Iran news and discussion

[firestar464]

Iran's Ayatollah reportedly develops escape plan should regime collapse

https://thenationaldesk.com/top-videos/ ... ump-moscow

[firestar464]

[caltrek]

Son of Last Iranian Shah Asks Trump to Back Military Coup as Protests Rage
By Jake Johnson
January 12, 2026

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) The son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who brutally ruled Iran for decades with backing from the United States and other Western powers, has urged US President Donald Trump to intervene militarily and support the overthrow of the Iranian government amid an escalating protest movement that has faced violent repression.

“The people of Iran have responded and reacted positively to a promise of intervention,” Reza Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since the 1979 revolution and ouster of his father, said in a Fox News appearance on Sunday when asked if he wants US forces to “take out” Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

“We need to cut the snake’s head off for good so it can no longer be a threat to Iranian interests, to American interests, to regional interests,” said Pahlavi, who has been accused of opportunistically coopting the protest movement, which began late last month over the collapse of the nation’s currency. “The only solution is to make sure this regime goes down for good and the Iranian people can liberate themselves.”

Hours after Pahlavi’s comments, Trump told reporters that the US military is looking at “some very strong options” to intervene in Iran, a country whose nuclear facilities the Trump administration bombed last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Trump, fresh off his unlawful and deadly attack on Venezuela, is set to receive a briefing on Iran from top administration officials on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, the meeting “will be a discussion about the next steps, which could include boosting anti-government sources online, deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military and civilian sites, placing more sanctions on the regime, and military strikes.”

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/reza ... -protest

[wjfox]

WTF...

[caltrek]

You Might Not Like What Comes Next in Iran
By Daniel Block
January 15, 2026

Introduction:

(Politico) Iran’s repressive, clerical regime is fighting for its life. There are lots of reasons to hope that it collapses. The Islamic Republic is violent, corrupt and theocratic. It systematically discriminates against women and minorities, and its policies have led to economic disaster. When Iranians take to the streets to protest, the regime murders them. Little wonder, then, that everyone from Rep. President Donald Trump to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has indicated that they’d like to see the regime lose power. Trump is even considering military actions designed to make that happen. Surely, whatever comes next would be better.

Or would it?

For the last few days, I’ve been talking to people who know Iran well. They all support the protesters and oppose the current government. But they warn that anyone who expects Iran’s next regime to be democratic or peaceful may be very disappointed.

There are a few main scenarios for how the government could lose power. First, it could be deposed in a coup d’état carried out by existing officials who want to put a stop to the country’s political and economic crisis. Whatever system they set up next is unlikely to be free — coups rarely lead to democratic transitions.

Read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine ... -00729984


Edit: Removed the phrase "caltrek's comment:"

[firestar464]

no comment?

[wjfox]

[firestar464]

Probably gonna backfire into enraging people more due to increased economic suffering

[caltrek]

Iran’s Regime Has Survived War, Sanctions, and Uprising. Environmental Crises May Bring It Down.
By Katie Surma
January 14, 2026

Introduction:

(Grist) The anti government protests sweeping across Iran, from major cities to rural towns, are fueled by anger over economic collapse and political repression. But beneath the headlines of currency devaluations and street clashes lies a deeper, more permanent driver of dissent: ecological calamity.

Decades of ignoring scientists, persecuting activists and greenlighting corrupt development schemes have triggered a water crisis so severe that President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in November that Tehran’s residents may eventually have to evacuate the capital city, which is sinking as dried-up aquifers give way.

The devastation extends far beyond Tehran. Lake Urmia, once one of the world’s largest salt lakes, has shriveled to less than 10 percent of its volume, while the iconic Zayandeh River has sat dry for years. Wildfires have ravaged the parched Hyrcanian forests, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In the oil-rich Khuzestan province, home to Iran’s Arab minority, state-led water diversion has devastated the local economy and inflamed ethnic grievances.

Iranians, and many experts, blame the government, one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

Environmental issues tie “into all the other grievances that activists and citizens and protesters have over economic and political issues,” said Eric Lob, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Program and an associate professor at Florida International University. “It’s all interconnected.”

Read more here: https://grist.org/international/irans- ... it-down/

[firestar464]

[caltrek]

More background information on Reza Pahlavi:

https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of ... st-273423

[firestar464]

The biggest problem with him is his support for Western imperialism.

[firestar464]

The Days of the Iranian Regime Are Numbered

https://understandingwar.org/research/m ... -numbered/

[firestar464]

God, f*ck this company

[weatheriscool]

The Islamic Republic of Iran has reportedly chosen its new supreme leader.

According to Iran International, a Persian-language outlet based out of London, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was been selected for the role by the regime’s Assembly of Experts “under pressure from” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday.

Khamenei’s father perished in the initial wave of American and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets over the weekend. He had ruled the country with an iron fist since 1989, establishing a reputation for himself as one of the world’s most brutal dictators and his country as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

CNN had previously reported that the younger Khamenei “is known to wield significant influence behind the scenes and has strong links with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the most powerful military body in the country, as well as its Basij volunteer paramilitary force.”

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bre ... 10893.html