From burning Sardis to bombing Tehran: What Rubio got wrong about Persia

Tehran Times speaks with Touraj Daryaee, historian of ancient Iran and editor of encyclopaedia Iranica

TEHRAN – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s October 7 speech in Athens invoked ancient Greece as the foundation of Western civilization, linking the Persian invasion under Xerxes in 480 BCE to a broader call for Western ambition, national sovereignty and renewed American power. Speaking at the historic Pnyx, Rubio also criticized Iran’s leadership, contrasting his portrayal of Western heroism with what he described as Iran’s “cult of death.” 

Why Isabella chose to disrupt Bessent’s hearing over Iran 

 Iranian-American activist says she used civil disobedience to challenge U.S. sanctions that she believes are harming Iranian civilians.

TEHRAN - Isabella Javidan, an Iranian-American staff member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), says she interrupted U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s testimony on September 15 to challenge what she described as Washington’s portrayal of sanctions as merely “technocratic tools,” arguing that they have “real human consequences.”

By Mona Hojat Ansari 

'Our doors and hearts are always open to Iran': Malaysia's chargé d'affaires tells the Tehran Times

TEHRAN - Dato' Wan Aznainizam Yusri bin Wan Abdul Rashid arrived in Tehran in late August to take up the post of Chargé d'Affaires and Head of Mission at the Embassy of Malaysia. He will be elevated to Ambassador upon the formal presentation of his credentials.

By Shahrokh Saei 

India’s new ambassador pledges to unlock ‘huge potential’ in Iran trade ties

TEHRAN — India’s new ambassador to Iran has emphasized the scope for expanding bilateral trade as one of his core missions, pledging to facilitate business matchmaking and explore mechanisms to overcome logistics and banking hurdles, particularly for humanitarian and essential goods.

By Afshin Majlesi

Iran has the attractions, the challenge is turning them into tourism: Javad Gharaei

TEHRAN - Iran does not lack tourism attractions. What it has struggled to do, says Iranian traveler and documentary filmmaker Javad Gharaei, is turn the country’s extraordinary natural and cultural diversity into a tourism industry capable of attracting visitors, generating revenue and properly introducing the ancient country to the world.

By Sahar Dadjoo

US pressure failed to force Iran to abandon its nuclear strategy, says political analyst

Sina Azodi says Iran’s security concerns, distrust of US, and regional threats have shaped its nuclear calculations 

TEHRAN – Sina Azodi, Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics and Director of the Middle East Studies MA Program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, has become one of the most prominent voices on Iran's nuclear program.

By Samaneh Aboutalebi

Beyond melodrama: Khajepasha on war, childhood and duty of Iranian cinema 

TEHRAN- Iranian filmmaker Babak Khajepasha believes cinema should do more than portray suffering. For him, a film dealing with war, the death of children, or a social tragedy should leave audiences with questions rather than simply tears.

By Mona Hojat Ansari

'I would encourage Iranian people to be the way they are'

Mexico's Ambassador to Iran speaks with the Tehran Times on culture, diplomacy, and the ties between two ancient nations

TEHRAN - In a warm and wide-ranging conversation at the Mexican Embassy in Tehran, Mexico's Ambassador to Iran, Guillermo Puente Ordorica, sat down with the Tehran Times to discuss a special exhibition that was on display at the embassy, titled 68 Voices, 68 Hearts. 

By Sahar Dadjoo

“I Want My Music to Carry a Message of Iranian Unity, World Peace,” says Conductor Paniz Faryousefi

TEHRAN– Violinist and conductor Paniz Faryousefi took the podium of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra at Vahdat Hall in November 2025 (Aban 1404), becoming the first woman since the Islamic Revolution to officially conduct the orchestra — a landmark moment in Iran's post-revolution classical music history. She has also recently conducted the Vivo Orchestra in a concert built around works by Iranian composers in August 24, reflecting on what Iran and its people have experienced over the past year, including the Israeli attack on Iran in June 2025 and the subsequent US-Israeli military aggression against the country in 2026.

