Iran International
Tehran's crackdowns on media persist despite the state’s mounting political and economic troubles, with bans of various forms imposed on those who drifts beyond acceptable bounds.
The restrictive measures extend beyond censorship and judicial action to include barriers to income, careers, and public influence. Social media accounts may be deactivated, and work removed from distribution.
The latest example is Reza Rashidpour, a well-known former Iranian television presenter and talk-show host whose programs were taken off the air without explanation, allegedly due to his contributions to former President Hassan Rouhani’s 2017 campaign.
In a post on X addressed to President Masoud Pezeshkian, he claimed he has now been barred from using any platform to publish his work.
“They told me that I am banned from (any artistic) activity,” he wrote. “Five years have passed. The remaining will pass too. In a corner of my home, my homeland, I will sit and watch.”
Rashidpour is by no means an outsider. Securing a major show on the state broadcaster requires extensive vetting, loyalty checks, and alignment with institutional red lines. But falling out of favor can be just as swift.
‘Failed policy’
Yet few rush to defend figures like him—or many others who once thrived within the establishment but later became expendable. The public often sees them as insiders who benefited from the system until the system abruptly turned against them.
This pattern has long applied to artists, athletes, and even politicians; former President Mohammad Khatami’s years of deplatforming and enforced invisibility is a good example.
“Why does a policy that has been applied for decades in culture, media, and politics—and has repeatedly failed—continue to be used as a tool of control?” a commentary on moderate daily Rouydad 24 asked this week.
“Few actions draw more attention to a voice than the attempt to silence it,” the piece added.
Such bans are often unofficial but powerful. Over the years, many artists and athletes who supported popular protests or criticized the state have faced similar restrictions.
Actor, vocalist, footballer
Renowned actress Fatemeh Motamed-Aria was banned from working in the film industry after criticizing government policies and appearing without a headscarf at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, leading to previously completed films being blocked from release.
Classical music maestro Mohammad-Reza Shajarian was similarly sidelined after expressing sympathy with demonstrators in 2009—releasing the song Put Down Your Rifle, an apparent address to Iran’s security forces.
Legendary footballer Ali Daei faced restrictions after expressing support for popular protests in 2022. Authorities confiscated the passports of Daei and his family, and his jewelry shop and restaurant in Tehran were sealed.
Such restrictions could last for weeks or years, and are often lifted as opaquely as they were imposed, with no official charge of explanation.
Quiet crackdowns
Recent months have seen individuals abruptly cut off from their mobile phone numbers and pressured to shut down widely followed social-media accounts.
In August, media reports said authorities blocked the SIM card of journalist Saeedeh Shafiei, forcing her to deactivate her social-media accounts and sign a pledge to publish pro-government content in exchange for restoring service.
Battered by the June war and mounting economic and environmental crises, Tehran appears to be pulling back from some of its bluntest tools—only to replace them with quieter, more insidious methods of repression.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.