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New York Times
29-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Monday Briefing: The Toll of an Attack on an Iranian Prison
Israel's attack on a notorious prison killed 71, Iran said Iranian state news media reported yesterday that 71 people were killed when Israel attacked Evin Prison in Tehran on June 23. Dissidents and political prisoners, including opposition politicians, activists, lawyers, journalists and students, are held at the facility. Detainees, visiting relatives and prison staff members were among the dead, according to a statement from Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary. He did not provide names of the dead, heightening the concerns of some detainees' families, who said they had not heard from their loved ones since the strike. Israel's Defense Ministry declined to comment, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jahangir's claims could not be independently verified. Background: When the Israeli military struck Evin prison, the country's defense minister said it was one of several places targeted, including the headquarters of the Basij, a volunteer force under the umbrella of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that has brutally cracked down on protesters in Iran. Analysis: After the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S., Iran stands on a knife's edge. What will a shaken country in dire economic straits do with what its president has called 'a golden opportunity for change'? Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
28-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Moral Paralysis Facing Iranians Right Now
Last week, when bombs were falling over Iran, I saw a post on social media that posed a harrowing question to Iranians: Would you rather have a stranger kill your abusive father, or have him continue to live and abuse your family? While the question is hypothetical, the post struck me as a painfully precise metaphor for the anguish Iranians are enduring following recent attacks from Israel and the United States. I, like so many other Iranians, am caught in the devastating paradox of this moment: witnessing a hated internal oppressor — a regime in which people can be killed because of what they wear and what they believe — being attacked by a reviled external aggressor, a state engaged in a campaign of devastating and indiscriminate violence against the population of Gaza. Now, as the fragile cease-fire between Iran and Israel holds, Iranians are crushed by the emotional weight of pondering the future of their country. Many, like me, have been gripped by a moral paralysis: a schadenfreude at the death of a brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander curdling into grief for the innocent lives lost, and rage that a hostile foreign power would terrorize millions and kill hundreds in Iran to achieve its aim. I grew up in Iran during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war, a brutal conflict that landed in a nation already scarred by a century of foreign intervention, most notably the 1953 C.I.A.-backed coup. During those years, I experienced how the Islamic Republic weaponized morality to justify continuing the war while simultaneously inflicting fear and violence on its own people. This formative experience has guided my 15-year career as a scholar of moral psychology, investigating how our most sacred values can paradoxically lead us to intractable conflict and hate. In this moment of deep uncertainty for my country, my studies of the dark side of human morality have helped me make sense of the fraught moral calculations of a nation. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
In Tehran, we're asking: what is this madness achieving for the people of Iran, Israel or the US?
On the morning after the 12th day of Israel's war on Iran, those of us who had managed to get some sleep after Monday night's heavy strikes in the heart of the city woke to text messages saying there was a ceasefire. It turned out this was a three-way win, with all the parties congratulating themselves as the victors. Donald Trump managed to fly his B-2s all the way from Missouri without any help. No doubt it was a beautiful bombing. It hit the last target – the behemoth Fordow, deep in the mountains. Benjamin Netanyahu is congratulating himself too, for finally scratching his three-decade itch by striking Iran's nuclear programme, and assassinating top Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders. Most of all, Netanyahu managed to draw Trump, who had promised no more wars, into the fray. The hardline followers of the Islamic republic are also congratulating themselves on their successful strikes against Israel. The strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities brought fear of contamination throughout the week. Our social media were filled with an updated Iranian version of the duck-and-cover campaign from cold war America. In case of exposure to radiation, get inside, we were told, change your clothes, take a shower and tape the windows. Not a single siren has sounded: apparently, we don't have them any more. Those who remember the Iraq-Iran war say there used to be sirens. Nor do we have shelters like Israelis do. Considering we have been at loggerheads with Israel for decades now, why haven't they built some? For the past 12 days we have had a crash course in the sounds of war. The boom of a rocket hitting its target, the sharp ratatat of the ground-to-air defence. You don't see the missiles that blow up, but you see the red dots of the defences when they start at night. The first days were a blur. The big emotional freeze. The frenzy to gather documents and essentials for a speedy departure. The calculus of doom: how much water do I need? How many T-shirts should I pack? When should I leave? How far should I go? What is their scenario for us – Iraq or Afghanistan? Someone said Libya. When my VPN manages to connect me to X, the algorithm suggests a post by a man saying in Hebrew that there is no country called Iran. What?! He has coloured the map of Iran into segments. This is Turkmenistan, this is Balochistan, this