It’s incomprehensible that Brett McGurk, who has repeatedly set the region on fire with his decisions and policies, is still invited on @cnn.com to opine on the Middle East as if he’s some bright mind we should be taking seriously.

Much has been said about the dictator-bootlicking left that defended the Islamic Republic while it slaughtered a protesting nation. But the westernist right should not go unscathed either, having cheered for years on Israel’s destruction in Gaza and now justifying the U.S.-Israeli bombing in Iran.

Spoke to @nieuwsuur.nl about @ntabrizy.bsky.social and my recent investigations in Iran. People in Iran are now caught between bombardment from the skies and the Islamic Republic’s repressive system. We should not lose sight of the people living through this, and what it means for them every day.

I get as we say in dutch, hoofdpijn, from this world sometimes.

Peak Iran brickwork Five apartments on a small site (only 124m2) in Mashhad, Iran, designed by Abar Office

One day, which seems farther away than ever before, I hope to sit in a circle, break bread, and share the fruits of the region, rather than look at airstrikes, buildings reduced to rubble, and regimes suffocating people. Feel free to call me a wishful thinker.

Israel’s airstrikes on oil depots across Tehran have unleashed extensive air pollution, report @baydoun.nl  @chrisosieck.bsky.social  @ntabrizy.bsky.social  @wammezz.bsky.social   in an exclusive investigation.

This thread shares three stories from Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria, shedding light on the often overlooked human cost of conflict—the lives lost and family members left to navigate the aftermath airwars.org/casualty-rec...

In 2019 I went to Khiam to document it, believing the historic detention center wouldn't survive, so I built a virtual reconstruction. Last week it was razed by Israeli forces. My piece for @newlinesmag.bsky.social on what that means, and what a 3D model cannot hold. newlinesmag.com/reportage/sa...

I’ve been a journalist for 27 years. I’ve reported major stories about mass surveillance, torture, war, the military-industrial complex, police black sites, etc. But this is the most important story I’ve ever had the horror/honor to work on. For it is a story about the current phase of a genocide.

Your periodic reminder that there is a website that lets you listen to local radio stations anywhere in the world This is honestly one of the coolest inventions ever, imo. Global access to hyper-local imagined communities

While this is a step in the right direction, it comes far too late. The media has long been too hesitant to call Israel’s actions what they are: settler-colonial, fundamentally expansionist, and aimed at elimination and replacement.

“No one comes out of solitary confinement the same person they were before. Cutting off communication is a tool of repression, punishment and social incapacitation, with far-reaching and long-term consequences.”

1/ Alongside the Visual Investigations teams doing impactful work in newsrooms, it’s worth highlighting the many independent (freelance) investigators contributing to this field.

NEW: The net seemed to be tightening around the shadow fleet, but now these ships are ready to capitalise on the chaos of the Iran war and restricted supplies of oil. ig.ft.com/shadow-fleet/

Cute brick apartment building in Shiraz, Iran, by Miri Studio. As usual in Iranian architecture, brick plays multiple roles - balancing shade, view and privacy, while also tying the facade into local culture.

A radio producer in the US asked me to send daily voice notes about what life was like for me in Beirut over the last three weeks. My part is the last 10 mins or so. revealnews.org/podcast/iran...

Recently I had a conversation with a fellow researcher who told me he had spoken to someone from a media outlet who said they see people who share verifications as doing a public service, and therefore they should not be compensated for it.

Over the past 3 wks, I’ve been working around the clock with barely any rest. I rarely feel exhaustion when I’m focused, until it catches up with me and I crash, like today, falling asleep several times. Colleagues and friends often have to be quite stern with me to take a break.

An exclusive investigation reveals the substantial air pollution unleashed by Israel’s recent strikes on fuel storage sites across Iran’s capital.  @baydoun.nl @chrisosieck.bsky.social @ntabrizy.bsky.social  @wammezz.bsky.social 

“There is nothing abstract about fear. In the heaviest strikes, every cell in your body shakes. The sound does not feel external; it travels through you, as if your bones themselves are echoing.“

Using interviews, satellite imagery and atmospheric modelling, we reconstructed how smoke from strikes on oil infrastructure spread across Tehran. The plume extended across much of the city. Investigation by @baydoun.nl, @ntabrizy.bsky.social, @wammezz.bsky.social, and myself.

New investigation: We tracked how smoke from strikes on Tehran’s fuel depots spread across the city. Together with @chrisosieck.bsky.social @ntabrizy.bsky.social @wammezz.bsky.social, we used satellite imagery, geolocation and wind analysis to map its movement. newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

This map shows how smoke moved across Tehran in the hours following the strikes, based on atmospheric modeling and wind conditions, overlaid on the city’s population density.

