How The War In Iran Is Shaping The Trump-Xi Summit
The Iran war and its global ripple effects are a through line influencing many of the issues that the two leaders will discuss in Beijing, from rare earth minerals to Taiwan.
Lego, Hip-Hop, And Deepfakes: How Iran Uses AI To Shape Western Opinion
From viral Lego-style videos and AI-generated hip-hop tracks to fabricated battlefield imagery, the war in Iran is revealing how artificial intelligence (AI) is being weaponized in modern warfare and statecraft.
To discuss this rapid shift, RFE/RL spoke with Max Lesser, senior analyst on emerging threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.
"Iran has become increasingly sophisticated in its online influence operations," Lesser says. "There's definitely been a big shift. The AI Lego videos are probably one of the most successful propaganda efforts that I've ever seen come out of Iran targeting foreign audiences."
To read the full interview, click here.
CENTCOM Says Allowed 15 Aid Ships Allowed Through Naval Blockade
Marking a month since the United States began its naval blockade of Iranian Ports, the US Central Command, CENTCOM, announced that 15 ships carrying humanitarian aid have been allowed to pass since the operation began.
"Four weeks ago, CENTCOM began implementing the blockade against ships entering and exiting Iran’s ports. As of today, American forces have redirected 67 commercial vessels, allowed 15 supporting humanitarian aid to pass, and disabled 4 to ensure compliance," CENTCOM said in a post on X on May 13.
"Earlier this week, CENTCOM forces ensured that 2 commercial vessels turned around to comply with the blockade after communicating via radio and firing warning shots from small arms, clearly demonstrating that U.S. enforcement remains in full effect," it added.
Prominent Rights Lawyer Sotoudeh Released On Bail
Mehraveh Khandan, the daughter of human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, has said that her mother has been temporarily released on bail.
Khandan posted the news on Instagram on May 13.
Sotoudeh, a Sakharov Prize laureate and human rights lawyer, was arrested on April 1 at her home in Tehran. She has faced repeated arrests and imprisonments for her activism defending women’s rights, political prisoners, and against the death penalty.
In mid February, before the start of the Iran war on February 28, she had called for “humanitarian intervention” to protect the Iranian people in an interview with the French-language magazine Le Point.
Reza Khandan, a human rights activist and Sotoudeh's husband, has been imprisoned in Evin Prison since 2024. He is known for his work in opposing the mandatory hijab and death penalty.
Who Holds Power In Iran?
Power has become increasingly decentralized in Iran following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the selection of his son as the new supreme leader. So, who holds power in the Islamic republic now?
Radio Farda correspondent Vahid Pourostad looks at the key power centers and figures that have emerged in what some observers have called the Islamic republic 3.0.
Trump Lands In Beijing As Iran War Casts Shadow Over China Summit
US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on May 13 for a closely watched summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as the war in Iran and its fallout on global energy markets loom over efforts to stabilize ties between the world's two largest economies.
Trump, making his first trip to China since 2017, will begin two days of formal talks with Xi on May 14. While trade tensions, Taiwan, artificial intelligence, and rare earth exports are expected to dominate the agenda, the ongoing conflict in Iran and the near paralysis of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have added urgency -- and complexity -- to the meeting.
Speaking before departing Washington, Trump downplayed suggestions that Beijing could play a decisive role in ending the war.
"I don't think we need any help with Iran," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 12. "We'll win it one way or the other, peacefully or otherwise."
To read the full report, click here.
Women Bear The Brunt Of Iran's Internet Blackout As 'Parallel Labor Market' Collapses
An editor at a Tehran publishing house, an online yoga instructor, and a rural mother who sells homemade food via Instagram are just three of many Iranian women whose livelihoods have been ruined by their country’s ongoing Internet blackout .
Three Internet shutdowns in Iran in recent months -- including the current blackout, the longest on record -- have dealt a devastating blow to the economy. And in many cases, it is women who are feeling the impact most.
A yoga teacher in Tehran told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that Internet restrictions had prevented her from holding online classes, depriving her of her only source of income.
“I was just learning to stand on my own feet, but I can’t afford reliable VPN access. It’s too expensive and doesn’t work properly,” the young woman said. For her own safety, she cannot be named because RFE/RL is banned in Iran.
“I’m lucky because I live with my parents, but I know colleagues who can no longer pay their rent,” she added.
“With the war and the Internet shutdown, life has stopped for many,” she said, describing the digital blackout as “torture.”
The Islamic republic imposed the latest Internet shutdown on February 28 amid US and Israeli attacks on the country.
Although Washington and Tehran reached a fragile cease-fire on April 8, Internet access has still not been fully restored, leaving citizens in digital darkness for more than two months. Only those who can afford expensive anti-filtering tools -- along with individuals granted state-approved access -- are able to get online.
Read more here
More in Iran's ongoing Internet restrictions:
Iran Names Internet Chief As Shutdown Reaches 75 Days
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian has appointed First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref to head a newly created body overseeing cyberspace policy as Iran’s nationwide Internet shutdown entered its 75th day.
In a decree, Pezeshkian said the move was necessary because of the “urgent need to establish integrated, coherent and efficient governance in cyberspace.”
The blackout, imposed after the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel, has drawn mounting criticism, particularly after authorities said only government-aligned journalists and media activists would receive access to the global Internet.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani defended the restrictions as necessary “because of the wartime atmosphere,” telling protesting journalists: “What do you expect?”
Iranian authorities have also faced growing backlash over the rollout of expensive “Pro Internet” or “tiered internet” packages marketed to businesses and select users.
Critics say the system creates unequal access to the global Internet while allowing telecom operators to profit from wartime restrictions.
Pro-government media activist Ali Qolhaki warned that such “discriminatory plans” risked fueling public resentment and could generate massive revenues for operators.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Chinese Supertanker Attempts Hormuz Transit
A Chinese supertanker carrying nearly 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil was attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, according to maritime tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and the analytics firm Kpler, .
The vessel, Yuan Hua Hu, had moved past Iran’s Larak Island and was heading south on the eastern side of the strategic waterway, which normally accounts for around 20 percent of global oil shipments.
If successful, it would mark the third known transit by a Chinese oil tanker through Hormuz since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in late February.
Sources told Reuters that Tehran has strengthened its influence over shipping through the strait by striking arrangements with countries, including Iraq and Pakistan, to facilitate oil and liquefied natural gas exports.
The tanker -- operated by a unit of COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation unit and chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state oil giant Sinopec -- had been stranded in the Persian Gulf since March.