Reporting – Alex Shams

Iran Israel Reporting

Quiet Solidarity: The Underground Networks that Defied Israel’s War on Iran

August 14, 2025 by Alex Shams

Originally published on The Public Source on August 14, 2025. On the morning of Thursday, June 12, Tehran moved to its familiar rhythms. Students crammed for finals in packed cafés and

Iran Israel Reporting

Our Man For Tehran

August 5, 2025 by Alex Shams

Originally published in The Boston Review on August 6, 2025. Translated to Persian for Political and Economic Critique and Spanish for Nexos. When Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran

Iran Israel Reporting

Israel’s Bombs Have Stopped Falling, But Iranians Still Face an Uncertain Future

July 2, 2025 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Truthout on July 2, 2025. Translated to Spanish for Nexos. Iranians are waking up from what feels like a nightmare. For 12 days, Israel bombarded their country

Iran Israel Reporting

“I’m Afraid a Bomb Will Kill Me in My Sleep”: Iranians React to Israel’s Attacks

June 17, 2025 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Truthout on June 17, 2025. Translated to Spanish and published on Revista Comun. On June 13, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran. Airstrikes hit buildings across

Lebanon Reporting

‘They Hit Everyone and Anyone’: From Lebanon, residents share what life has been like since Israel launched its attack.

October 2, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Oct 2, 2024 in New York Magazine. As told to Alex Shams. On September 17, Israel launched a military assault in Lebanon. It began with attacks that

Iran Reporting

They Risked Their Lives for Freedom in Iran. Now They Fear Israel’s Bombs.

April 29, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Truthout on April 29, 2024. Having survived waves of domestic repression, protesters in Iran are now in the crosshairs of Israeli bombs. In fall 2022, they were

Palestine Reporting

How Jesus’s Hometown Is Coping With War at Christmas

December 24, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published on The New Republic on Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is usually brimming with cheer—and tourists—this time of year. But the war in Gaza has turned it into a

Arab World Palestine Reporting

‘They Don’t Want People to Know We Exist’: Palestinians across the West Bank describe what life has been like since October 7

November 10, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in New York Magazine on Nov. 10, 2023. Over the last month, Israel launched an assault across the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, in

Iran Reporting

‘We Have to Know When to Hope and When to Be Hopeless’: How six Iranians feel about the Woman Life Freedom movement, one year later

September 16, 2023 by Alex Shams

First published in New York Magazine on Sept. 16, 2023. As told to Alex Shams. One year has passed since protests first broke out across Iran following the killing of

Iran Reporting

How Bazaar: The surprising way a Japanese soap opera shaped the Iranian secondhand economy

September 1, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in Mildew Magazine, Sep 2023, based on an article in Ajam Media Collective.