Syria arrests IRGC-linked militia leader for drug, antiquities smuggling

Alinejad received the invitation in mid-January this year.

She also attended the conference last year, where she met with several European politicians and activists, urged the designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organization in Europe and highlighted human rights abuses in Iran.

Iranian exiled prince Reza Pahlavi has also been invited to the conference. Earlier, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) told Iran International that Reza Pahlavi's invitation has been maintained, after the exiled prince accused Germany of interfering to block his participation.

Pahlavi took to X to confirm that the MSC had told him his invitation remains in place.

"This conference, like all public engagements, was always about my compatriots and having their voices heard on the world stage. So I will go with a message from the Iranian people: our fight is not just to free Iran, but the world, from the terror and blackmail of the Islamic Republic," Pahlavi wrote.

"We can confirm that the invitation to Mr. Pahlavi to the MSC 2025 will be maintained," an MSC spokesperson wrote in an email to Iran International.

"As in the past, the voices of Iranian civil society and opposition will be represented at MSC 2025," the spokesperson added.

Pahlavi said in a post on X on Thursday that the German Foreign Ministry had blocked his participation in the annual security conference.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Iran International this week that Christoph Heusgen, the Chairman of the MSC, initially extended the invitation to Pahlavi on January 17, but retracted it about two weeks later under pressure from the German Foreign Ministry.

Berlin's concern about bilateral ties with Tehran

On Thursday, the German Foreign Ministry told journalists that it had no role in the withdrawal of the invitation to Prince Reza Pahlavi.

A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson also told Iran International that "the Munich Security Conference decides independently on its invitations," without offering any further details.

However, an informed source told Iran International the German Foreign Ministry had asked the organizers of the Munich Security Conference to withdraw the invitation, as it believed it would harm its relations with the Islamic Republic.

"The German government was concerned that inviting Prince Pahlavi could endanger the situation of German dual-national prisoners in Iran," the source added.

Pahlavi took to X on Friday to confirm that the MSC had told him his invitation remains in place.

"This conference, like all public engagements, was always about my compatriots and having their voices heard on the world stage. So I will go with a message from the Iranian people: our fight is not just to free Iran, but the world, from the terror and blackmail of the Islamic Republic," Pahlavi wrote.

No invitation for Iran officials

The German news website Zeit cited a conference spokesman saying that the Iranian government has not received an invitation "at this point in time".

The conference did not invite any officials from the Islamic Republic in 2023. However, Iranian diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif—now Iran's vice president—was a regular invitee when he served as Tehran's foreign minister.

The conference, which is scheduled to begin later in February, has previously welcomed speakers that have criticized the Iranian government.

According to a list of invitees to the Munich Security Conference seen by Iran International, political activist Masih Alinejad has also been invited to the conference.

Pressure continues

The Munich Security Conference was also under pressure in 2023 to withdraw its invitation to Reza Pahlavi, Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in an interview with Aasoo website last year.

"A few days before the Munich conference, one of the organizers—who used to be my student at Georgetown—told me they were under pressure to revoke Reza Pahlavi's invitation," Sadjadpour added.

"He said leftist groups in Germany opposed his presence, and even the German embassy in Tehran had called, warning that if Reza Pahlavi was given a platform, regime hardliners might attack the embassy."

Hamid Aboutalebi, a political adviser to Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani urged President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to seize the opportunity for comprehensive negotiations with the Trump administration.

Amid the usual rhetoric and slogans repeated by various Iranian politicians following Trump's remarks, Aboutalebi’s comments stood out as more novel and pragmatic.

Referring to Trump's mooted openness to talks with his political counterpart, Aboutalebi suggested in a post on X that the Iranian president should call Trump to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Trump offered to speak his Iranian counterpart after issuing a memorandum this week ramping up sanctions under a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.

Iran's president on Wednesday played down the memorandum aimed at reducing Tehran's oil exports to zero but offered no reaction after Trump said he was willing to speak with his Iranian counterpart.

