In its 40th year, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in a state of disintegration, says one of the country's strategists. The theocracy has arrived at a crossroads and the world cannot be indifferent to its future direction. Essay by Ali SadrzadehMore

On 22 March 2018, Dariush Shayegan, one of the Islamic world's foremost philosophers, died at the age of 83 in Tehran. Without ever pinning his colours to any one religious mast, Shayegan sought out the commonalities between Islamic, Indian and Far Eastern spirituality and Western philosophy. By Stefan WeidnerMore

The image of Ebrahim Yazdi, who passed away on 27 August aged 86, fittingly portrays the paradoxes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Those involved in Tehran′s political scene of the last twenty years knew him as the opposition, an ′Islamic liberal′ and supporter of democratic reforms. By Marina FortiMore

The Shia faith has always been a defining aspect of Iranian nationhood. In the twentieth century, the pro-Western regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi silenced critics and was eventually toppled by a popular revolution with strong religious dimensions in 1979. Tehran's stance has since been basically anti-Western, but that may now be changing. Maysam Behravesh, a political analyst with Tehran Bureau, assessed the nature of the Shia regime in an interview with Hans DembowskiMore

Once upon a time in a land far away, there existed a storytelling tradition known as "naghali". Iranian artist Golnar Tabibzadeh was inspired by this tradition to combine art and storytelling for her project "The Forgotten", which tells some of the heart-rending personal stories behind the daily news. Marian Brehmer spoke to the artist about her project and the Iranian art sceneMore

The Iranian President's latest overtures in the nuclear row are being followed with great interest in the West, where the attitude that Iran must now follow up its words with deeds still prevails. But if the negotiations are to succeed, the West must also signal a readiness to make concessions, says Ulrich von SchwerinMore

For years, the nuclear dispute between the West and Iran has been at a deadlock. In this interview with Thomas Latschan, Middle East expert Michael Lüders says that the West's main objective is not in fact to find a solution to the problem, but to stop Iran from being a power factor in the regionMore