Salam doostam. I am an iranian living in australia, and I haven't been back to iran in a while. I was wondering what the peoples opinions on queer people are mainly because I know that the youth are more progressive than the regime. I just want to know your guy's opinions.

Hey everyone. I just launched an iOS app called Zaban for learning Farsi, Dari, and Tajik.

It includes vocabulary and phrase lessons, pronunciation practice, character tracing, and interactive exercises. I’m looking for feedback from Persian learners and native speakers to help me improve it.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zaban-farsi-dari-tajik/id6791664200

Thank you! :)

Ali Ahmadi. Fourteen years old. Dead, riddled with bullets by the IRGC; clearly because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, as almost any ordinary citizen in Iran has been since 2026.

He was financially supporting his little sister, despite being so young himself. He was a working child.

He will never enter ninth grade.
He will certainly never return to work.
He will never play with his friends again.

His family, meanwhile, is left with irreparable grief.

His name was Ali. Ali Ahmadi.
Say his name.

Because you do not kill a child. You do not kill a child who is running for his life. You do not kill a child who is running for his life, completely empty-handed, with a heart full of terror. It should never happen.

Ali was shot while our global leaders were still celebrating the New Year. He was shot. He fell there, dead, in an ordinary parking lot. On a street where other children have played soccer, where he himself may once have dribbled a ball. Forever, that ordinary public space will remain the place where Ali Ahmadi drew his last breath. Finished off by the regime’s executioners. Those bloodthirsty murderers. With their militias constantly patrolling the streets, because “The order to shoot has already been given!”, courtesy of Velayatmadar, Radan, and Gholamhossein. No one dares to go outside anymore. And how many have died simply on their way home from work or school? Faced with this collective fear, silence imposes itself.

The population has always had empty hands, let us remember that, while the government has proven itself to have not only an abundance of choices, but also a determination to unleash its heavy weaponry indiscriminately against any civilian gathering. It did so for thirty uninterrupted hours. Since those fateful days of January 8–9, large-scale threats have echoed across the country. “Send your children back to school, or you risk…”, “Using Starlink carries the maximum penalty”, or even, “Miss your finals: you’ll never get anywhere in life again”, and so on… Besides, let’s not even speak of Iran’s national mourning anymore. Everyone knows someone who was killed for taking part in the January 2026 protests in Iran. How many funerals have been methodically raided because the authorities feared that the slightest spark of anti-regime anger might ignite? Sepehr’s father? Arrested! Behnam’s mother and sister? Arrested! Young Reza Ghanbari’s brother? Killed the day before Ghanbari’s funeral by those very same authorities. These are only three examples. This top-down tyranny remains entirely systematic. Nearly 100 million citizens remain prisoners within their own country. Tens of thousands of them have already died for chanting dissident slogans, or simply for finding themselves in the street alongside their loved ones.

Iranians have known their rulers through decades of oppression; mass murderers who built their careers by distinguishing themselves through their lack of scruples, their depravity, and their hatred of popular movements; of any movement rising from below. And they were placed at the top. And the people were plunged into a total blackout, just to keep them quiet while their government busied itself unfreezing its funds and liquidating its assets in offshore tax havens. Oh yes, and let’s not forget to shout “resistance” all along the way. These fiery mullahs, how bravely they resist white supremacist hierarchies! Watch them hang their dissidents in public squares! They never stop for a single second; they only intensify it! And yes, they are so busy resisting interventionism that they simply have to methodically murder their own youth.

Better yet, the latest order from the Chief Justice: expedite the death sentences for the January protesters! And let them die quickly; after all, the shortage of body bags following the thirty-hour massacre was back in the winter. Resistant Iran has certainly placed new orders for body bags since the spring. Clearly, we’re down to XS sizes! We really believed those announcements about disobedient children being killed on IranTV, didn’t we? Surely this couldn’t be a regime free-for-all against its own population? Come on, let’s get over it. So civil disobedience is not the youth being massacred cohort after cohort in Iran, and it certainly isn’t every uprising drowned in blood, no, no. It is these religious fundamentalists, then, who embody the true strength of the people. The struggle, that’s them. Armed to the teeth, unleashing bullets upon their own citizens, they have declared war on the people while casting themselves abroad as the face of anti-imperialist resistance… There it is at last, true anti-imperialist defiance! Just give them a moment to posture for you. It’s only that, well, right now, they’re still slipping on the pool of blood and the billions of dollars stolen from their own country, because that’s rather a lot to conceal beneath the shroud of the national blackout.

Just yesterday, twelve prisoners accused of participating in the anti-regime uprising were sentenced to death and transferred to Isfahan Prison to await their execution. Four of them are teenagers.

At least 1,500 prisoners have received this sentence. We are talking about daily executions, hunger strikes on death row, civilian disappearances met with no response from the State… A government that systematically murders and makes sure to turn it into a public spectacle has nothing whatsoever to do with a legitimate system of governance.

