Iran

First Coast residents with connections to Iran are expressing optimism about this week’s announcement of a nuclear deal with the Persian state. The…

Iran's economy is in terrible shape. Inflation is rampant, Iran's currency — the rial — has plunged in value and oil exports have fallen dramatically. There's wide agreement that sanctions have squeezed Iran financially and increased pressure on its leaders to negotiate over the country's nuclear program.

Iran, a notoriously closed society, was the setting for a high-fashion magazine shoot, published in California-based FSHN. It may have been the first such fashion shoot in Iran for an international magazine since 1969. Host Rachel Martin speaks to the photographer, Afra Pourdad.

Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi says sending a drug smuggler to the gallows a second time would hurt Iran's image.

A presentation by the Iranian delegation gets generally positive reviews from Western powers meeting in Geneva.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the four are now being questioned. He added that Iranian authorities had also identified "a number of other sabotage plots."

White House officials said they offered to have an "encounter" on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, but the Iranians said it was "too complicated" at this point. The leaders of Iran and the United States haven't met since before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif are expected to meet Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It's the highest-level meeting between the two countries in six years.

Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani has launched a charm offensive ahead of his visit to the U.N. General Assembly next week, leading to speculation of a new course for relations with the U.S. But there are plenty of reasons for skepticism — Iran's history with the U.S. not the least of them.

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