Farzan Sabet
@IranWonk
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Senior Research Associate @GVAGrad_GGC focused Middle East security, nuclear weapons, and economic sanctions. Alumnus @UN , @Stanford , and @McGillU .
Geneva, Switzerland
Joined August 2014
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Disturbing if true.
My 39-year old cousin and her 40-something husband just died from
#COVID19
last week, leaving their 3-year old child orphaned.
Anything short of active facilitation of humanitarian trade raises questions about the US role in the situation unfolding in
#Iran
.
Governor of the Central Bank of
#Iran
just said the US has been actively trying to block the country's efforts to pay for and obtain a COVID-19 vaccine through COVAX, the global vaccine effort operating under the WHO.
Iran passed 50,000 official COVID deaths on Saturday.
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Now that the smoke has cleared somewhat, a few thoughts on the assassination of Mohsen
#Fakhrizadeh
:
1. What does it mean for Iran's nuclear program?
2. How will it affect future
#JCPOA
talks? And
3. How will it affect Iranian and regional politics? 1/
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Two interesting rumors circulating in Tehran right now:
- Ali Larijani has received the green light that if he runs for president, the Guardian Council won't disqualify him; and
- Ali Shamkhani has been handed the nuclear file and negotiations
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@RashaAlAqeedi
This seems overblown:
1. In this BBC Persian interview Amjad Amini, her father, quoting the Iranian media calls her "Mahsa".
2. After 2 minutes, when the interviewer repeatedly calls her "Mahsa", he doesn't correct her but mostly calls her "daughter" 1/
BBC Persian interview with Mehsa Amini's father.
Amjad Amini: The forensic report on Mahsa is completely false, they did not allow us to do any investigation.
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This is what poli sci literature calls the "naive theory of sanctions": That more economic pain equals political disintegration, surrender &/or implosion. With semi-/authoritarian regimes (think Rhodesia, Yugoslavia, Iraq, etc.) it's led to human misery but rarely these goals👇.
Only thing that didn’t “work” about max pressure was it wasn’t correctly framed as a long-term effort to contain the regime in Iran’s aggression, push for changes in behavior, and give the Iranian people tools to demand better. Sanctions pressure clearly worked on the economy.
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What a shame that Stephen Harper, a former Canadian prime minister, chose to attend the MEK conference in Paris. Speaks to the sophistication of MEK political operations, and naivete or venality of Western politicians who chose to attend.
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There have been protests in
#Iran
cities and towns I would not have been able to point to on a map two days ago. Sense is machinery of repression mainly focused on Tehran & other large cities and may not have prepared for revolt from the periphery.
Here's another clip from the town of Jahrom, a city of 115,000 about 100 miles southeast of Shiraz. This is Iran's flyover country.
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I'm not in camp that says external forces - incl. US, EU & others - can't have positive influence in authoritarian contexts. But sheer narcism of DC bubble in making
#Iranprotests
about Trump, Obama or US politics is getting unbearable.
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#IranProtests
continue to be geographically dispersed across
#Iran
. However we noticed more videos from Tehran. Could this mean
#Tehranis
have become more involved in events? Maybe.
@maryamnayebyazd
has more comprehensive map. 3/
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Decided to do quick, amateur, sampling exercise w/ a friend on Day 05
#IranProtests
videos to see what we could learn.
We used sample of 20 videos gathered from several feeds that were said to be from Day 05 (January 01, 2018) of the protests. 1/
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My two cents: I take speculation of Ebrahim Raisi and Mojtaba Khamenei's candidacy for the Leadership of Iran with a grain of salt.
Raisi's rapid elevation has created this aura around him, but there's little other evidence, and he has performed quite poorly as president. 1/
Ebrahim Raisi’s death would create a succession crisis in Iran. He and Mojtaba Khamenei are the only contenders to replace 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei (Mojtaba’s father). In Iran's conspiratorial political culture few will believe Raisi’s death was accidental.
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A few preliminary thoughts on the
#Israel
|i strike on the
#Iran
|ian diplomatic facility in Damascus, Syria:
1. According to
#IRGC
public relations seven of its personnel (including its senior most general in Lebanon and Syria) were killed. 1/
It’s now confirmed that Abou Mahdi Zahedi, Iran’s top general in Syria and Lebanon was killed along with other IRGC officers in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
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According to Article 131 of
#Iran
's constitution, in case of the president's death, the first vice president assumes the powers and functions of the president with the approval of the Leader.
