Iran International
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi could be on shaky ground, with reformists pressing for his replacement by former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, according to a prominent conservative commentator in Tehran.
Nasser Imani, a longtime contributor to the Supreme Leader-funded Kayhan newspaper, also hinted that Araghchi’s recent overtures on negotiations with the United States have received tacit approval from supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Tehran is in a tough spot, with the resumption of UN sanctions triggered by European powers weeks away barring an unlikely diplomatic breakthrough.
“Hardliners in Iran are constantly threatening to impeach Araghchi and put former President Hassan Rouhani on trial … while reformists are pressuring the government to replace Araghchi with Salehi,” moderate outlet Khabar Online quoted Imani as saying on September 16.
“When the Foreign Ministry is weakened, the shop window is broken,” he warned. “Everyone knows this—especially those gentlemen attacking Mr. Araghchi for wanting to negotiate with the Americans and the IAEA.
They know that the Foreign Ministry team and the government act in full coordination with the entirety of the governance.”
The phrase “entirety of the governance” is widely read as a euphemism for Khamenei himself—perhaps the first time a conservative insider has publicly suggested the Supreme Leader’s approval for talks with Washington.
Araghchi facing fire
Imani’s remarks appear designed to shield Iran’s top diplomat from hardliner attacks.
Araghchi, a graduate of Imam Sadeq University, has come under mounting pressure from hardliners, particularly in parliament, for his agreement with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on nuclear cooperation.
The deal sparked fierce backlash, with some MPs accusing him of defying legislation mandating withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ultraconservatives such as Hamid Rasai have even threatened to impeach him.
Araghchi, summoned to parliament, has tried to balance hardliner demands with what he frames as national interests, denying he had broken the law while still permitting IAEA access.
Salehi, by contrast, is a US-educated nuclear expert and MIT alumnus who remains a trusted Khamenei confidant despite his reformist leanings.
In the early 2010s, Khamenei tasked him with running a backchannel to Washington, separate from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Foreign Ministry, a track that ultimately paved the way for the 2015 nuclear deal.
Calls for talks with US
But Iran’s leadership may face even greater trouble abroad if it fails to strike a quick understanding.
Pressure is now mounting from Europe, where foreign ministers have tied continued sanctions relief to concrete steps on the nuclear file, warning that sanctions would be reimposed if Tehran fails to act in the coming days.
At home, moderates weary of the impasse are voicing impatience with the endless brinkmanship.
Former diplomat Javid Ghorbanoghlou urged readiness for “comprehensive negotiations with America,” while analyst Morteza Makki wrote in reformist daily Etemad that Tehran has decided to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog and that opposition from radicals had little bearing on key decisions.
He pointed out that both Araghchi’s meeting with parliament’s National Security Committee and a statement by the Supreme National Security Council confirmed the IAEA deal fell within the SNSC’s nuclear committee framework.
Beyond Mahsa Amini — the most internationally recognized martyr for the cause — the names of Nika Shakarami, Hadis Najafi, Sarina Esmailzadeh, Mohsen Shekari, Mohammad Hosseini and others have been engraved in the collective memory of Iranians who remember them affectionately by their first names.
Each represented a different facet of society: women demanding autonomy, teenagers daring to risk their futures, children like 10-year-old Kian Pirfalak killed by a stray bullet and young men executed for their solidarity with women's plight.
The spark: Mahsa "Jina" Amini
The protests began with the death of Mahsa "Jina" Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was arrested by Iran’s morality police on September 13, 2022, over the state’s mandatory hijab law.
She was critically injured in custody and died days later in the hospital.
Her name became a rallying cry, her image circulated widely on social media and protest banners across Iran and beyond. Amini's innocence and tragic death resonated deeply with ordinary Iranians, making her the most enduring icon of a movement that sought not just reform but a different future.
Nika Shakarami: the young rebel
Sixteen-year-old Nika Shakarami vanished after joining a Tehran protest in the early days of the uprising. A video captured her shortly before her disappearance, standing on a trash bin, burning her headscarf and chanting “Down with the dictator" with other protesters.
