Tehran Insider
Firsthand reports from contributors inside Iran
Firsthand reports from contributors inside Iran
I am writing this from Tehran after three days of trying to find a way to send it: things may get a lot worse before they get any better.
There is a cruel ritual in Iranian opposition politics: some voices abroad constantly interrogate the “purity” of activists inside—why they did not speak more sharply or endorse maximalist slogans, why survival itself looks insufficiently heroic.
The Iran projected on social media these days—brunch parties, rooftop concerts, fashion shows—is real, but only as a tiny fragment of the country’s reality, where most ordinary people struggle to make ends meet.
This week marked the anniversary of a vast Berlin rally in October 2022 gathering tens of thousands filled in solidarity with Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement—a day that now feels almost impossibly distant.
Tehran’s decision to skip a Gaza peace summit in Egypt has left many Iranians feeling further cut off from the world—another sign, they say, of leaders who mistake isolation for strength or dignity.
On the eve of a UN vote to restore sanctions on Iran, an independent art book fair in the courtyard of an old house in Tehran provided a rare haven from serial political horrors.
Life in Iran feels suspended, with many convinced war will return and unable to plan for the future beyond how to endure it when it comes.
Iran is awash in voices claiming to speak for its people: state loyalists, opposition figures and self-styled experts of every stripe drowning out the non-extreme yet critical voices with their din.
Buying, selling, and drinking alcohol in Iran is illegal and still risky. But over the years, something has shifted. Whispers spread: some restaurants let customers bring their own drinks. Then, a few began serving alcohol under code names.
This is Tehran, two weeks after the ceasefire with Israel. Shops are open, people are out, the air is as polluted as ever—and the dread that began last month still hasn’t lifted.
