Zoroastrians in the Great Game
In the early 1900s the small but influential Zoroastrian community in India contemplated establishing a colony in Iran. Could the Parsis rely on British support?
Iran
How Iran Won the West
What explains the Iranian state’s remarkable soft power in the West? The answer lies in Iran’s rich – and often romanticised – history.
Women, Life, Freedom in Iran
Iranian women have always been present in national uprisings and protests, but this time female activists are leading them.
The Fall of Isfahan
In March 1722 rebellious Afghan forces laid siege to the Safavid capital. Was the great Iranian empire on the brink of collapse?
The Central Problem
Surveying the world of Late Antiquity from its Persian centre.
The First Tanker War with Iran
If tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf lead to war, it will not be the first time. In 1987 and 1988, the US intervened to protect shipping from Iranian attacks.
Return of the Ayatollah: Iran’s Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became a lightning rod for the mass protests which overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979, but the causes of the Iranian Revolution lay elsewhere.
Iran and the ‘Old Enemy’
Relations between Iran and Britain have often been strained. Yet the relationship is an old one, marked by mutual admiration.
Iran, Britain and Operation Boot
Why the British government can’t reveal more about an ‘open secret’.
Iran: Britain’s Cold War Crucible
During the Second World War, Britain and the Soviet Union worked together in oil-rich Iran. Cooperation was to degenerate into suspicion at the dawn of the Cold War.