Women’s rights activist Nahid Taghavi, released from an Iranian prison, with daughter Mariam Claren, January 12, 2025
UPDATES: Iran’s Regime Releases Foreign Journalist, Italy’s Cecilia Sala
German-Iranian women’s rights activist Nahid Taghavi has returned to Germany after more than 4 years in custody in Iran.
Taghavi’s familiy and Amnesty International, which had reported on the activist’s torture and solitary confinement, announced her release late Sunday.
Taghavi’s daughter Mariam Claren posted:
#BreakingNews
It’s over. Nahid is free!
After more than 4 years as a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran my mother #NahidTaghavi was freed and is back in Germany. Thanks to everyone who campaigned to #freenahid. I kindly ask the media to respect our privacy. pic.twitter.com/0XTRg5wjeg— Mariam Claren #FreeNahid (@mariam_claren) January 13, 2025
Taghavi, an architect living in Cologne, Germany since 1983, was seized by security forces in October 2020 during a visit to Iran. In August 2021, she was condemned to more than 10 years in prison for spreading “propaganda” and for “membership of an illegal group”.
More than 30,000 signatures were gathered in Germany seeking her release, with demonstrations in Berlin, Cologne, and other cities.
“My mother is finally home,” Claren said. “Mere words can’t describe our joy. From Berlin to Tehran: your solidarity helped to achieve justice.”
She added, “Many more non-violent political prisoners like my mother are still in Iranian jails. The impunity of the Iranian authorities must come to an end.”
Last year Iranian authorities reported the execution of a German-Iranian US resident, Jamshid Sharmahd. A week later, they said he died just before he was scheduled to hang.
Several Protesters Missing After Arrests in Dehdasht Demonstrations
https://iranwire.com/en/news/139021-several-protesters-missing-after-arrests-in-dehdasht-demonstrations/
Iranian woman arrested for ‘death to dictator’ protest, eyewitness says
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202502107415
Here is how people celebrate eve of the iri anniversary …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZfOEvGSTLY&t=290s
Down with khamenei…down with dicatator….
Security forces jail, torture brother of woman paralyzed by police
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202502066942
Iran praises US for cutting foreign aid funding as it looks for a Trump message on nuclear talks: https://apnews.com/article/iran-trump-usaid-nuclear-deal-talks-986793e2e21e2b338546767bba5f2df0
“The state-run IRNA news agency said that “cutting the budget of foreign-based opposition” could “affect the sphere of relations” between Tehran and Washington. Newspapers, like the conservative Hamshhari daily, described Iran’s opposition as “counterrevolutionaries” who had been “celebrating” Trump’s election as heralding the “last days of life of the Islamic Republic.” They then “suddenly faced the surprise of cut funding from their employer,” the newspaper crowed.”
“The lion’s share of money for civil society in Iran has come through the U.S. State Department’s Near East Regional Democracy fund, known by the acronym NERD, which grew as an American response to the Green Movement protests in 2009….In 2024, the Biden administration requested $65 million for NERD after over $600 million had been appropriated by Congress for the fund, according to the Congressional Research Service. That money and other funding had gone in the past toward training journalists and activists on how to report on human rights abuses, funding access to the internet amid government shutdowns and other issues.”
A curious excerpt from Nasser Karimi’s article is his conversation with a member of the public: ““It encourages hard-liners inside Iran to continue repressions because they feel the U.S. would have less capability in supporting Iranian people who seek freedom,” said Maryam Faraji, a 27-year-old waitress in a coffee shop in northern Tehran.”
Good doggy! but wait for tail wagging command first
Khamenei rejects US talks as Iran faces new round of oil sanctions
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202502079550
Iran to hold local elections and by-elections for the Majlis and Assembly of Experts on June 20th: https://www.isna.ir/news/1403111612171
Pezeshkian’s former Majlis seat in Tabriz, E. Azerbaijan, is up for grabs as is the seat of the late Ebrahim Raisi in the Assembly of Experts who represented S. Khorasan. It is possible that either Hassan Rouhani or Hassan Khomeini could register to run.
Iran reformists urge concessions in attempt to reconnect to west: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/04/iran-reformists-urge-concessions-in-attempt-to-reconnect-to-west
“Tehran is expected in the next week to take decisions that would mean it would be taken off the blacklist of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the body that tackles money laundering and terrorist financing…the rearguard opposition being shown by Iran’s conservatives means the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, would have to intervene decisively with the Expediency Council to join the conventions. Pezeshkian made ending the country’s economic isolation a central theme of his election campaign, but the supreme leader has often suggested the country can thrive without cooperation with the west.”
This is a good example of how a MAJOR decision, like this one to join FATF, involves mutliple state institutions in the Islamic Republic
Supporting ratification: The President and Cabinet, Chambers of commerce, most of the Majlis, some in the Expediency Council
Opposing ratification: Some in the Guardians Council, Majlis, IRGC and Expediency Council.