In this case that would be Mohammad Mokhber (not exactly presidential material). 1/
The Raisi government is not considered high caliber or effective, even by
#Iran
's standards, where presidents and prime ministers have historically been subsumed by power of Leaders and shahs.
But the president and FM are probably still the two important figures in this cabinet.
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So, where do we stand today?
My initial assessment is that
#Iran
's retaliatory strike against
#Israel
was a serious and substantive response that, according to Israeli sources, included more than 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles (near US estimates). 1/
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In this context, it might be meaningful that the reporter asks Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff, to say a few words in Azeri.
Azeri-speakers and their descendants in Iran are well represented among the elite, including at the highest levels.
IRGC Ground Force military exercise in East Azerbaijan province.
Among other things, a signal by Tehran to Baku, in light of heightened tensions between the two sides since the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
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Grateful to have been awarded The International Geneva Award 2020 with co-authors Gregoire Mallard and Jin Sun for article "The Humanitarian Gap in the Global Sanctions Regime: Assessing Causes, Effects and Solutions.”
@IHEID
@GlobalGov_IHEID
Read here:
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RE Narrative that
#Tehran
/middle class is not(/less) involved in
#IranProtests
: How do you tell socio-economic status from videos? I've been through 40 videos said 2b from yesterday. Having trouble determining numbers & gender-balance for most, let alone socio-economic makeup. 1/
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IRGC Aerospace Force commander Amir Hajizadeh: "If we strike every US base, if we kill
#Trump
, if we kill their secretary of defense, none of these are the blood money for Haj Ghasem [
#Soleimani
]. The blood money for Haj Ghasem is the removal of the US from the region." 1/2
فرمانده هوافضای سپاه: اگر کل پایگاههای آمریکا را بزنیم، حتی اگر ترامپ را هم بکشیم، باز هم این خونبهای حاج قاسم نیست. باید شر آمریکاییها را از منطقه کم کنیم.
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Could this be a game changing election in the political history of the Islamic Republic?
Yes - for worse, and possibly better.
A few key observations, including a possible shift in the composition of the voting base of the reformists. 1/
Election takeaways:
- A majority of Iranians sent a clear message to the political establishment
- 20 years & 4 runs later, Qalibaf learned he's never becoming president
- To win in the run-off, Pezeshkian has his work cut out
With comments by
@IranWonk
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I will have a piece out tomorrow on
#Iran
's nuclear weapon option emerging from the shadows.
Since Iran is holding a nuclear conference in Isfahan this week, you might also be interested in my article on a more controversial nuclear conference organized by the Shah in 1977!
1st International Conference on Nuclear Science & Technology kicks off in
#Isfahan
,
#Iran
, 6 to 8 May 2024. A fascinating gathering that focuses on applications of ☢️ energy for peaceful purposes.
#NuclearEnergy
More info
@iaeaorg
@SCKCEN
@euronuclear
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My first history article! It was written under considerable time & work pressure, but I'm happy w/ it nonetheless: "The April 1977 Persepolis Conference on the Transfer of Nuclear Technology: A Third World Revolt Against US Non-Proliferation Policy?"
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Following request in secret meeting by Vladimir
#Putin
's representative to SNSC head Ali
#Shamkhani
#Iran
to allow
#Russia
long-range bombers overflight rights & even permission to land at
#Nojeh
Airbase for refueling.
🔴 #ایران با درخواست #روسیه برای عبور بمبافکنهای دوربرد روسیه از آسمان کشورمان و حتی فرودشان برای سوختگیری در پایگاه هوایی نوژه همدان موافقت کرده است
این درخواست در دیدار محرمانه نماینده پوتین با شمخانی، به طرف ایرانی ارائه شده بود
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@maryamnayebyazd
Here is breakdown of
#IranProtest
slogans that were audible. They run gamut from slogans that clearly call for overthrow or radical change of IRI system in some form, to those that are more ambiguous, to those that seem to call for reform. 4/
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Here are some of the
#Iran
scholars, analysts & journalists I read - including for killer coverage & analysis of recent protests:
@MaloneySuzanne
@ksadjadpour
@AliVaez
@AlirezaNader
@GEsfandiari
@farnazfassihi
@borzou
@Omid_M
@AmirToumaj
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Some brief initial thoughts on the 2024
#Iran
|ian presidential election now that the Guardian Council has finished vetting the qualified candidates.