Ten days later, her body was returned to her family under suspicious circumstances. Authorities claimed she fell from a building. Her relatives disputed this, saying her nose was broken and she was beaten. A BBC World report in May 2024 alleged she was sexually assaulted and murdered.
Nika was known for her creativity and love of the arts — poetry, drawing, and music. She dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Outspoken and spirited, her short life of artistic aspiration and teenage defiance became a symbol of how ordinary young Iranians risked everything for freedom.
Hadis Najafi: 22-year-old TikToker
Hadis Najafi, 22, was shot multiple times in the face, neck, chest, abdomen and hand during a protest rally in Karaj in central Iran. Her family was pressured to announce she had died of natural causes.
Najafi frequently posted on TikTok and Instagram, sharing glimpses of her daily life. In a video recorded before she was killed, she said: “I like to think that when I look back on this a few years later, I’ll be pleased I joined the protest.”
Her mother told Iran International that Hadis joined the protests both to mourn Mahsa Amini and to oppose the theocracy's mandatory Islamic dress code for women. Before leaving home, Hadis said she hoped that years later when change comes to Iran she could look back and be glad she had taken part.
Sarina Esmailzadeh: freedom-loving teenager
Sixteen-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh from Karaj was a bright, curious teenager with broad interests. She loved cooking, K-pop music and making playful videos for her YouTube and TikTok channels.
She spoke candidly about justice and freedom. In one post she asked: “What can people expect from their own country? Welfare, welfare, welfare. Nothing else. Why am I not like that teenager in New York who doesn’t have to worry about the compulsory hijab or economic hardship?”
Her online presence, blending humor, music and political awareness, made her a powerful symbol of the courage and aspirations of Iran’s Gen Z.
Mehrshad Shahidi: a voice silenced too soon
Security forces beat 19-year-old chef Mehrshad Shahidi to death with batons at a Revolutionary Guards detention center in Arak, a day before his twentieth birthday in October 2022. Authorities pressured his family to say he died of a heart attack.
Thousands attended his funeral, chanting anti-government slogans. Mehrshad was already head chef at a local restaurant, studying hospitality at university, and a decorated athlete in gymnastics, volleyball, and swimming.
Authorities never tried those accused of his killing, instead threatening his family with destroying his grave — a site still visited by mourners — if they held public commemorations.
Shekari and Hosseini: death sentences for defiance
Mohsen Shekari, 23, and Mohammad Hosseini, 39, were among the first protesters executed after closed-door trials in late 2022 and early 2023. Their deaths, intended as deterrence, became instead rallying cries.
Shekari, a café worker and self-taught guitarist, was arrested during a Tehran protest. Hosseini, a martial arts champion working on a chicken farm, was arrested after attending the memorial for Hadis Najafi in Karaj, where security forces shot dead three protesters.
Shekari was arrested at a protest rally in the west of the capital. Hosseini was arrested a day after the crackdown on a remembrance ceremony for Hadis Najafi in Karaj during which three protesters were shot dead by security forces.
Both were accused of injuring Basij militia members. They denied the charges, and rights groups reported their televised confessions were extracted under torture.
Their executions underscored the movement’s human cost — ordinary men defying extraordinary repression and paying with their lives.
The Islamic Republic survived the Woman, Life, Freedom protests three years ago, but Iranian women’s defiance keeps reshaping society and their lives in irreversible ways.
After the crackdown, hardliners introduced new “hijab enforcement” bills and deployed surveillance cameras to identify unveiled women.
The laws remain on the books, but the persistent defiance of women—and men supporting them—has rendered them largely unenforceable.
“Looking back to three years ago, when the government seemed in total control, I wonder at the courage of those who left home to protest knowing they could be shot, arrested, blinded, or confined to a wheelchair for life,” said Shina, a 34-year-old artist in Tehran.
