NazeeMoinian

PhD, Iranian Studies | Assoc. Fellow, @MiddleEastInst | @ColumbiaSIPA alum | Commentary on Iranian FP, regional dynamics, & civil society | Farsi/English/French

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

On the 46th anniversary of the revolution that unleashed political Islam, ousted a strong American ally, and changed the ME and the national security imperatives of western countries and Israel a simple thread as to what happened and why:

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

“We don’t need a deal with Iran” is candidate Trump 2015, or even Real estate Developer Trump 1989.

Always aware of the Islamic regime threat he has believed that any overture is a sign of weakness and no deal is worth his legacy.

He has come full circle in 2026.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

For @POTUS there is no pretending at the gates of heaven, and none at the negotiating table with Tehran!

Q: You're entering the next life [before God], all you have to do to enter paradise is feel love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, etc...can you do it?

TRUMP: Then I wouldn't be real, would I? ….the answer is no.

Compare with the concept of Taqiyya in Islam. Central in Shi’ism it is “prudent concealment” letting a believer lie to save himself.

Khamenei repackaged it as “heroic flexibility” in 2013, just as Iran was negotiating JPOA, the precursor to the JCPOA.

US is again at the same juncture in Doha. Will the regime abide by a diplomatic settlement or will it be “flexible” and conceal its intentions to save itself?

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

The Iran war has pulled back the curtain on the regime. Before it, Tehran relied on plausible deniability, sowing chaos while covering its tracks.

Now it is pursuing a balance of terror, striking Gulf states and signalling that everything is fair game. Everything.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

New footage of the Aramco tower in the King Abdullah Financial District shows heavy damage on the upper floors. Windows are blown out. Structural impacts are visible.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

The regime is keenly aware of Iran’s fervent nationalism and has tried to marry its Islamist ideology to Iran’s pre-Islamic past.

Below is one such example. @POTUS “execution” is juxtaposed against pics of Iran’s ancient ruins and the concept of the Paladin, Iran’s savior.

[Ghoncheh Habibiazad | غنچه @GhonchehAzad]

A show in Tehran featuring a live performer acting as US President Donald Trump in prison ended last night during a pro-establishment rally, with the performer acting out an execution at the end of the show. Pro-nationalist signs were also featured at the end of the performance.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Watch as Tehran’s focus shifts from Trump to Rubio as the target of regime’s next smear campaign thru Iran Expert Initiative. 👇🏻

While Vance denounces the Iran war and even avoids the use of the term, @SecRubio has doubled down on a muscular fp and eliminating threats abroad.

[Kasra Aarabi @KasraAarabi]

All signs indicate that the Iranian regime has launched a new information operation through the Iran Lobby. The goal is to capitalise on the midterm election results and shape U.S. public opinion and policy to secure maximum concessions from Washington for Tehran. There is precedent for this, as exposed by Iran International and Senator 👇 https://t.co/Hx7ukAwaF6

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Farah Pahlavi, the Shahbanoo of Iran may have been right.

During Ahmadinejad's presidency (2005–2013), she lamented that had the West condemned Tehran's human rights abuses instead of focusing on its nukes, the regime would have been ostracized and in trouble.

Today, it continues to act with impunity.

[National Union for Democracy in Iran @NUFDIran]

This morning, the Islamic Republic executed two more young protesters, Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, at age 20.

Maleki and Ebrahimi are the most recent defendants in the sham "Alikhani Square" case to be executed, following forced confessions. 12 people were sentenced in this single trial.

Regime forces reportedly put Maleki through a mock hanging after he retracted a forced confession.

10 months after the regime massacred tens of thousands on the streets, it continues to do so behind closed doors.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

On the bottom of the screen “We will kill Trump.” This is a football match between two teams in Iran, widely watched family events. Generations, grandparents, parents and children watching together.
Revenge and hatred had always driven the regime. But let’s make a deal with it.

[Behnam Ben Taleblu بهنام بن طالب لو @therealBehnamBT]

“Hostage of Iran.”

That’s how hardline Tehran daily Farhikhtehgan celebrated the Democratic House and Senate sweep against the GOP and Trump last night.

It also pictured Trump as a hostage in a poignant reminder that exactly 47 years ago today, radical revolutionary students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took over 50 US diplomats hostage for 444 days.