1. As predicted based on averages since 1989, it has qualified six candidates out of around 80 registrants. 1/
As we wait for the Guardian Council to vet the +80
#Iran
|ian presidential election candidate registrants, I have published an article asking what I consider to be five important questions on the political dynamics and how the vote could unfold over the next month. 1/
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Interesting new Mehr News Agency "op-ed" that outlines IRI's possible escalation ladder in response to an UN arms embargo (indefinite?) extension or successful US sanctions snapback, based on Iranian officials' statements over the last few months. 1/
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I respect Hossein Ronaghi for his bravery and activism and I've clashed with many on this list but:
1. No one listed has had any role in suppressing Iranian women or executing protestors;
2. Some like Mahsa Alimardani are among the most tireless human rights defenders.
These are some of the individuals that play a role in suppressing Iranian women and executing the protesters. These arw the external arms of the Islamic Republic.
@AzadehMoaveni
@AssalRad
@NegarMortazavi
@AliVaez
@TParsi
@barbaraslavin1
@milanimohsen
@Sinatoossi
@JAbdi
@maasalan
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An implicit assumption by many Western media/experts seems to be that:
1. Sanctions are cost-free; and
2. Sanctioned states can/will not retaliate.
This is historically untrue (think Japan, 1930s-40s; Iran, 2010-20s, etc.) and Russia may be a special case in this regard. 1/
Today, some French minister has said that they declared an economic war on Russia. Watch your tongue, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones
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This Twitter account is a constant reminder I need to update and publish my journal article on the political evolution of one of the most mercurial (and consequential) Iranian politicians of the last century whose caricature in the Western media belies a more complicated reality.
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As we wait for the Guardian Council to vet the +80
#Iran
|ian presidential election candidate registrants, I have published an article asking what I consider to be five important questions on the political dynamics and how the vote could unfold over the next month. 1/
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Ali is, of course, correct here 👇But I would go one step further.
Let's assume
#Iran
somehow finds its "Goldilocks" retaliation that ends the current round of attack-response with
#Israel
.
A future round of attack-response-escalation is likely for one simple reason. 1/
4/4 In other words, if IRI strategists are working on the assumption that they can find a Goldilocks response that is hard enough to make a point but calibrated enough not to draw a response, well, perhaps it's worth remembering that fairy tales aren't tactical manuals.
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Many(/most) of my colleagues may disagree w/ me, but as a historian I find this genre of purely anti-imperialist (& in this case somewhat ahistorical) accounts of 1953 Anglo-American backed-coup d'etat at best boring, unoriginal, & unhelpful.
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This is what American decline looks like. Not a bang but a slow, steady, erosion. I could practically hear the cheers from the IOM from my office.
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The so-called "leaked" audio has led to many tweets about the MFA/Zarif's impotence, and while there is substance to this narrative, it also misses some things:
A. Zarif had an IRI system mandate to negotiate JCPOA and Iran stuck to these commitments until the US withdrawal. 1/
I will never forget one of the US negotiators of the JCPOA telling me that he always made sure, whenever he talked to a smiling Zarif, to picture Qassem Soleimani standing behind him, as the real power. Even more accurate than he could have imagined.
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The implication of what happened to Dr. Aida Rostami is so horrific it shocks the conscience.
I hope there is more reporting on this case and the international and Iranian medical communities follow up on it as they are doing for the death sentence on Dr.
#HamidGharehHassanlou
.
Dr. Aida Rostami, an Iranian doctor treating the protesters, was killed in Tehran. On Dec 12th, the Islamic Republic’s police in Tehran called the family to inform them that she was “killed in a car accident”, but there were stitches on her eye when the family received her body.
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Whether you're pro- or anti-Islamic Republic, what's undeniable is that ordinary
#Iranians
should be shielded from worst humanitarian consequences of sanctions. Sick kids w/ leukemia should get medicine. Families should eat. People should have access to basic consumer goods. 1/
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There are proxies and then there are proxies.
In the case of the Islamic Republic I would divide these groups into at least three categories in terms of the degree of control Iran exerts and the discussion is a bit more nuanced than the tweet below. 1/
You don't spend decades building a network of proxies to exert 24/7 control over them. They're "proxies" - they act in alignment with your agenda.
Everyone in USG knows this -- so messaging like below is intended *only* to indicate we don't want to hold
#Iran
fully accountable.
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If
#Iran
's strike was such an utter failure, then why should
#Israel
not immediately follow with a massive response?
