RFE/RL's Radio Farda breaks through government censorship to deliver accurate news and provide a platform for informed discussion and debate to audiences in Iran.
The United States and Iran have traded strikes for a second day as tensions rise in the Middle East. US Central Command released video of strikes targeting Iranian military sites. Iran responded by attacking US allies in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran has declared a halt to strikes against Israel, framing the pause as a completed operation. The move came shortly after US President Donald Trump, whom analysts say is keen on a peace deal with Iran, posted on social media that both sides were seeking an immediate cease-fire.
Iran launched ballistic missiles at northern Israel on June 7, describing the attack as retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Israel responded with a "large-scale strike" on Iran's strategic defense systems. US President Donald Trump urged both sides to avoid further escalation.
More than three months into Iran's conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranians say they are desperate about meeting basic needs. Some are down to one meal a day, meat is rare, and household appliances are sold off to pay bills. Some Iranians sent messages to RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
Kuwait's Civil Aviation Authority released images of an Iranian drone attack on the country's international airport that took place on June 3. Kuwait says one person was killed and more than 60 were injured in the attack.
Two more men have been executed in Iran in connection with the January protests with human rights groups condemning growing repression in the country. An Iranian man was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for simply shooting video of protests that first erupted in December 2025.
The shaky video of the incident recalled the famous "Tank Man" protester on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, who single-handedly defied an armored column during pro-democracy protests in 1989 that were subsequently crushed by tanks.
Internet access in Iran has been partially restored after the government shut down communications at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in late February. Iranians told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that they had been unable to check on their loved ones' safety during months of deadly air strikes.
After 88 days of a near-total Internet blackout, Iranians are slowly reconnecting, but to the same heavily censored, regulated network they had before.
Iranian monarchist groups are voicing anger over reports that FIFA intends to ban the so-called Lion and Sun flag, often used as a symbol of resistance to the theocratic rule that took over the country in 1979. The soccer association says the flag is a "political" symbol and is therefore forbidden.
The world soccer governing body FIFA reportedly plans to again prohibit fans from displaying Iran's pre-revolutionary flag at the 2026 World Cup, renewing a controversy that shadowed the tournament in Qatar four years ago.
The public spectacle of hundreds of couples marrying in Tehran surrounded by armored vehicles and antiaircraft guns on May 18 demonstrates a new level of patriotic messaging from the country amid a fragile cease-fire with the US and Israel.
An armed Iranian state TV presenter fired at a United Arab Emirates flag during a broadcast amid signs of growing public militarization in Iran. It came as US President Donald Trump issued threats of renewed attacks on Iran if it didn't reach a deal to end the nearly three-month-long conflict.
Iran's appointment of parliament speaker and chief US negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as special envoy for China signals Tehran is playing its most valuable political card on two fronts at once.
Iran's publishing industry is staging a virtual book fair amid compounding wartime crises: physical damage to bookshops from US-Israeli strikes, an Internet blackout, and a paper shortage worsened by sanctions.
Some Iranians in exile who are advocating a return of the monarchy in Tehran have been displaying symbols associated with the notorious secret police, SAVAK, used by the former shah to repress political opponents before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Iran has executed at least 29 prisoners since the start of the war, including two on the same day on May 13, including a cybersecurity specialist hanged on espionage charges and a protester convicted of killing a security officer.
The brother of imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi says doctors cannot yet offer a definitive prognosis on her condition, days after Iranian authorities released her on bail amid a health crisis that her family says nearly killed her.
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran it will face "a much higher level and intensity" of strikes if it fails to agree to a peace deal that the two sides are reportedly closing in on.
Iran announced the hanging of three more men on May 4 as a wave of executions continued amid the backdrop of Tehran's war with the United States and Israel. Before being hanged on the weekend, another two members of Iran's Kurdish minority issued audio statements from prison.
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