NEW: Israel’s airstrikes on oil depots across Tehran have unleashed extensive air pollution, report @baydoun.nl, @chrisosieck.bsky.social , @ntabrizy.bsky.social and @wammezz.bsky.social , in an exclusive investigation for @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/reportage/th...

Using interviews, satellite imagery and atmospheric modelling, we reconstructed how smoke from strikes on oil infrastructure spread across Tehran. The plume extended across much of the city. Investigation by @baydoun.nl, @ntabrizy.bsky.social, @wammezz.bsky.social, and myself.

This from @chrisosieck.bsky.social cuts to the core of it though: Debunking AI videos...often involves carefully inspecting them frame by frame for visual discrepancies. “That time should be devoted to what matters most: reporting on the impact this brutal war has on the people.."

“For all their impression of clarity and precision, the AIs are simply wrong.[ …]The “factchecks” by Gemini and Grok are just one example of a tidal wave of AI-generated slop – hallucinated facts, nonsense analysis and faked images – that are engulfing coverage of the Iran war.”

Told @theguardian.com that for those who have lost loved ones, accountability risks being overshadowed by misinformation, suspicion and doubt. Imagine losing a child and then seeing AI used online to claim the event never happened.

I hope that if there's one thing that this Iran conflict and the explosion of online misinformation about it has laid bare for most people is the significance of content verification and fact-checking in the digital age. AI cannot replace human verification, at least not just yet.

“My heart is so heavy,” said Amir. “I don’t even have tears left. Only anger and more anger. At this regime, and them,” he added, referring to the US and Israel.

“For more than 40 years, this regime had been promising at its Friday sermons that such a war was on the way, that it was inevitable, and indeed desirable. And yet there was no crisis training, no shelters, no alarms or public announcements of any kind.”

“For more than 40 years, this regime had been promising at its Friday sermons that such a war was on the way, that it was inevitable, and indeed desirable. And yet there was no crisis training, no shelters, no alarms or public announcements of any kind.”

ICYMI: Satellite imagery and open-source evidence show a March 5 airstrike destroyed an Iranian emergency medical base in a Shiraz park, while a military site nearby was untouched. New investigation by Nilo Tabrizy and @chrisosieck.bsky.social :

Israeli drone strike on a Basij checkpoint geolocated along the Artesh Highway in District 1, Tehran, Iran (35.792325, 51.534573).

I agree with @ayoub.bsky.social that “Israel’s territorial ambitions and drive for total domination far outweigh any commitment to long-term regional stability.”

"One sociologist in Tehran, who is critical of the regime and the war, said there was anecdotal evidence of a growing “sense of nationalism emerging from the war” as happened during Israel’s 12-day conflict against Iran last year, when people rallied around the flag."

Told @nrc.nl that delays in satellite imagery make it harder to quickly and independently verify the human consequences of attacks. That’s a problem for transparency. As one friend joked, maybe they want us to start looking at Chinese satellites instead.

New footage reveals an apparent U.S. or Israeli strike near a boys' school in Abyek, west of Tehran, on Feb. 28. Satellite imagery suggests a comms tower was the intended target, but flying debris killed a child on the playground. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/w...

A new investigation by @ntabrizy.bsky.social and @chrisosieck.bsky.social finds that an airstrike last Thursday destroyed an Iranian emergency medical base in a Shiraz park, while a nearby military site 200 meters away remained untouched. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ai...

New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footage also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school, where 175 people were reportedly killed, including children.

Airstrike Hit Iranian Emergency Medical Base in Shiraz, Killing 20 newlinesmag.com/spotlight/ai...

Iran’s people were facing a horrible shortage of water before the war began. If we are destroying desalination plants and setting fire to Teheran we are committing unfathomable crimes.

A review by @ntabrizy.bsky.social and myself of post-strike videos, images, satellite imagery and mapping data shows that a civilian park hosting an EMS base in Shiraz was directly hit, killing at least 20 and raising questions about mistaken targeting.

A review by @ntabrizy.bsky.social and myself of post-strike videos, images, satellite imagery and mapping data shows that a civilian park hosting an EMS base in Shiraz was directly hit, killing at least 20 and raising questions about mistaken targeting.

The equation between protecting lives in ‘the East-European buffer zone’ and annihilating them in the Middle Eastern kill zone certainly makes some Western values explicit, including the context into which several of the ‘allies’ immediately offered to send their armies to ‘help.’ Message received.

As many of us investigators are working around the clock on a huge volume of incidents right now, please remember to take breaks and check in on each other regularly.

Very dystopian timing. I’ve been working on this since November. Thanks @thedialmag.bsky.social

Mapped the evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army in south Lebanon over the past two days. The March 03 order marks a significant expansion beyond the immediate border towns and well beyond the Litani River. I counted 105 villages so far.

U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children.