The Levant Files

Iran's Wars — Foreign and Domestic — Are Destroying Women When a 29-year-old woman in Tehran was laid off last October — her employer shuttered after a sudden liquidity crisis following the June 2025 war with Israel — she did what Iran's economy had left her no choice but to do. She had a university degree. She had applied to dozens of positions. The law allows her husband to bar her from certain jobs. There were no jobs to take. What happened next, she does not speak about openly. She is one of millions. Iran is in free fall. By late 2025, official inflation had surpassed 48 percent — with food prices up 72 percent year-on-year. The rial had collapsed to more than one million to the dollar on street markets. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported that 41 percent of Iranians suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity. Unofficial estimates by Iran's own economists suggest up to 70 percent of the population lives below the relative poverty line. Then, on Februa...

As a fragile 14-day ceasefire between Iran and the United States approached its expiration on Wednesday, both sides dug in on their positions, leaving the fate of a second round of negotiations in Islamabad deeply uncertain — and the wider Middle East on edge. U.S. Vice President JD Vance was reported to be traveling to Pakistan for the talks, with Axios citing three American sources who said he would depart the United States by Tuesday morning, according to BBC Persian. However, Iran had still not confirmed its participation. Iranian state television flatly denied that any delegation — either principal or preliminary — had arrived in Islamabad, calling media reports of a scheduled Iranian arrival "baseless," Al Jazeera reported. A Pakistani source cited by Reuters told Iran International that the second round of talks was nonetheless scheduled for Wednesday. The diplomatic uncertainty came against a backdrop of sharp rhetoric from both capitals. President Donald Trump, on th...

As American and Iranian officials hold fragile ceasefire negotiations and a watching world awaits the outcome of what may be the most consequential diplomatic confrontation of the decade, Iran's judicial machinery has not paused for a single day. Protesters, political dissidents, and opposition supporters continue to be hanged in prisons across the country — sometimes in the very hours that diplomats debate their fate behind closed doors. The case of Afsaneh Rahimi, a woman reported by rights monitors to have been detained in connection with the wave of anti-government protests that swept Iran in late December 2025 and January 2026, reflects a broader and documented pattern: women swept up in mass arrests, held incommunicado, subjected to what rights groups describe as torture-extracted confessions, and facing accelerated trials before Revolutionary Courts. Her case — like those of thousands of others detained since the uprising — has not been officially acknowledged by Iranian aut...

The Levant Files has crossed a major threshold: over 200,000 visitors in just one year. This isn’t just a number for us — it’s a powerful signal that thoughtful, multilingual journalism focused on the Levant matters, resonates, and travels far beyond borders. From day one, our mission has been clear: to offer sharp, accessible, and reliable analysis of a region too often reduced to headlines. Today, we celebrate not only the growth of our readership but the growth of our voice — now published in five languages, ensuring that our work reaches communities across continents and cultures. And we’re not stopping here. New language editions and fresh content formats are already in development, expanding the ways we tell stories and connect with readers. This milestone belongs to every one of you who reads, shares, challenges, and supports our work. Your engagement fuels our commitment to deepen coverage, broaden perspectives, and keep building a platform worthy of the region’s complexity. Ou...

The fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran teetered on the edge of total collapse on Monday, as the U.S. Navy fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel near the Strait of Hormuz — an act Tehran condemned as piracy — sending diplomatic efforts to broker a second round of peace talks in Islamabad into immediate jeopardy. With the ceasefire set to expire on Wednesday, the world is watching what could become the most dangerous 48 hours of the ongoing US-Iran war. A Ship Seized, A Ceasefire Shattered In a dramatic escalation, the U.S. Navy fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, which American officials said was defying Washington's ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports. President Donald Trump announced the seizure on social media, simultaneously declaring that his negotiating team — led by Vice President JD Vance — was heading to Islamabad, Pakistan, for a second round of peace talks with Iran. Tehran w...

Iran's negotiating team conditions any further diplomacy on the lifting of what Tehran characterises as an illegal maritime siege — as an IRGC naval skirmish with US forces compounds the standoff Iran has formally declined to commit to a second round of nuclear and diplomatic negotiations with the United States, conditioning any further talks on the prior lifting of what it describes as an illegal American naval blockade of its ports and coastline. The announcement, relayed through Iranian state and semi-state media on Sunday, marks a significant hardening of Tehran's public posture following the collapse of the first negotiating round, which was brokered through Pakistani mediation. According to Tasnim News Agency, which carries close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), back-channel message exchanges between Tehran and Washington have continued in recent days via Islamabad as intermediary — a process Tehran frames as a continuation of talks that failed due to...

Washington and Tehran are heading back to the Pakistani capital for a new round of negotiations, as the ceasefire teeters on expiry and Iran keeps its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Sources close to The Levant Files warn that optimism in official circles far outpaces reality on the ground. With the clock ticking on a fragile two-week ceasefire set to expire on April 22, the United States and Iran are heading back to Islamabad for a second round of high-stakes negotiations. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and senior adviser Jared Kushner would travel to the Pakistani capital — the same delegation that presided over last weekend's marathon but inconclusive talks at the Serena Hotel. The announcement came wrapped in characteristic Trumpian bluster. In a post on Truth Social, the President issued what analysts described as a barely veiled war crime threat: "I hope they take it because, if they don't, the Unit...

  In less than a day, Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open, watched tankers turn back under gunfire, then shut it again — leaving global energy markets in freefall and a ceasefire teetering on the edge of collapse. For approximately eighteen hours on Friday 18 April, the world held its breath. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced, via a post on X, that the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow, 39-kilometre-wide chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to global energy markets — was "completely open" to commercial vessels for the duration of the Lebanon ceasefire. Oil futures plunged more than 10 percent in a matter of hours. US President Donald Trump celebrated on social media. Markets exhaled. By Saturday evening, it was over. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had reimposed full closure of the strait, Indian-flagged merchant vessels had been fired upon, at least three additional tankers had been targeted according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO)...

Two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed and twelve others wounded in two separate roadside bomb attacks in southern Lebanon, Israeli military censors confirmed Sunday morning, reviving fears of an insurgency-style campaign that haunted Israeli forces during their occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Israeli defence analyst Avi Ashkenazi, writing in Maariv (19 April 2026), the fallen soldiers were identified as Staff Sergeant Barak Kalfon and Staff Sergeant Lidor Porat. The attacks, which occurred on Saturday evening and Sunday morning respectively, underscore a significant tactical shift by Hezbollah away from conventional defensive engagements. Ashkenazi notes that over the past six weeks, Hezbollah has largely avoided direct confrontation with advancing Israeli Defence Forces, retreating or withdrawing from most positions rather than holding ground. The group's leader, Naim Qassem — who remains alive and operational despite public threats by Israeli Defence...