is Azerbaijan, here in the south are the Arabs and in the middle are some Persians. How dare he? We are one of the oldest nations in the world. We didn't invade this land – we are not recent immigrants. We are actually from here. We have survived Alexander of Macedonia's pyromania, we have survived Genghis Khan's bloodbath and a brutal Arab invasion, and we are still here. We are the inheritors of the great poets Ferdowsi, Rumi and Hafez, who give us our shared identity even though we speak many languages. I am sure I was not the only Iranian finding solace in Hafez this past week. Now that we have had a moment to breathe, the interminable question of these past few days, 'what will happen now?', is about the long term. Over the past 46 years Iranians have eroded the strict ideology that was imposed on them in order to live a modern life. We have been hoping since 2015 and the signing of the joint comprehensive plan of action for the lifting of sanctions so we could reconnect to the world and fix our corrupted economy. Trump F-worded that chance. Our young people have stood up to the repressive rules that governed their personal lives; some died for it. Now, thanks to Israel and its benevolent bombs, the extreme sections of society, the ideologues who were marginalised, will be newly invigorated by conflict. We are a country at war now. The streets are full of checkpoints. I passed several driving in Tehran the other night. They are courteous now, but we recognise them from the days of protest. Will the Islamic republic forget these past 12 days? Can Netanyahu be contained by Trump? Will Israel and Iran become friends now? We are preparing for a wake in my family. We buried my stepmother in the cemetery south of Tehran three days ago. The road to the cemetery, usually packed with traffic, was almost empty. Tehran empty of its unbearable traffic and noise is suddenly so beautiful. I have never loved this city as much as I do now. The road to the cemetery will now be the route so many families will take to bury their dead. Along the way, I wonder how many Palestinians were killed while the eyes of the world were on us. We have had an exceptionally long and sublime spring in Tehran this year. The geraniums on my porch are still in bloom. It looks like the persimmon tree will have more fruit than any other year. If the relief holds, the questions that kept popping up during the attacks and were waved aside as pointless in an existential crisis will loom large. And the main one will be: what did this madness achieve for the people of Iran, Israel or the US? I mean the people, not the victors. Haleh Anvari is a writer and artist in Tehran
Indian Express
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Ramin Jahanbegloo writes: After Iran-Israel war, a different Middle East
It has now become customary for people around the globe to take sides easily in the war between Israel and Iran and respond to the strategic and political needs of this confrontation rather than to answer to their own conscience. Right now, the correct question to ask is why we got here and, of course, the right answer is that the ideological face-to-face between the state of Israel and the Iranian regime during the past 40 years has been all about hegemony in the Middle East. On the one hand, the Iranian Shiite clerics and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in Iran lived, until very recently, with the illusion that Iran was so powerful that it could fight back Israel and the US at the same time. For nearly five decades, the Iranian regime made the mistake of being immensely loudmouthed about its rhetoric against the state of Israel and minimising the US power in the Levant. This was intensified after the end of the eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, with the starring role played by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, especially the Quds Force. The unexpected killing of Qassem Soleimani by the American military in Iraq during Donald Trump's first presidency was a decisive step against the mastermind of Iran's proxy wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Despite the assassination of Soleimani, the Iranian regime continued to push forward its hegemonic perception of international relations in the Middle East and beyond. In the past five years, the Iranian regime has tried to attack Israeli and American interests in the Middle East through its proxies, like the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis of Yemen. The Iranian people had to pay the price of the presence of this 'syndrome of hegemony' by being isolated economically and politically through Trump's maximum pressure campaign and the EU sanctions against Iran in response to its human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation activities and military support for Russia's war in Ukraine. However, despite this, Iran continued to play a diplomatic game with the Biden administration and the EU, leaving Israel out of the equation each time in talks on the nature of Iranian nuclear sites. It also did not get involved in direct clashes with these two countries. However, on October 1, 2024, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, and on October 26, Israel responded with three waves of strikes against Iranian military targets. Unlike the recent war between the two countries, though, Iran and Israel did not aim at each other's citizens, army officers or sensitive installations. Things have been different in the present war between Iran and Israel. First and foremost, Israel could count fully on Trump's political and military support in an attack against Iran's military and its nuclear installations. On the other hand, Ayatollah Khamenei is said to have been asked by advisers not to escalate the war after the bombing of Iran's main nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Third, the Iranian regime kept open the option of firing missiles and drones at Israel, as it did hours after the US suggestion of an unconditional ceasefire, knowing perfectly well that the survival of the Islamic Republic of Iran was at stake — as in the case of the 1988 Iran-Iraq war, Iran