Abstract. In May 2019, remarks by the then Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi implying Iran might ask Afghans to leave country as U.S. sanctions tightened sparked widespread criticism from various segments of Iranian society. Critics civil society and political factions accused using leverage extract concessions Europe, ignoring revolutionary ideals. Drawing on literature emphasising role m...

Ayatollah Khomeini and Ali Shariati are seen as twin pillars of revolutionary Islam in contemporary Iran. This article contextualizes and compares these radical discourses in three sections. It first problematizes the transformation of Khomeini as a quietist cleric into a revolutionary ayatollah. While Khomeini’s theory of velayat-e faqih was a radical departure from the dominant Shiite traditi...

This paper examines the sexual and social practices of young people in contemporary Iran. Young people in urban areas live under the rubric of a fundamentalist, Islamist regime which restricts social freedoms such as premarital heterosexual contact, homosexual encounters, dancing, alcohol consumption and large group gatherings. Drawing on close focus research and individual and group inteviews,...