There's a more subtle reading in which it was a major success (repeatable?) for Israeli+ air defenses, but not a complete political or military failure for Iran.
Iran inadvertently undermined its own deterrence w/its massive but unsuccessful attack on Israel. This was precisely the sort of attack many felt Tehran would mount in response to a strike on its nuclear facilities; its failure arguably now lowers the bar for such a strike.
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Statements by
#Iran
|ian officials and the rumor mill has indicated that retaliation against
#Israel
would come at a time and place of Iran's choosing likely after "Qods Day" (today).
What are Iran's likely options? I see a few 🧵 1/
CBS: “The U.S. has picked up intelligence that Iran is planning a retaliatory attack that would include a swarm of Shaheed loitering drones and cruise missiles. Officials say the timing and target are unknown, but a proportional response to the Damascus attack would be to hit an
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Excited to share my first piece in 18 months and in
@ForeignPolicy
, co-authored w/ Simon Miles, an assistant professor
@DukeSanford
, completing a book on US-Soviet relations during the early 1980s based on new Eastern bloc archival sources. 1/
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Some (brief) context on Javad Zarif's praise of
#IRGC
, rising
#Iranian
nationalism, & possibility of increased anti-
#Americanism
in
#Iran
1/
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An upside of Twitter is following talented people as they go from strength to strength, until one day you find yourself regularly reading them in one of your favourite publications & watching them on Morning Joe & Bill Maher. Mazel tov
@NatashaBertrand
!
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The first journal article from our "Bombs, Banks, and Sanctions" project
@GlobalGov_IHEID
is finally out in
@GlobalGovJrnl
: "The Humanitarian Gap in the Global Sanctions Regime." 1/
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#Ahmadinejad
claims the top
#Iran
official in charge of
#Israel
counterintelligence was an Israeli spy.
I take everything he says with a healthy dose of skepticism but this kind of thing happens: Aldrich Ames who dealt with Soviet counterintelligence for the CIA was a KGB spy.
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@RichardHanania
My father was adamant my brother & I not follow his footsteps into auto-repair business b/c he didn't want us to do jobs where we got our hands dirty and he thought industry would die due to electric cars (in his defense he was forced into it by a revolution, war, & immigration).
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It's too soon to say for certain the Iran/Axis of Resistance angle of this round of the Israel-Palestine conflict but some preliminary thoughts come to mind.
First, given the scale of the Hamas-PIJ attack, it's hard to believe Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah had no foreknowledge. 1/
BREAKING: Biden after his call with Netanyahu: The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation. My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering
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We should take the Islamic Republic's PR about its flood response w/ grain of salt, but there is something remarkable about elements of an arm of Iraqi military entering Khuzestan to provide aid almost 40 years after predecessor Ba'ath regime crossed the same border to invade.
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The heritage of Persianate, Iranian (in the historical-cultural sense), etc. civilization transcends claims of any one nation state today. Our common heritage is rich enough that we can share and celebrate it together, rather squabble over it to soothe bruised nationalist egos.
Rumi e Balkhī was born in Balkh, modern Afghanistan during the rein of Khwarazmian dynasty (Sunni Turkic and part of the Saljuqqis). Rūmī and and his family then fled (the mongols) to modern Turkey. Not sure how Iran comes into it.
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There is obviously some ideological affinity between systems in Iran and Venezuela around themes of anti-imperialism and social justice, but this seems more like a business expansion, and sanctioned jurisdictions increasingly forming their own international (political) economy.
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Reza Pahlavi attended NatCon, which among other speaker topics, included one entitled "The Azerbaijan option against Iran"
رضا پهلوی مهمان ویژه کنفرانس راستگرایان آمریکا و سخنرانیش تحت عنوان "پایان خلیفه گری اسلامی" دیگر موضوعات سخنرانان:
لزوم تولید تسلیحات بیشتر
نظام پناهندگی: تهدید موجودیتی
گزینه آذربایجان علیه ایران
سرکوب سفیدپوستان درآمریکا
محکومیت جدایی دین از سیاست
تراز منفی کربن: فاجعه صنعتی
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Thank you
@thomasjuneau
&
@b_momani
for supporting me on this three and a half year long journey and their faith in me to write on what was largely a new topic for me.
The volume will be a useful resource for those interested in Canada's Middle East policy for years to come!
