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Golnaz Esfandiari

Golnaz Esfandiari is a senior correspondent with RFE/RL. You can reach her at EsfandiariG@rferl.org

Climate Crisis
Iran's Climate Migration Crisis Could Turn Into National 'Disaster'

Iran’s Climate Migration Crisis Could Turn Into National ‘Disaster’

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari and Mohammad Zarghami | – ( RFE/ RL ) – Record temperatures, prolonged droughts, and the drying up of rivers and lakes are displacing tens of thousands of Iranians each year, experts say. Many of the climate migrants are farmers, laborers, and fishermen who are moving with their families from the countryside […]

Iran
Iran, U.S. Renew Engagement To Avoid 'Big Crisis'

Iran, U.S. Renew Engagement To Avoid ‘Big Crisis’

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari     I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. ( RFE/RL) – Iran said it is engaged in indirect talks with the United States over a possible prisoner swap and the lifting of crippling American sanctions. […]

censorship
Iranian Journalists Who Broke Mahsa Amini Story Stand Trial Behind Closed Doors

Iranian Journalists Who Broke Mahsa Amini Story Stand Trial Behind Closed Doors

Golnaz Esfandiari

I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. The Big Issue ( RFE/RL ) – A revolutionary court in Iran this week began the trials of two female journalists who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini’s death. Amini’s death […]

Food Insecurity
Poor Iranians Sell Their Organs Amid Deepening Economic Crisis

Poor Iranians Sell Their Organs Amid Deepening Economic Crisis

Golnaz Esfandiari

One-third of Iran’s population reportedly lives in extreme poverty. Some people are so poor that they have resorted to selling their organs on the black market to make ends meet. (file photo) Share     (RFE/RL ) – I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m […]

China
Under Pressure At Home And Abroad, Tehran Gets 'Breathing Space' From Iran-Saudi Deal

Under Pressure At Home And Abroad, Tehran Gets ‘Breathing Space’ From Iran-Saudi Deal

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/RL) – I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, seven years after the regional foes cut formal ties. In a statement issued on March 10, Tehran and Riyadh […]

Feminism
This Revolution Is Still Alive’: A Growing Number Of Iranian Women Defy The Hijab Law After Months Of Protests

This Revolution Is Still Alive’: A Growing Number Of Iranian Women Defy The Hijab Law After Months Of Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

  By Golnaz Esfandiari Mohammad Zarghami ( RFE/RL ) – Assal appeared in public for months without a hijab, or Islamic head scarf, in solidarity with the antiestablishment protests that rocked Iran. Even as the demonstrations that erupted in September have waned in recent weeks following a deadly state crackdown, the Tehran resident has continued […]

Health
Mysterious Wave Of Sickness Hits Iranian Schoolgirls, Amid Speculation Over Gov’t Poisoning

Mysterious Wave Of Sickness Hits Iranian Schoolgirls, Amid Speculation Over Gov’t Poisoning

Golnaz Esfandiari

A spate of illnesses in schools in the Iranian city of Qom has prompted public anger, with some accusing the government of negligence.    ( RFE/RL) – Hundreds of schoolgirls have fallen sick and scores have been hospitalized in Iran’s holy city of Qom in recent months, with some parents and officials suspecting they were […]

Dissent
'Radical Change Will Come': Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests

‘Radical Change Will Come’: Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/ RL) – For months, antiestablishment protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical regime and demanded greater social and political freedoms. Now, opposition figures and civil society groups inside Iran have shared proposals that would transform or even replace the current theocratic system with a democracy. The proposals for a post-Islamic-republic system […]

Authoritarianism
‘They Deserved To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

‘They Deserved To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

Golnaz Esfandiari

    The authorities have killed hundreds of protesters and arrested thousands of people since the demonstrations erupted in September.   ( RFE/RL ) – In late November, three Iranian doctors traveled to the country’s western Kurdistan region, the epicenter of ongoing antiestablishment protests, to help treat wounded demonstrators. But within days of their arrival, […]

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