By Afshin Majlesi

A different way to travel: Azadeh Abedinzadeh explains

TEHRAN - Tourism is often measured by the visitors it attracts and the income they generate. But what if its success could also be measured by the forests it helps protect, the traditions it keeps alive and the opportunities it creates for local communities? This is the thinking behind regenerative tourism, an approach that seeks to move beyond reducing tourism’s negative impacts and toward restoring and strengthening the places people visit.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Technofascism is already here; Big Tech built it

Vienna-based philosopher Mark Coeckelbergh talks about Palantir’s fascist-leaning manifesto in interview with Tehran Times

TEHRAN – Mark Coeckelbergh, Professor of Philosophy of Technology and Media at the University of Vienna and a member of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, has become one of the most prominent voices warning against the alliance between Big Tech and authoritarian politics.

How journalists navigate the chaos of war

A firsthand account of reporting the 40-day war from the ground

TEHRAN - Journalism is essential in any society, as it provides the information necessary for people to navigate and understand the world around them. This role becomes even more critical during wartime, when the public relies on on-the-ground reporting to distinguish between fact and fiction amid the chaos of conflict. For journalists, covering a war is a uniquely demanding task, as it is rife with existential and logistical challenges rarely encountered during peacetime.

Sirous Moqaddam turns Minab tragedy into “Empty Grave”

TEHRAN- Iranian filmmaker and painter Sirous Moqaddam says his deep personal attachment to southern Iran and his encounter with the families of the Minab school victims inspired him to create “Empty Grave,” a painting dedicated to the children killed in the tragic attack on a school in the southern city of Minab.

By Mona Hojat Ansari

Despite war, Iran and Japan have maintained dialogue at all levels, says Japanese ambassador 

TEHRAN - The Tehran Times often sits down with foreign ambassadors to get updates on their countries' bilateral ties with Iran, as well as their take on the latest global and international issues. In the latest such interaction, the Tehran Times spoke with the Japanese Ambassador to Tehran, Tamaki Tsukada.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Ex-Japanese diplomat tells Tehran Times why he wrote ‘Why the United States Lost to Iran’

Mitsugu Saito, former Japanese Ambassador to Iran (October 2018–October 2020), has spent decades studying the Middle East, and his latest book, "Why the United States Lost to Iran" (Bungeishunju Ltd., July 2026, 224 pages), argues that Washington misjudged its political objectives in the recent war with Iran. The book, published with an initial print run of 10,000 copies — a notably large figure in Japan for a specialized foreign-policy title — follows his 2022 work, "Is Iran a Threat? — A Regional Power on the Strait of Hormuz and Japan's Diplomacy" (Iwanami Shoten).

By Sahar Dadjoo

Iran shifted the debate from its nuclear program to the Strait of Hormuz: Indian analyst

Vijay Prashad says decades of resistance defined Iran's response, a pattern US failed to anticipate

TEHRAN – Months after the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, its consequences are still being weighed: a war that may have exposed the limits of American power rather than confirmed it, and one that appears to have accelerated the very regional realignment it was meant to prevent.

By Shahrokh Saei 

Iranian Army spokesman warns US against ‘miscalculation’ as MoU expires

TEHRAN — Brigadier General Mohammad Akrami-Nia, spokesman for Iran's Army, has warned the United States against any miscalculations, stressing that Iranian armed forces are more prepared than ever to respond to any new act of aggression.

Iran’s legal battle against the US and Israel

Chief attorney details efforts to document US-Israeli war crimes, plans to take the two regimes to court

TEHRAN – The 12-day war waged by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in 2025, along with the current one that began in February, has been marked by unprecedented attacks on schools, hospitals, homes, roads, bridges, power plants, and desalination plants—actions that are considered war crimes under international law. 

Iran's strikes undermined Israel's long-standing military superiority: John Helmer

Veteran journalist argues Tehran's ability to penetrate Israeli air defenses has strategic significance despite efforts to downplay its impact

TEHRAN – As Washington navigates renewed strikes on southern Iran alongside high-level visits to President Trump from both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, questions are mounting over the domestic political calculations driving U.S. policy in the Middle East and beyond.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Destruction of Iran's cultural sites by Israel, US tantamount to destroying a civilization

Historian Touraj Daryaee says international law is nearly powerless against superpowers, but UNESCO status could deter future attacks

TEHRAN – Since US and Israeli strikes began in February, over 130 registered monuments and museums across Iran have sustained damage, from the Golestan Palace to historic quarters in Isfahan, Kordestan, and Lorestan. In an exclusive interview with Tehran Times, Touraj Daryaee, historian of ancient Iran and editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica, discusses the emotional and scholarly weight of watching millennia-old heritage damaged within weeks, the limits of international legal accountability, and what the destruction means for how Iran's history will be told and remembered.