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@barbaraslavin1
@thekarami
Let me put this in as civil a way as a I can:
1. Excusing or minimizing the harm a person did because they were executing the policy of their government (to word it delicately...) is not an acceptable defense under international law let alone ethically. 1/
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Based on polling trends and
#Iran
presidential election dynamics since late-May, the voting will likely see:
1. Masood Pezeshkian with a first place plurality or strong second place;
2. Saeed Jalili (who started at 20% and has risen to approx. 30%) in second or weak first. 1/
Some brief initial thoughts on the 2024
#Iran
|ian presidential election now that the Guardian Council has finished vetting the qualified candidates.
1. As predicted based on averages since 1989, it has qualified six candidates out of around 80 registrants. 1/
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US journalists like
@tarapalmeri
: Please do your research before linking words like "freedom" and "human rights" w/ political cults like PMOI/MEK that have a history of gross abuses, terrorism, and collaboration w/ Saddam Hussein.
at an Iranian freedom event in DC, Giuliani, citing NSA Bolton- made the motion of ripping up a paper - when talking about what the Trump administration will do with the Iran Nuclear deal
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Iranians need an Islamist-Stalinist cult like the MEK (/Maryam Rajavi) like they need a bullet to the head.
More interesting aspect may be "Eight Characteristics of an Alternative" they highlight. Is it just me or do these appear intended to create contrast w/ Reza Pahlavi? 1/
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Total blockade, especially one that doesn't have humanitarian provisions, can be viewed in some contexts as lead up/part of act of war.
Qatar imports 90% of its food. You aren't talking about "cutting relations", you're talking about blockading an entire society.
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IRGC-JF General Saeed Abyar is alleged to have been killed near Aleppo,
#Syria
, by an
#Israel
|i airstrike.
Will
#Iran
uphold its "new equation" from April, in which it pledged to retaliate against Israeli attacks on its personnel through direct attacks from Iran on Israel 👇
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I'm withholding judgement until we have larger sample-size of authenticated videos, but sense is
@AlirezaNader
is right here. 1999 & 2009 demonstrations were essentially pro-reformist. 2017 vids I've seen so far express seething anger at system one hears from common folk.
#iranprotests
are very different than 1999 and 2009 protests. This is the most vehemently anti regime event I've ever seen. Not just about the economic situation, but a deep and desperate cry against an unjust and repressive system.
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@RashaAlAqeedi
Very interesting - I didn't know about the Iraqi context, thanks for explaining.
If you read the rest of the thread, I don't think this context really applies to Iran, and the reason for these naming conventions are slightly different between the countries.
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Reluctant to say much about
#Iran
events atm b/c unclear: 1) What they're really about 2) If dates & locations attributed to videos are authentic & 3) If they'll last. But for those interested here are two articles by colleague & I explaining failure of Green Movement. 1/
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Flashback to childhood in Shiraz where two people in a street fight would circle around each other for 30 minutes yelling and swearing before the crowd pulled them apart, they de-escalated, and each went their own way.
Arab friend (non-political, not in media or think tanks) summing up prevailing sentiments.
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President-elect Pezeshkian and his coalition should be viewed with enormous skepticism, both in terms of their ability AND desire to deliver real change.
We should judge them by their results, and not the narratives spun by their foreign surrogates and international media.
Dozens of non-Iranians have written me to say: what do you think of Iran's new reformist president? Isn't this good?
They said this based on media they read.
It is irresponsible for media & folks on this platform to promote the idea that this will bring real change to Iran.
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One of our students predicted months ago that Abdolnasser Hemmati would be the "moderate" coalition candidate partly based on fieldwork he did for his thesis.
Hard to think with principalists rallying around Raisi and a boycott brewing he stands a chance but something to watch.
It's official: Ali Larijani and Eshaq Jahangiri have been disqualified from running for president.
*Zero* prominent reformists or pragmatists have been allowed to run. The closest thing is incumbent central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, running on economic reform.
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The Islamic Republic will generally determine its response to such attacks based on at least two factors for the purpose of deterrence, signaling, but also escalation control. 1/
The information space is still too polluted to say for sure how significant the attack was and spectacular the results.
But most infrastructure attacks and assassinations on Iran in last 14+ years (with maybe two exceptions) have resulted in short-term/tactical setbacks for it.
