Horrendous news for #Iran and Iranians, particularly those living inside the country. I'm personally exhausted, disappointed, and infuriated at countless domestic and foreign actors who could have taken better steps to prevent this outcome, but failed. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/w...

World leaders posture at #UNGA80. Talk of snapback sanctions swirls. Ordinary Iranians wait in uncertainty. And yet life goes on in the streets of Tehran. #Iran HaftHoz Square, Narmak Square, Tehran. September 2025.

Iran has reportedly offered "immediate" IAEA access to its Natanz nuclear facility, provided that E3 backs Russian resolution to delay UN sanctions. amwaj.media/en/article/i... #Iran #Israel

Thread: This summer, during the 12-Day War between #Iran and #Israel, I launched a Substack page called The Guarded Domains to process the events that were unfolding at a maddening pace. guardeddomains.substack.com/p/welcome-to... 1/7

Forget about #Iran's nuclear program, I guess the real threat was always 5-gallon Nutella and 70-pound contraband cheese wheels! www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/w...

Thread: This summer, during the 12-Day War between #Iran and #Israel, I launched a Substack page called The Guarded Domains to process the events that were unfolding at a maddening pace. guardeddomains.substack.com/p/welcome-to... 1/7

For the first time in history, #Iran is crowned team champions of both Freestyle and Greco-Roman World Wrestling Championships. This is an awe-inspiring achievement. Huge congratulations to the team, the coaches, and the Iranian people across the globe!

My latest is a summary of a timely roundtable discussion hosted by Security in Context to contextualize #Iran’s foreign policy before and after the 12-Day War launched by #Israel in June 2025. The goal was to examine Iran’s strategic thinking through a historical and geopolitical context. 1/2

There is a lot more wagging in our lives these days and much less sleep. Say hello to Walnut (Gerdoo)!

Honored to join a timely roundtable organized by @nraz.bsky.social for Security in Context alongside great scholars @peymanjafari.bsky.social, @niki-akhavan.bsky.social, and @danieltavana.bsky.social. Among other themes, we unpacked #Iran’s post-12-day war strategy & its long-term FP goals.

Honored to join a timely roundtable organized by @nraz.bsky.social for Security in Context alongside great scholars @peymanjafari.bsky.social, @niki-akhavan.bsky.social, and @danieltavana.bsky.social. Among other themes, we unpacked #Iran’s post-12-day war strategy & its long-term FP goals.

Five-month investigation reveals how four members of one family were shot and killed in a single day and highlights a pattern in which Israeli troops target unarmed civilians www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... #Israel #Gaza

Number of countries that have been overtly or covertly attacked by #Israel under its current policy of achieving hegemony in West Asia and North Africa since June 2025: 1. Iran 2. Iraq 3. Lebanon 4. Palestine 5. Qatar 6. Syria 7. Tunisia 8. Yemen

Israel carried out a strike on Hamas’s senior political leadership in Doha, Qatar. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Twenty-five-year old Mohammad Reza Pahlavi visits Ayatollah Borujerdi in Tehran's Firuzabadi Hospital. Circa 1944. #Iran

Iran's Parliament will hold a "triple-urgency session" tomorrow to discuss a potential withdrawal from NPT. Reportedly, the Guardian Council will be present for "on-the-spot approval," fast-tracking the process if the bill passes. www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1404... #Iran

Do any academics or media folks have any suggestions regarding good software/digital tools for creating timelines? Preferably free tools.

A significant segment of the Iranian opposition abroad, especially those advocating for regime change, is willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal. This includes tactics that, in my view, resemble holding the in-country population hostage. 1/2 #Iran

A significant segment of the Iranian opposition abroad, especially those advocating for regime change, is willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal. This includes tactics that, in my view, resemble holding the in-country population hostage. 1/2 #Iran

Abadan Refinery Fire Department, 1956. #Iran

Abadan Refinery Fire Department, 1956. #Iran

چه اشتباه بزرگی! ای کاش می‌شد

I'm excited to kick off a new season of #HistoryInFocus with a miniseries we're calling "State of the Field for Busy Teachers." In four brief episodes, we survey the fields of African History, Native American History, LGBTQ+ History, and Graphic History. @historians.org @detroittoaccra.bsky.social

Electricity and water shortages continue to plague #Iran. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Excited to share that I launched my Substack newsletter earlier this summer! I write accessible content about #Iran, the Middle East, and its people—without sacrificing depth. Check out the intro post if you're curious about the name & origin story guardeddomains.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

Just read one of the most gripping pieces on #Israel’s secret war inside #Iran — from recruitment tactics and embedded spies to commando raids, cyberwarfare, assassinations, and nuclear sabotage. Who needs to watch a spy thriller? A must-read. www.propublica.org/article/isra...

