, museums, intellectual history, and cultural memory.

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