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Interesting interview with Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Army ("Artesh") deputy commander for coordination affairs, on the Army's lack of visibility in media and society. Sayyari is former marine commando who served in Iran-Iraq War and was recently Regular Navy commander. 1/
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Fissure in anti-compulsory hijab movement may be caused by case of "fake news". She appears to have supported Canada "Magnitsy" sanctions against individual rights violators, not US-style comprehensive sanx. Iran-focused journalists should be able to unpack by reviewing evidence.
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Many communities in
#Iran
have their own version of "Great Replacement" with some basis in reality:
1. The secular: "The IRI is importing Shia to replace us"
2. The Shia: "Sunnis are having more children than us"
3. Minorities: "Group X is displacing us in our home region"
This article by UANI analysts published in
@ACMideast
is steeped in racist attitudes towards Afghans in Iran, making baseless allegations that resemble the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theories prevalent in the US and Europe regarding immigration.
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Joking aside, the number of major IRI security-intelligence failures we've seen in Iran and abroad in the last decade is firstly a function of the sheer scale of efforts against it by an axis of states with some of the largest, most advanced and well-funded security forces. 13/
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I have published an article where I attempt to answer key questions on the deaths of
#Iran
's President and foreign minister:
1. Who were they?
2. What happens next?
3. Who could be president?
4. Will this change Iran's policies?
5. How does this affect a Leader succession? 1/
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Note that the Natanz nuclear complex is located in Isfahan province (where the alleged attack occurred) not too far away.
#Iran
|ian media is reporting normality and authorities are claiming the attack was unsuccessful and that no damage was done. 2/
🇮🇷
#Iran
's state broadcaster at pains to underscore life continues as normal in Isfahan this morning. Three scenes:
1. Unnamed spot in city
2. Vicinity of nuclear plant
3. Vicinity of Shekari airbase and Isfahan airport (nearby to where explosions were said to have been heard).
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I think Leader Ayatollah Ali Khanenei, or at least the
#IRGC
's preferred candidate, was likely Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in the 2024
#Iranian
presidential election 1st round.
Between Masood Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, it's not clear to me they support Jalili in the 2nd round.
The second and decisive round of Iran's presidential elections has begun. The struggle is not between a "radical candidate" who will result in a big shift in Iran's domestic and international policies toward radicalization and a "moderate candidate" who will result in a dramatic
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At a time when we really have a limited idea of nature & longevity of
#Iranprotests
, its worth considering a range of seasoned perspectives. Here's one worth reading by
@ESBoroujerdi
: "Misreading Qazvin in Washington: On the Protests in
#Iran
"
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Not so quick:
#Israel
has been freely targeting
#IRGC
in
#Syria
since 2013, by my count killing dozens of its officers (not to mention AoR deaths and material losses).
The real question is: Has
#Iran
's new red line rolled back Israeli freedom of action in Syria and elsewhere?
This entire series of events has been a colossal Israeli victory.
They have established their ability to freely target the IRGC in Syria without limit, comprehensively defeated a direct Iranian attack on Israel, and now struck Iran proper without consequence.
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The Islamic Republic of
#Iran
has officially been removed from the
#UN
Committee on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-26 term.
There were 29 votes IN FAVOR of the motion to remove it, 8 AGAINST, and 16 ABSTENTIONS.
"Iran appears set to be ousted from a U.N. women's body on Wednesday for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls, but several countries are expected to abstain from the vote requested by the United States, diplomats said."
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Still anti-IRI slogans that can arguably be interpreted as calling for some kind of systemic change continue to be unifying thread of
#IranProtests
(at least according to this sample). Didn't see many slogans reflecting reform demands (like "Where's My Vote?"). 8/
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On other hand I've seen waves of efforts by pro-reform/
#Rouhani
personalities (mainly outside
#Iran
) trying to discredit
#IranProtests
over last five days as either non-anti-system or (more recently) as just bunch of young male hooligans. This seems like a mistake. 11/
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These bright young Iranians were denied entry to US for a competition and couldn't access software needed to compete b/c of sanctions. They still found a way to win, but were denied their prize. Ironically, in a few years many will likely leave Iran to join US high-tech sector.
داستان این تیم عجیبه، به دلیل تحریمها نتونستن برای ارائه نهایی برن آمریکا و ارائهشون ویدیوکنفرانسی بود. به دلیل تحریمها نتونستن از نرمافزار اورجینال مسابقات استفاده کنن و خودشون کد زدن. در نهایت اما قهرمان شدن و حالا هم نمیتونن جایزهشون رو بگیرن، چرا؟ بازهم به دلیل تحریمها
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