Iranian athlete Maryam Toosi practises on the rooftop of her apartment building following the closure of sports facilities as part of measures aimed at containing the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Iran's capital Tehran on May 19, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has forced the world's athletes to keep fit in confinement. The novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of nearly 7,200 people in Iran, making it the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East. The government ordered the closure of sports facilities in mid-March as part of measures aimed at containing the virus. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

An Iranian man lights a firework during the Wednesday Fire celebration (Chaharshanbeh Suri in Persian) at a park in Tehran, Iran on March 12, 2024. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA vie Reuters)

Iranian skiers rest at the Dizin ski resort, northwest of Tehran January 15, 2016. (Photo by Raheb Homavandi/Reuters/TIMA)

Igor Shpilenok works in the reserve at Kamchatka, Russia. Igor is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a winner of the 2006 BBC Wildlife Photographer Competition. Igor’s work has been published in numerous international and Russian magazines, including Smithsonian, National Wildlife, Geo, and BBC Wildlife.

“How does a bear behave when encounter a human? In most cases he runs away. But before running he almost always would rise to stand on his rear feet. And this behavior does not indicate the attack, as many people think...” – Igor Shpilenok. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok via Wildlife Photo Russia)

An Iranian girl wearing a costume inspired in the fictional folklore character Hajji Firuz, dances in Tehran on March 17, 2021 as Iranians prepare to celebrate Noruz, the Iranian New Year. Noruz, “new day” in Persian, is the New Year festivity celebrated in Iran as well as in Afghanistan and Kurdish regions in several countries. It begins with the spring equinox and symbolises rebirth. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

Two Iranian women walk past a mural depicting a flying dove at a street in Tehran, Iran, 01 November 2021. The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Islamic Republic is ready to return to nuclear talks in Vienna before the end of November. Iran also proposed to the US administration to lift the sanctions and to start negotiations. Iran is facing an economic crisis under US heavy sanctions following the United States' withdrawal from a nuclear deal in 2018. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)

A supporter of the Houthis has a poster attached to his waist of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, during a rally to denounce the U.S. killing, in Saada, Yemen January 6, 2020. The writing on the poster reads: “God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”. (Photo by Naif Rahma/Reuters)