A series of Iranian propaganda postcards based on one of the plots of the famous Persian epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings) in support of the Allied Powers during World War II. #Iran

A series of Iranian propaganda postcards based on one of the plots of the famous Persian epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings) in support of the Allied Powers during World War II. #Iran

There may be some confusion about Netanyahu’s recent occupation plan since #Israel already occupies #Gaza. It essentially means taking complete military control over Gaza city, Deir al-Bala, Nusairat—the only last 3 areas Israel hasn’t fully wiped out and where most Gazans are sheltering. 1/2

Rafah street view, south Gaza, published earlier today. This is just a few hundred metres drive. Practically all of Rafah looks like this now, and many other places too (see my earlier posts about Beit Hanoun, for another example). POV starts here: 31.296275, 34.241656

Drone footage published at end of July shows former city of Beit Hanoun in north Gaza now rubble. (POV starts about here: 31.534634, 34.542251).

Can Bluesky say every word in the English dictionary? In the last 24 hours, @avibagla.com's tracked 32% of all dictionary words, over 88k of 274k unique words. www.avibagla.com/blueskydicti...

Today’s moment of zen…

Happy 119th anniversary of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution! #Iran

It has been confirmed that the moderate conservative Ali Larijani will be the next head of #Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). I wrote about the role of SNSC for The Iran Primer if you'd like to learn more about the important body. iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/oc...

"It's just fields and fields of gray ash." www.instagram.com/reel/DM8H5L2...

What in the world are you doing, Jim Acosta?

Quoted by Haaretz in an extensive piece about Abdol-Aziz Farmanfarmaian the architect of #Iran’s state TV building, which was bombed by #Israel during the 12-day war. www.haaretz.com/life/2025-07...

Quoted by Haaretz in an extensive piece about Abdol-Aziz Farmanfarmaian the architect of #Iran’s state TV building, which was bombed by #Israel during the 12-day war. www.haaretz.com/life/2025-07...

A must-read piece by a humanitarian who was working on the ground in #Gaza. "Gaza has been held underwater for 22 months, allowed to gasp for air only when Israeli authorities face pressure from those with more leverage than international law itself." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Fars News reports that moderate conservative Ali Larijani is likely to become the next head of #Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. I wrote about the SNSC’s role for The Iran Primer a few years back. It may be worth a read as this develops. iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/oc...

Khalidi withdraws his course at Columbia in protest of the university’s deal w/ Trump admin & adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism which conflates “criticism of a nation-state, Israel, & a political ideology, Zionism, w/ the ancient evil of Jew-hatred.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sha’ban Ja’fari better known by his street name "Brainless Sha’ban" (top left) and his gang shaving the head of a voter suspected of supporting pro-Mosaddeq candidates. Khandaniha Magazine, February 9, 1954. #Iran

Fars News reports that moderate conservative Ali Larijani is likely to become the next head of #Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. I wrote about the SNSC’s role for The Iran Primer a few years back. It may be worth a read as this develops. iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2021/oc...

This is a lovely rumination on Iran's kids, its own Ms Rachel, & finding a way forward in the wake of war (the recent one w Israel, or the one w Iraq), bc "as it is obligated to do, life moved on." It's ALSO about plastic balls & street soccer (as once played by Ekstraklasa winger Ali Gholizadeh!)

A video of a bazaar in Isfahan, #Iran. Late Qajar era, early 1900s. #QajarIran

“According to a study published by MSF in December 2024, nearly all of Gaza’s 1.2 million children were in need of mental health and psychosocial support due to symptoms of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and more.”

the pattern on the ball is like the one used for street soccer in Argentina since, like, forever (for recess we also used a “ball” made from a sock stuffed with tightly bundled nylon ladies’ stockings (pantyhose?) - it was the size of a softball, usually) www.cronista.com/apertura/emp...

In my latest, I reflect on the scars of war in #Iran, the uneasy calm of a ceasefire, & how a simple street football game captures the quiet resilience of everyday life—bridging generations & marking the fragile return of joy to the country's alleyways. guardeddomains.substack.com/p/when-the-s...

An impressive undertaking FT and a must-read article. An in-depth piece accompanied by impressive visuals that lays out the relentless race for AI capacity and its potential downfalls. ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...