It will be a test of how much power and influence Pezeshkian yields. I suspect it will be approved but delayed pending a broader agreement with Trump.
Trump set to reimpose ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran, aims to drive oil exports to zero
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-set-reimpose-maximum-pressure-iran-official-says-2025-02-04/
It looks like your luck ran out. But hey, according to “rahbareh farzaneh” (SL) you have been winning on every front. I guess the omaat( herd of cattle followers of SL) couldn’t be happier.
Gradual lifting of restrictions across all platforms in progress: Pezeshkian: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/508153/Gradual-lifting-of-restrictions-across-all-platforms-in-progress
“Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace decided to lift access restrictions to messaging application WhatsApp and digital distribution service Google Play Store in the first step by the country to ease access to widely-used foreign platforms.”
This is another small step towards removing restrictions online. Iran has also built its own versions of these applications which are in use.
And we are suppose to forget dollar is 84500 toman??
A major campaign promise of Masoud Pezeshkian was that Iran would have to join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove sanctions and win investments. A dispute between Majlis and Guardians Council over ratification is being debated in the Expediency Council which is supposed to arbitrate between them: https://en.mehrnews.com/news/226296/FATF-related-to-be-reviewed-again-in-EC-Pezeshkian
Iran’s hard choice on FATF conundrum: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/26/741637/The-solution-to-FATF-conundrum–
Reformists are pinning much on FATF – Economic prosperity lies in joining FATF and lifting sanctions: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/509107/Economic-prosperity-lies-in-joining-FATF-and-lifting-sanctions
“In addition to joining FATF, we must plan to overcome the oppressive sanctions. By accepting FATF standards like 200 other countries in the world and taking serious steps to overcome the sanctions, Iran’s economy and people’s lives will prosper. This will not surely be achieved unless we reconsider past methods and behaviors. And by strengthening international communications and exchanges and normalizing economic relations with different countries, we can get the national economy out of the deadlock. “
[Editor’s Note: There is little sign yet that the reformists have been given significant power in either domestic or foreign policy. At home, political and social space — including the passage of the law requiring compulsory hijab with strict punishment of women who do not comply — continues.
While Iran has been curbed in its regional operations and may seek negotiations with the Trump Administration, that is arguably due to the crippling of its alliances, especially in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.]
Conversation with VP Zarif at the WEF in Davos: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2025/sessions/a-conversation-with-javad-zarif-vice-president-for-strategic-affairs-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran/
What is most remarkable about the interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is that reformists are back in power, following a fair presidential election last year, when some had thought they would be permanently sidelined: “The bigger challenge is replacing Raisi with a minimum of in-fighting in the Iranian regime, maintaining the ostracism of reformists and centrists and suppressing any protests.” https://eaworldview.com/2024/05/iran-regime-after-death-president/
Unlike his predecessor, who gave the green light to more morals policing, Pezeshkian has suspended implementation of a new law on hijab enforcement. Zarif told Zakaria that this had been agreed with the three branches of government but without the assent of the Leader himself.
[Editor’s Note: The executive branch in Iran — indeed, all branches in the country — are overseen by the Supreme Leader.
That is the fundamental principle of the Islamic Republic’s velayat-e faqih.
The last paragraph is notable for its false declaration that Iran “had been pulling out of Syria for years” — something that would have been a surprise to the numerous Iranian commanders, troops, officials, and Iranian-led militias in the country until the fall of the Assad regime.]
“There is little sign yet that the reformists have been given significant power in either domestic or foreign policy. At home, political and social space — including the passage of the law requiring compulsory hijab with strict punishment of women who do not comply — continues.”
The reformists are in power as they now control the executive branch. The new law on hijab enforcement has not been implemented by the administration and the morality police are not confronting women who disregard it anymore: https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/18/iran-pauses-implementation-of-stricter-hijab-law-for-women
Pezeshkian has adopted a reform-minded domestic agenda, including giving more autonomy to ethnic minorities, like the Kurds and Baluch, who were so prominent in the WLF protests. He has even made a Sunni governor of Kurdistan for the first time since the Revolution: https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/18092024
Khatami never did this during his eight years of the presidency.
“While Iran has been curbed in its regional operations and may seek negotiations with the Trump Administration, that is arguably due to the crippling of its alliances, especially in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.”
Iran’s alliances with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza remain intact. Iran had been pulling out of Syria long before Assad fell following the defeat of ISIS. Iran wanted to do a new deal with either Harris or Trump since Biden effectively walked away from negotiations in August 2022.
[Editor’s Note: Perhaps needless to say, this comment bears no relation to how the Supreme Leader and his office oversee all branches, and exercise their authority when they deem necessary.
One notable comment was the Supreme Leader effectively neutering the Rouhani Government in 2014 over conduct of Iran’s policy across the Middle East.
That continues to this day — and, no, the Supreme Leader’s office did not withdraw most of Iran’s forces from Syria in 2020.]
