The Dialogue Institute for Research and Studies (DIRS) is an independent research institute based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of the indigenous Ahwazi Arab people of the Ahwaz region in southern and south-western Iran.
DIRS—the first organisation of its kind—is run by members of the Ahwazi diaspora alongside international supporters. Its primary objective is to inform the public about the systematic persecution suffered by the indigenous Ahwazi people under successive Iranian regimes, including widespread violations of their social, civic, cultural, political, economic, environmental and human rights. DIRS also seeks to correct decades of misinformation propagated by successive Iranian governments.
The Institute aims to disseminate credible, objective facts, data, statistics and educational materials on Ahwaz, offering expert research resources that document the history of the Ahwazi people and their long struggle for justice. DIRS also provides analysis related to Iran’s domestic, regional and international affairs.
DIRS is committed to expanding academic research on the long-ignored Ahwazi cause and to disseminating in-depth analysis through diverse media platforms and modern communication technologies. Through this multimedia approach, the Institute seeks to address the severe lack of public knowledge about Ahwaz, while advancing informed media coverage and strategic understanding of the Ahwazi issue at both domestic and international levels.
DIRS rejects both the regressive totalitarian theocracy of the Khomeinist regime and the authoritarian monarchy of the Pahlavi era. The Institute strives to expose the colonial structure of the Iranian state and affirms the right of Ahwaz to liberation and decolonisation from occupation and colonial domination, including the full realisation of its right to self-determination.
Successive Iranian regimes have systematically censored and silenced accurate reporting on Ahwazi history and on the struggle of Ahwazis and other colonised peoples for liberation. This censorship, combined with an orchestrated international media campaign portraying Iran as a mono-ethnic state with a single language and culture, has enabled a false narrative that conceals Iran’s multinational reality. Persians—who constitute less than half of Iran’s population—have thus imposed minority rule over non-Persian peoples, who collectively form the majority. Meanwhile, legitimate protests against this injustice have been routinely mischaracterised as extremism, separatism, terrorism or treason.
In reality, Iran is not a single people but a collection of distinct nations and peoples subjected to enforced subjugation and brutal colonisation. The resulting dynamic resembles coercive domination, in which non-Persian peoples are persecuted and vilified for their identity. Among those most severely targeted are Ahwazis and the Baloch people of south-eastern Iran.
Despite relentless efforts by Iranian authorities to misrepresent the Ahwazi cause and to silence, slander and discredit Ahwazi voices, truth remains stronger than repression. Through DIRS, we seek to ensure that the voices of the Ahwazi people are no longer marginalised or erased.
Who We Are
DIRS was founded by Ahwazi writers, students, human rights activists and exiles from diverse backgrounds, working in collaboration with international supporters of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The Institute was inspired by the Al-Hiwar (‘Dialogue’) Institute, founded in Ahwaz in 2000 to peacefully advocate for the long-denied civil and human rights of the Ahwazi people. In retaliation, Iranian authorities persecuted and imprisoned its founders, executing two—Hashem Shabani, a poet and teacher, and Hadi Rashedi, a chemistry teacher—on fabricated charges in 2013. Other members remain imprisoned under lengthy sentences, while many were forced into exile in the UK, Canada and the United States.
In memory of those executed and in solidarity with those still imprisoned, Ahwazi activists and their allies established DIRS to elevate the Ahwazi cause—long marginalised by the international community and global media—and to advocate for justice, dignity and freedom.
As victims of racism and persecution, DIRS unequivocally opposes all forms of racism, sectarianism and bigotry. The Institute stands for universal human rights, unity, freedom, coexistence and solidarity with oppressed peoples worldwide.
DIRS is fully independent in its establishment, governance and research activities. It adheres to rigorous standards of objectivity, impartiality and critical analysis.
The Institute provides a platform for Ahwazi and other researchers to examine the challenges facing Ahwaz and other marginalised and colonised peoples in Iran—including Turks, Kurds and Baloch—while upholding academic integrity through research forums, seminars and intellectual dialogue.