might run out of missiles and ammunition. Last but not least, though some of the Iranian military commanders might have suggested a crushing response to the US by closing the Strait of Hormuz — through which more than a quarter of the world's seaborne crude oil passes — even Russia and China, the two key allies of Iran, have not supported such a folly. The Arab leaders of the Persian Gulf region, notably Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, have tried to calm the tensions between Iran and the US, while not entertaining a Shiite Iran in search of regional hegemony. But they seem to be preoccupied by the sudden isolation of Iran from its weakened proxies and its two political allies, Russia and China, who are deeply embedded in the global economy and have much to lose from the turmoil in the Middle East. Regime change in Iran is not an easy task. Until now, Israel and the US have been able to set back Iran's nuclear capacities without permanently removing its nuclear and ballistic missile threats. Many questions remain after the United States joined Israel in the war against Iran. First, what are the immediate consequences of Trump's 'spectacular military success'? Second, would the Iranian authorities still go for a comprehensive nuclear deal with the US and Europe? Third, will the fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Iran and Israel hold? Last, will the Iranian regime turn its guns once again against its civilians who dare to ask about the moral legitimacy of the country's leadership? One way or another, Iran post-June 2025 will lay the groundwork for a new Middle Eastern roadmap. The writer is director, Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, OP Jindal Global University
Globe and Mail
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Worries about the future overshadow ceasefire relief as Iranians who fled the strikes return home
After 12 days of Israeli airstrikes that echoed in cities around the country, killing hundreds and sending waves of people fleeing their homes, Iranians voiced relief on Tuesday at the surprise overnight announcement of a ceasefire. For those in the Iranian capital it brought the prospect of a clean-up, a return to normal life and the soothing – for now at least – of anxiety about a further escalation and sustained warfare. Many Iranians who fled the strikes were also glad, able to return home after tiring, expensive stays outside the city in rented accommodation or with relatives. 'I am overjoyed. It is over and we finally can live in peace. It was an unnecessary war and we people paid the price for the authorities' war-mongering policies,' said Shima, 40, from Shiraz, withholding her name for fear of reprisals. As Iranians take shelter or flee, some also hope for the end of a repressive regime Just 24 hours earlier, plumes of smoke hung over parts of the capital as Israel targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its paramilitary Basij militia, as well as Evin prison at the foot of the Alborz Mountains. One man in a busy Tehran street, who also asked to remain anonymous, said 'It's the people who are paying the price - whether our people or theirs. Both sides are bearing the cost so it's better that this happened sooner rather than later.' Israel has repeatedly warned residents to leave large swathes of the city before it conducted airstrikes, clogging the highways out of Tehran with vast traffic jams. Exhausted and running out of cash, many of them had started to return home even before the ceasefire was announced. Unease spreads through Iranian-Canadian communities after U.S. strikes Arash, a 39-year-old government employee, had taken his family to Damavand, a mountain resort 35 miles east of Tehran that is popular for its clean air and bucolic setting. They returned to Tehran two days ago. 'My wife and two children were terrified of the bombings but renting even a modest room in Damavand for any length of time is beyond my limited budget,' he said. Noushin, 35, drove almost five hours with her husband and child to stay with her mother-in-law in Sari, near Iran's Caspian coast. But the house was already crowded with relatives seeking shelter and Noushin decided they were better off at home. 'My child misses her room. I miss my house. How long can we live like this?' she asked. 'Even if there's another attack, I'd rather die in my own home.' Israel launched its surprise air war on June 13, hitting nuclear sites and killing military commanders in the worst blow to Iran since Iraq invaded in 1980, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes could result in regime change. However, there have been no signs of significant street protests against the Islamic Republic. Iranians contacted by Reuters, including some who oppose the Islamic Republic and have protested against it in the past, said the airstrikes had brought people to rally around national feeling in the face of what they saw as foreign aggression. Still, for many Iranians there is anger at the top ranks of the nation's leadership, and for those returning home the reality of a sanctions-hit economy remains. Ottawa advises Canadians to leave Iran or stay near a bomb shelter 'This is unacceptable. This is brutal. Why are we being attacked while the officials hide in safe places?' said Mohammad, 63, from Rasht. 'I place the blame on this country's decision-makers. Their policies have brought war and destruction upon us,' he said by phone. While Israel has repeatedly targeted both leaders and facilities of the internal security forces under the IRGC, state media has announced hundreds of arrests of people accused of spying. Black security vehicles were seen on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday and dissidents expressed fear of a coming crackdown by the authorities to ward off any attempt at mass protests. Accusations of ceasefire violations on Tuesday also raised fears that the war could reignite. 'I hope they (the Israelis) remain committed to the ceasefire. History has shown that they've never truly honoured it, but I still hope this time they do – because it's in our interest and theirs as well,' said one man on a Tehran street.