“The executive branch in Iran — indeed, all branches in the country — are overseen by the Supreme Leader. That is the fundamental principle of the Islamic Republic’s velayat-e faqih.”
Under the constitution, the Leader does have supervisory control, with representatives in all ministries, but rarely does he intervene in the affairs of the three branches. One example is his decision to overrule Ahmadinejad’s firing of the then intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, in 2011 – on the grounds that it was not in the interest of the country – a decision which some saw as overreaching: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/iran-s-khamenei-rejects-minister-s-resignation-report-idUSTRE73G1LA/
“Under Iran’s system of ‘velayat-e faqih’, or rule by religious legal scholar, the supreme leader should remain above the political fray of day-to-day politics.”
The cabinet of Pezeshkian is completely different to what Jalili or Ghalibaf would have proposed. The only exception is that the Intelligence minister from Raisi’s administration, Esmail Khatib, has remained – probably at Khamenei’s request.
“The last paragraph is notable for its false declaration that Iran “had been pulling out of Syria for years” — something that would have been a surprise to the numerous Iranian commanders, troops, officials, and Iranian-led militias in the country until the fall of the Assad regime.”
Since 2020, Iran had been pulling most of its forces from Syria – more so in 2024 due to Israeli airstrikes that Assad and the Russians did nothing about. In fact, the withdrawal of many (not all) Iranian and Hezbollah commanders from Syria has been given as one of the reasons why the “hollowed out” Syrian army collapsed as it did.
Trump Administration Seeks UN Sanctions Restoration on Iran
https://iranwire.com/en/news/138422-trump-administration-seeks-un-sanctions-restoration-on-iran/
Top Iranian politician appeals to Trump to restart nuclear deal negotiations: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/22/top-iranian-politician-appeals-to-trump-to-restart-nuclear-deal-negotiations
“Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice-president for strategic affairs, pointed out that the returning US president had not reappointed figures from his first term such as the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, who persuaded him in 2018 to quit the nuclear deal on the basis that withdrawal would lead to the regime’s collapse.”
Trump fires Brian Hook, former Iran aide: https://en.mehrnews.com/news/227240/Trump-sacks-4-presidential-appointees-incl-Brian-Hook
The move will be welcomed in Tehran. Trump has also refused to re-hire Mike Pompeo and Nikky Haley, both of whom are Iran hawks.
Tehran knows that any deal made with Trump will last as it is likely to be passed into U.S law.
As well as not re-hiring John Bolton, Trump has now removed his security detail: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/01/21/john-bolton-trump-secret-service-security-iran-danger/
So far so good! HEIL TRUMP!
Never mind hiring and firing in the US
https://www.instagram.com/p/DE2_NFHtIre/?igsh=MTYxMjV1d2kwd2txaw%3D%3D
Iran denies issuing death penalty for exiled rapper accused of blasphemy: https://www.nationalworld.com/news/world/who-is-amir-tataloo-iran-denies-issuing-death-penalty-for-exiled-rapper-accused-of-blasphemy-4951955
“Iranian authorities stated that the reports were false, noting that Tataloo’s case had not resulted in a death sentence and that he was recently eligible for leniency under legal provisions.”
Desperate to channel, reza???
Omaate goosaleh narahat hastan (the herd of cattle is rattled)?
2 Iranian Supreme Court Judges Killed In Tehran
https://www.rferl.org/a/ran-supreme-court-judges-killed-assassination-tehran/33280196.html
Since 1979, the assassination of government officials has been the norm. It started with the group, Forqan, which killed scores before being eradicared in 1980: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137502506_4
The main group, however, was the MeK.
The sword up khamenei and mojtaba’s ass is coming, reza.
Lester Holt’s recent interview with President Pezeshkian: https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/exclusive-one-on-one-with-iran-s-president-extended-interview-229424197852
Iranian presidents regularly grant access to American journalists to visit the country and interview them without knowing what the questions will be.
CPJ publishes new data on imprisoned journalists: https://cpj.org/thematic-reports/in-record-year-china-israel-and-myanmar-are-worlds-leading-jailers-of-journalists/
“China, Israel, and Myanmar emerged as the world’s three worst offenders in another record-setting year for journalists jailed because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2024 prison census has found. Belarus and Russia rounded out the top five, with CPJ documenting its second-highest number of journalists behind bars – a global total of at least 361 journalists incarcerated on December 1, 2024…..China, Myanmar, Belarus, and Russia routinely rank among the top jailers of journalists. Israel, a multiparty parliamentary democracy that rarely appeared in CPJ’s annual prison census before the 2023 start of the war in Gaza, catapulted to second-place last year as it tried to silence coverage from the occupied Palestinian territories.”
The Committee to protect Journalists claims that 16 journalists are currently detained in Iran.
IRGC Agents Detain Rapper in Iran, Whereabouts Unknown
https://iranwire.com/en/society/138213-irgc-agents-detain-rapper-in-iran-whereabouts-unknown/