By Mona Hojat Ansari

'Hormuz Strait cannot return to pre-war status'

West Asia analyst says Iran must make aggression costly for US and its Arab allies

TEHRAN - In an interview with the Tehran Times, West Asia analyst Gheis Ghoreishi argues that the Strait of Hormuz is Iran's most valuable strategic card in its war with the United States, and that any return to the pre-war status quo would be a fatal mistake. 

By Sahar Dadjoo

Regional Arab states unwilling to fully follow US: Chinese scholar

Jianwei Han says the US wants to maintain hegemony in the Mideast through Israel

TEHRAN - Jianwei Han, an associate professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, believes Iran has shown extraordinary resilience against U.S. military pressure, and that the current confrontation marks a watershed moment reshaping the Middle East's strategic landscape.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Attacks on Iran's infrastructure may amount to ‘collective punishment’: Italian analyst

Chinappi says targeting ports and power networks reflects a hybrid warfare model designed to erode civilian life

TEHRAN - Giulio Chinappi, an Italian political analyst and researcher from the Center for Mediterranean Eurasia Studies (CeSEM), believes the collapse of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding reflects not a failure of diplomacy but a deliberate turn toward coercion by Washington and Tel Aviv.

'A display of power and a call for revenge'

Political analyst Ehsan Salehi discusses the significance of the massive funeral processions mourning Ayatollah Khamenei

TEHRAN - Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Imam Reza in the city of Mashhad on July 9, four months after he was assassinated in a U.S.-Israeli strike on his residence. The attack also claimed the lives of several of his family members, including his 18-month-old granddaughter.

By Sahar Dadjoo

Iran's Hormuz leverage is a "genuine asymmetric equaliser" no other card can match: Italian analyst

Boltuc says raising perceived shipping risk alone is enough to move markets, pressure Trump ahead of the midterms

TEHRAN – In an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times, Silvia Boltuc, an Italian geopolitical analyst and Managing Director of Special Eurasia, examines the collapse of the US-Iran memorandum after Washington's July strikes.

By Shahrokh Saei 

Wall Street veteran Mir Mohammad Alikhan: ‘Ayatollah Khamenei’s martyrdom united the Muslim world’

TEHRAN - Mir Mohammad Alikhan, an internationally renowned investment banker and Wall Street veteran who traveled to Tehran for the funeral of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, described the massive public mourning as an unprecedented global turning point.

"A Martyr Never Dies": Brazilian cartoonist reflects on illustrating Iran's supreme leader

Carlos Latuff says the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei will strengthen, not intimidate, the Iranian people

TEHRAN – Carlos Latuff has spent more than three decades documenting the Middle East through the lens of political cartooning, becoming one of the most widely shared and reproduced satirists covering US and Israeli policy in the region. Speaking to the Tehran Times following the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei in coordinated US-Israeli strikes, Latuff reflects on the moment he learned the news, why he chose to center his response on the Supreme Leader himself, and how decades of drawing Iran have shaped his view of Western media coverage.

By Afshin Majlesi

War, memory and the race to save a civilization

An interview with Dr. Jebrael Nokandeh, Director of the National Museum of Iran

TEHRAN – What happens when one of the world's oldest civilizations is confronted with the realities of modern warfare? How do museums prepare for conflict, protect irreplaceable artifacts, and respond when cultural institutions come under threat? And what lessons have museum professionals learned from navigating these extraordinary challenges?

By Samaneh Aboutalebi

Art installation in Minab becomes symbol of collective remembrance

TEHRAN- In the aftermath of the tragedy at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, a striking artistic intervention transformed the damaged site into a powerful visual reminder of loss, memory, and resilience. The installation, known as “Red Butterflies”, was conceived and executed by the Architecture Center of the Art Bureau, under the direction of architect Mostafa Momeni-Rad, as an effort to preserve public attention on the victims and ensure that the tragedy would not fade from collective memory.