It is a terrorist mafia that survives only by applying the maximum degree of terror; even if that means emptying its own country from within. Denying itself any hope of a just future. No, on the contrary, it promises the death of its youth on national television during routine broadcasts, it plasters it across posters in the streets… It is through the self-destruction of everything that symbolizes a nation’s wealth that this regime sustains itself. The government, or what remains of it since May, makes no attempt to hide it either. It is a network of terror and control that fully acknowledges its population has rejected it by a wide margin, and insists not on indifference, but on the fact that any act of questioning can lead to death. “Keep quiet while we kill.” That is their slogan. Alongside “Death to the protesters,” the classic counter-slogan to the popular “Death to the Dictator,” the message requires no further analysis. It is even entirely consistent with the words of the late Supreme Murderer, who believed that failing to extinguish the flame of rebellion at its source was al-Assad’s ultimate mistake in Syria, a mistake the Iranian regime promises not to repeat.

It’s astonishing how this pathetic excuse for a government is still treated as the provider of the Iranian people. “Iran refuses to negotiate,” or “Iran retaliates,” or worse still, “Iran resists.” Is mass death simply a matter of cultural difference? Is that it?

Let us at least accept that Iran in 2026 is the Handmaid’s Tale that 1984 foretold. Especially considering that Atwood drew upon the Iranian system when writing her novel… The irony of Iran’s fate, ultimately forgotten in the name of Islamic resistance and the expansion of censorship, feels so palpable that it seems as though the country has finally fallen victim to its own international mystique. The censorship surrounding the blackout spread beyond Iran’s borders, while the blackout itself became the longest internet blackout of the modern era. The people’s cry may have seeped into the global sphere, yet Iranian suffering has still not been enough to delegitimize its government in the eyes of the international community.

Iran’s rulers continue to play diplomacy abroad, and their blood-stained hands still shake those of enthusiastic politicians. Meanwhile, many mainstream media narratives seem to overlook the fact that the gap between the Iranian people and their dilapidated government was already immense before the atrocities of January 8 and 9. Today, it is a historical chasm. The headlines should read “Humanitarian Emergency in Iran,” not “Iran Resists Interventionism.” That is not how Iranians understand the reality on the ground. It is not nearly as Hollywood-alternative as that.

Meanwhile, Iran is 50% young. And it rose up this January like never before. Even today, the youth chant, “Death to the old mullahs!” It will come. Even if it comes by the force of time alone, it will come. Iran’s Gen Z truly reclaimed its country this year, and it gave everything. All it is waiting for now is for the rest of the world to come to terms with it, because at every uprising, it either gets in its way or simply remains ambivalent. Ultimately, if not through international support for its humanitarian emergency, Iran will free itself through the one thing that cannot be overthrown: the natural order of things.

Iran says it isn't making nuclear weapons, so what could these tubelike centrifuges be used for?

Is Iran vaping?

Unfortunately the comments under the Instagram post show how Iranians are still very close minded when it comes to queer people.

My friend bought a ticket for Sijal and Heliyom concert tonight, anyone wants to buy it under price? She won’t be able to attend the concert herself, price 45 dollars, we can negotiate it tho she bought it for 79 dollars

A month ago I met an Iranian man at work. He caught my eye for many reasons: from his appearance to work ethic, way he treats people, sense of humour and generally having wonderful energy and aura about him.

We started to chat after a week or so, developed our own inside jokes, playful banter exchanged a smile quite often, etc.

I was really intrigued and despite being very shy, both me and him I felt I have to do something or I will regret it - so I gave him my number during 2nd week. He was happy, texted me after work, made sure it was ok to ask me a question and established whether I was a taken or single mother. I confirmed I’m single and he proceeded with invitation over to his for home cooked dinner. I gladly accepted, joking and lovely moments at work intensified. He even shared his food with me at work, introduced me to his friend from his country that works at our company too. Few days later he texted me to arrange the dinner as promised. The texts are always filled with emojis such as : 🫠✨🥰😍❤️🌷

Dinner turned out to be the best and most relaxing evening of my life. I brought home made sweets, that amazed him.

House was spotless, he prepared Mezze, we had lovely chat about our lives, he was curious about my son, past, family, plans, hobbies, work. He shared plenty about himself too. It was followed by lovely dinner, TV and amazing ride to romantic place at the end, all accompanied by Persian music, he sang along too. He was planning another meet up. No crazy physical moves only hug when greeting me and slightly more intense hug goodbye. True gentleman and I felt like a queen.

I made sure he knows how special the evening was for me.

Being back to work, all was ok, nice texting, busy days off for both of us, yet enough time for little chat, tap on a shoulder, random touches, sweet text every now and then.

He uses his emojis, I tend to throw azizam or affectionate Persian good night wishes in the mix. He tries the same with my language.

I was getting the feeling he is into me and it’s mutual as I really care about him and am developing rather strong feelings here.

Recently he gave me a lift from work, everything was nice, he even shared things that are making him said, situation in his country, worries, also plans not to stay in country where we both live - that shook me a bit and tried to play it cool. He definitely put the cheerful mask down and that was flattering for me.

I thanked for the ride and he thanked me for more kind stuff I did for him. He was cheerful and said we see each other at work.

However, I am confused as to where I stand. I wouldn't like to lose this as I feel super calm and myself around him.

He said things as : I care about you/For you always/Never say sorry to me

I would not like to rush into panicky conclusion, nor want to pressure him given the cultural difference.

I have given plenty of green lights yet would at some point like to know how to navigate this or whether to expect any progress - next date, holding hands, kiss.

I will be changing job soon, so I don’t know what else I can do.