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.
Iran marked the first hours after the naming of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader by launching missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states, who have begun expressing increasing anger over Tehran’s retaliatory strikes.
The election of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader by Iran's Assembly of Experts following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack marks the first time that the son of a supreme leader succeeds his father in the Islamic republic.
Iran has named hard-liner Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader, likely putting him directly in the sights of the US and Israeli militaries.
A woman living in Tehran describes witnessing heavy air attacks on the city, living in fear mixed with hope. The killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has brought "happiness about the dictator being gone" but that feeling is balanced with anxiety about the future, she told RFE/RL.
Iran's capital city saw the heaviest strikes witnessed so far on the seventh day of joint US-Israeli air attacks, according to social videos shared online. Verified user-generated video showed central areas of Tehran and government buildings coming under intense attacks.
President Donald Trump said Washington will help choose the next leader of Iran as US and Israeli forces continued air strikes amid growing concerns of a broader conflict after drones launched from Iran struck Azerbaijan and Israel pushed into southern Lebanon.
RFE/RL's Radio Farda spoke with a woman in Tehran who described life in the Iranian capital as it faces days of ongoing missile strikes. Her voice has been altered for security reasons. The US and Israel continue military operations against Iran, while Teheran retaliates with strikes.
Chaos and destruction was seen surrounding Tehran's landmark Azadi Tower on March 3, as local residents scramble to help the injured and navigate through thick smoke. Widespread damage and hundreds of deaths were reported in the wake of joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28.
RFE/RL’s Radio Farda has talked to several people in Tehran, the Iranian capital, as the United States and Israel wage an aerial assault of the country.
Thousands of mourners filled the streets of Minab in southern Iran to grieve for more than 100 students who were killed in a strike on a girls' school on February 28. The United States has said it would not deliberately strike a school, but Iranian authorities are blaming the US and Israel.
Speaking at the White House alongside the visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, US President Donald Trump said "Something had to be done" about Iran, as the United States and Israel continued bombarding the Islamic republic for a fourth day and Tehran retaliated with strikes across the region.
Videos shared online on March 2 show the impact of missiles hitting Tehran on the third day of a military campaign against Iran by the United States and Israel. The Iranian Red Crescent Society put the death toll in Iran at more than 500 and said dozens more had been killed across the region.
As Iran reels from a US and Israeli bombing campaign that has killed several or perhaps even dozens of senior leaders, national security chief Ali Larijani has emerged as one of the key figures in what remains of the country's power structures.
RFE/RL spoke with a resident of the Iranian city of Sanandaj who described air strikes he said were carried out by Israel against military and security sites near residential areas. According to the witness, nearby homes were heavily damaged and civilians were injured.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran for decades. His supporters saw him as a wise leader, his critics as an authoritarian who led the Islamic republic into further international isolation. His latter years as supreme leader were marred by mass protests and a brutal crackdown that killed thousands.
Damage from Iranian counterstrikes that followed a joint US-Israeli air attack on February 28 has been reported in Israel, Bahrain, and Qatar. Blasts were heard in the Qatari capital, Doha, and smoke billowed over Bahrain hours after the air strikes on Iran.
Explosions witnessed in Tehran on February 28 were shortly followed by sirens sounding in Israel in the wake of US President Donald Trump's announcement of attacks on Iran. He called for Iranian citizens to keep off the streets, telling them "the hour of your freedom is at hand."
As Iranian and US diplomats concluded a third round of talks in Geneva, the imminent arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in Israel underscores the military brinkmanship shaping the standoff between Washington and Tehran.
Sina Haghshenas was upset about the cost of running his flower shop in the northern Iranian city of Gorgan. So he joined a protest on January 8 sparked by the economic crisis the country was facing. It was there that security forces fatally shot him, say Haghshenas's friends.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman were arrested while traveling through Iran on a motorcycle trip in 2025. This February, they were sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges. Lindsay''s son, Joe Bennett, has called on the Iranian government to use the month of Ramadan to exercise mercy.
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