Iran

A Film About Revolution and Hope in Iran, ‘The Friend’s House Is Here’ Shows How Art and Friendship Sustain Resistance

PUBLISHED 2/11/2026 by | UPDATED 10/12/2026 at 10:20 A.M. PT

Even when it’s created at great personal risk, nothing can negate the power of art. So, too, the importance of friendship, which impacts our choices, shapes our ideas about the past, present and future, and changes lives.

These are central themes of The Friend’s House Is Here, a U.S.-Iranian co-production that won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at Sundance this year. In their presentation of the award, the jury praised the film’s ensemble cast “for delivering performances that each of us could find ourselves in, revealing a story that is frighteningly universal. The ensemble injects the world with gravity, love, and humor, and shows us the way community and connection are often our key to survival.”

In a case of life imitating art, the film circulates through its own act of defiance: It had to be smuggled out of Tehran for it to be shown at Sundance.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

What Iran’s Crackdown Looks Like From Inside: A Q&A With Nasrin Sotoudeh and Reza Khandan

PUBLISHED 2/10/2026 by | UPDATED 4/2/2026 at 2:59 P.M. PT

Update on Apr. 2, 2026 at 3 p.m. PST: Last night, Iranian authorities arrested Nasrin in her home, confiscated her electronic devices, and took her to an unknown location. Amid the current war and a communication shutdown, she is under extreme vulnerability to life-threatening risks from the regime’s increasing persecution of activists as well as to airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel. Prison facilities have deteriorated under wartime conditions and are among the airstrike targets. Ms. has joined a number of organizations in calling for her immediate release.

As mass protests and a deadly crackdown grip Iran, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh speaks from Tehran while her husband, activist Reza Khandan, calls in from Evin Prison—offering a rare, firsthand account of repression, resistance and the stakes for democracy inside the country.

“My message has always been to use all non-violent means to persuade governments to uphold democracy and human rights. Small actions can have big impacts.”

“… You can’t bomb a country into democracy.”

Iranian Feminists Urge World to ‘Join Hands With Us’

PUBLISHED 1/17/2026 by

A powerful call from a collective of Iranian feminists in the diaspora:

“‎‎We, a group of Iranian feminists, at a time when the Islamic Republic has cut off the internet and all channels of communication with the outside world while carrying out a brutal massacre of protesters, extend our hands to feminists around the world. We call on the global civil society and feminists to stand with the people of Iran and to use all available independent national and international mechanisms to stop the regime’s machinery of killing and repression.”

Reza Khandan’s Crime: Supporting Women’s Rights in Iran

PUBLISHED 12/12/2025 by | UPDATED 1/9/2026 at 8:35 A.M. PT

It has been a year since 60-year-old Iranian human rights activist Reza Khandan was arrested in what was clearly another official attack on his family. Political prisoners in authoritarian regimes are meant to disappear into hopeless silence, but Reza has become a force to be reckoned with.

“The crime for which Reza Khandan is in prison is the crime of love,” writes Ariel Dorfman, author and friend of Khandan and his wife, activist Nasrin Sotoudeh. “Not just love of his country and its culture. Not just love of humanity and our rights to be human. Not just love for the future. But also, the real reason why he is being punished: Reza loves the extraordinary Nasrin with whom he shares a life, a land, and a cause. How those who persecute Reza must fear his loyalty and steadfastness. He will prevail.”

“I will continue until I achieve legal rights, restore my family’s dignity, and change the conditions of the prison administration,” Khandan wrote. “May the shadow of terror and tyranny be removed from our beloved country one day. And finally, I would like to add: ‘I object to the compulsory hijab!’” 

Caregiving Is Extremely Difficult in America. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way.

PUBLISHED 11/25/2025 by

For many Asian and immigrant families, caregiving is a way of life, with generations living and caring for one another under the same roof as part of daily life. My Iranian grandparents lived in a multi-unit dwelling in Tehran, where they cared for each other through illness and aging, cooking and sharing meals with their children and grandchildren in what seemed to me a seamless synchronicity. When my Pakistani grandmother emigrated from Karachi to the U.K. in the 1970s, she moved in with my uncle’s family, sharing a bedroom with her youngest grandson until she died. Now, that grandson lives in the same house with his own children and aging parents. 

However, here in the U.S., caregiving takes on a very different form, even for families raised on the belief that caring for another is simply what we do.

The U.S. Draft Explained: Who Registers, Who’s At Risk, and What It Means for Women

PUBLISHED 7/24/2025 by

Last month, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu collaborated in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, thrusting America into the middle of a centuries-long conflict. Almost immediately, my TikTok feed filled with posts and videos expressing fear of a U.S. military draft. One user asked, “Trump dodged the draft—why can’t we?” Another wondered, “Why are we getting into business that is not ours?” With tensions rising and misinformation about a draft spreading on social media, young people—and especially women—are left speculating: Who will be called to serve, and who will be left behind?

While recent statements from both U.S. and Iranian officials suggest a preference for negotiations over direct military conflict, it begs the question: What happens if the U.S. formally declares war—on Iran or another nation? If a draft is implemented, who will be forced to serve? And what happens to those who don’t?

Why Trump’s Manhood Is Threatened by a Free Press

PUBLISHED 7/15/2025 by

President Donald Trump doesn’t hate the media because it lies. He hates it because it tells the truth, and the truth frightens him. Despite nonstop lying, he’s managed to stay ahead of reality. But even with MAGA, his grip is slipping.

When Trump sneers, “The press is the enemy of the people,” he’s not showing strength; he’s revealing weakness. A truly strong man doesn’t need to crush dissent. That’s what weak men do.

With War Escalating, Iranian Political Prisoners Demand Their Release—Before it’s too Late

PUBLISHED 6/18/2025 by | UPDATED 6/23/2025 at 12:44 P.M. PT

As Israel’s military campaign escalates and air raid sirens sound over Tehran, prisoners like by Reza Khandan, husband of renowned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, are sounding an alarm of their own. Citing existing Iranian legal codes, they make an urgent, clear-eyed case for the immediate release of non-violent inmates—many of whom are political prisoners or behind bars for peaceful dissent. With bombs falling nearby, and prison facilities ill-equipped to safeguard detainees, their letter warns that inaction could turn incarceration into a death sentence.

The Price of Speaking Out in Iran Keeps Rising

PUBLISHED 4/24/2025 by | UPDATED 1/9/2026 at 10:29 A.M. PT

Since Dec. 13, 2024, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan—a fellow activist—was arrested for his efforts on behalf of women’s rights in Iran. Now, Khandan sits in the notorious Evin Prison, where his visits are limited and conditions deplorable. Sotoudeh wrote the letter below to him on April 22, 2025, from Tehran:

“I spent over seven years in prison. Not as a criminal, but as an attorney who loves the law and believes in human rights. During that time, my husband Reza took care of our children, who were still very young. He brought them to school and to play dates and to doctors’ appointments, he cooked and he worked hard to pay our bills. Now, the children are grown up, I am free on medical leave and Reza is the one in prison. It is a strange and painful situation.

“Reza has always been a firm believer in full rights for women, and for people of all faiths and backgrounds. When he proposed to me, I told him that I refuse to wear the hijab. He said that’s a personal matter. It’s my business. His answer meant so much to me. Throughout our life together, he has always been faithful to those words.”

Take action: Sign this petition calling for the immediate release from prison of Reza Khandan, organized by Reza’s wife and fellow activist Sotoudeh, among others.