Aboutalebi warned Araghchi that potentially renewed United Nations sanctions could devastate an already struggling economy and accused the foreign minister of sapping the government's will for talks with intransigent statements.

"Despite claims to the contrary, Pezeshkian's lack of urgency suggests he has sidelined foreign policy and the issue of lifting sanctions," he wrote.

"At the same time, your opposition to negotiations, your warnings to officials who support diplomacy, and your dismissive attitude toward President Trump have only contributed to Pezeshkian's indifference."

Araghchi’s recent public comments have been interpreted by some media outlets in Tehran as unhelpful and dismissive toward opening talks with President Trump.

Aboutalebi was appointed as Iran's ambassador to the UN delegation in New York in 2013, but the United States denied him a visa, citing his alleged involvement in the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran.

Despite his alleged role in the embassy seizure, Aboutalebi later emerged as a moderate politician by the theocracy's standards and served as the political deputy to Rouhani's chief of staff.

Aboutalebi praised the approach taken by Mexican and Canadian officials in responding to Trump's executive order on tariffs, noting that "while Trump took a hardline approach by issuing executive orders against America's allies in Canada and Mexico, he opted for a much softer measure with Iran by issuing an executive memorandum."

He suggested Iran could adopt a similar strategy to ease tensions with the United States, which may worsen once the US government steps up sanctions.

Sadegh Zibakalam, a public intellectual and vocal critic of Tehran hardliners, published an essay asking what Iran has gained with 46 years of confrontation with the United States.

“No one is suggesting, nor does anyone even consider, that we should become subservient to the United States, blindly accepting whatever they dictate and becoming dependent on them," Zibakalam argued.

"This is a completely incorrect interpretation. Rather, the goal is to ease tensions and conflicts and move toward an environment of engagement.”

Still, government officials appeared in no rush to bless the idea of talks.

Vice President Mohammad Aref said Wednesday, "Talks between Pezeshkian and Trump are not on the agenda of the Islamic Republic."

Meanwhile, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani offered little more than a reiteration of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy principles: dignity, wisdom, and prudence—whatever those may entail.

The vessel, called the Martyr Bahman Baqeri, could mark an advance in the Islamic Republic's ability to project force in the strategic waterway through which much of the world's energy exports pass and beyond.

"The addition of this warship to the IRGC Navy fleet is a significant step in increasing Iran’s defensive and deterrent capabilities in distant waters and securing the country’s national interests," said Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC navy.

General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said the vessel would help assure the country of "decisive victory" should conflict be imposed upon it.

"Development and progress on the coasts, islands, across the country, and at sea requires protection against the greed and threats of foreigners and enemies of this nation, and the armed forces bear this heavy responsibility.”

A joint statement by the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urging Iran to relinquish control of three islands in the Persian Gulf Iran has possessed since 1971 stoked outrage in Tehran.

IRGC vessels have taken control of several ships traveling in the waterway in recent years as tensions over US-led sanctions have simmered.

Iran has been conducting multiple military exercises in recent weeks to project strength following months of punishing military blows by Israel.

The maneuvers include air defense drills near nuclear sites including Natanz and a 110,000-strong mobilization in Tehran of Basij militiamen who have repeatedly quashed protest uprisings which threatened clerical rule.

"I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens,” ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED," Trump said.

Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, but Israel has long contended Tehran wants a bomb and that its arch-enemy poses an existential threat.

Long opposed to foreign wars, Trump has nevertheless adopted a hard line on Iran, saying that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon but also maintaining that Washington should not pursue regime change.

"I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!" he added in the post on his Truth Social platform.

In the White House Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump signed a directive reviving the maximum pressure policy on Iran from his first term aimed at driving the Islamic Republic's oil exports to zero, adding he was reluctant and preferred to make a deal.

Trump said last month that he hoped a deal over Iran's nuclear program would make it so that the United States did not have to support an Israeli attack on Iran.

Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office whether he would support Israel striking Iran's nuclear facilities, Trump said: "Obviously, I'm not going to answer that question."

"It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step ... Iran hopefully will make a deal, and if they don't make a deal, I guess that's okay too."