The paper went on to brag, “47 years after the historic triumph of seizing the “Den of Espionage” and determiningthe course of American domestic policy in Iran, the fate of the U.S. elections is once again being decided in Tehran.”

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

جمهوری اسلامی، ماده شیمیاییِ ماندگارِ ژئوپلیتیک است که هرگز از بین نمی‌رود.

۴۷ سال پیش در چنین روزی، سفارت آمریکا را اشغال کرد و ۵۲ آمریکایی را به مدت ۴۴۴ روز گروگان گرف، بحرانی که به پایان یک دوره ریاست‌جمهوری کمک کرد.

۴۷ سال بعد، این بار به سقوط اکثریت کنگره برای یک رئیس‌جمهور دیگر کمک کرده است.

جهان تا چه زمانی دیگر باید مسموم شود؟

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

The Islamic Republic is the forever chemical of geopolitics.

47 years ago today it seized the US embassy and held 52 Americans for 444 days, helping end a presidency.

47 years later, it helped cost another president his Congress.

How much longer before the world is poisoned?

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Large imposing posters have been a staple of regime propaganda machine. They are meant to invade one’s space and remind the public that compared to the grandeur of the Islamic Revolution, the individual is “a speck of dust” to quote Ahmadinejad.

Below is one such ominous example, directed at the American audience. But the context is the same.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

@KiyarashN99 I wrote about my parents’ (and generations before them) experiences. Not my own.

To a very large degree the shared hardships of Iranian Jews prior to the Pahlavis haven’t been discussed. Nevertheless this was their reality.
It wasn’t the exception. I wish it were.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Antisemitism isn't just a European story.
My siblings and I grew up comfortably in Iran under the late Shah. My parents didn't. My father became a sprinter because he had to outrun thugs who stoned him on his way to school. He won many medals, and never stopped loving Iran. 🧵

[Clash Report @clashreport]

Iran’s FM Spox. Esmaeil Baghaei:

Antisemitism is a European phenomenon and has nothing to do with Iranian religion or civilization.

Across Iran, there are around 100 synagogues. Look at the tombs of Jewish prophets and prominent figures across the country.

Despite our all-out war with a regime that falsely claims to represent Jews, how many attacks on Jewish holy sites have we witnessed?

Even if there has rarely been an incident, it was dealt with immediately.

We should ask Europe what culture they have created, where Jewish cemeteries are attacked and synagogues must be surrounded by barbed wire or have their signs removed.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

@KiyarashN99 I lived in Iran until 1979 and never encountered any act of antisemitism.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

There are unfortunate clips of the late Shah on the internet that show him denouncing Jewish influence in banking and the media. There are also interviews where he ridicules the mental capacity of women.
The Shah was the product of 3 heritages: Persian Islamic and Western and the conflicting values colored his worldview.
On balance he was remarkably prescient and enlightened. His policies speak louder than his words.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Hi Vahid. My father was born in 1927. His school/high school years were in 1930s. Iran was still emerging from the backwardness of the decrepit Qajar dynasty and Reza Shah’s valiant efforts to curb the power of clergy were taking shape, but not fully realized.

I have no reason to lie. Iranian Jews love Iran and consider Iran their father and Israel their mother (or the other way around!) in the words of @aa51_ansari Read his excellent piece The Shallow Roots of War online.

History matters.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

I love that observation. Yes. To be an antisemite is to be anti-Iran and countries that have expelled their Jewish population have suffered cultural, societal, and economic degradation.

I did recognize the chivalry of Iranians in pushing back against the doctrine of Jew hate in the regime. Please read the replies and thank you for your interest.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

Thank you for your interest. Again this is about regime’s funded and focused efforts to spread hatred toward Jews and Israel as witnessed in the Hamas charter of 1988, the slogan of Houthis “damned be the Jews” and the barbaric massacres of October 7th.
But we can be respectful and disagree and I respect that.

[NazeeMoinian @NazeeMoinian]

The debate is not whether Iranian Jews inside Iran are safe. Aside from sporadic arrests and intimidations, mostly in Shiraz, they have been relatively left in peace; thanks to the chivalry of Iranian people themselves.

The danger is what the regime does to foment this hatred outside of its borders both ideationally and operationally.