Row escalates between Germany and exiled Iranian prince over conference invite

The protest was called to demand an end to the incarceration of former prime minister and presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, held in their home since February 2011.

It was the first such public demonstration since the couple were effectively jailed alongside the other 2009 leader, former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi, who also rejected the results of Iran's election that year.

Marking the 14th anniversary of the day the house arrest began, several hundreds gathered in Tehran for a "silent rally" that had been called a couple of days earlier by dissident activist Rahim Ghomeishi, a 60-year-old former IRGC member and Iran-Iraq War veteran who had spent four years as a prisoner of war in Iraq.

Ghomeishi was detained on Wednesday along with two other activists who had backed his call to action, Akbar Danesh-Sararoudi and Naser Daneshfar.

Their social media campaign received backing from over 500 former IRGC members, war veterans, and their families, who joined a few thousand for the silent protest on Thursday, according to the organizers.

Shortly after, Iran's security forces who had been stationed in and around the announced location arrested dozens including known activists and ordinary citizens.

Crackdown, arrests, and intimidation

On Thursday, Ardshir Amir-Arjomand, a former Mousavi advisor and spokesman for the Iranian Green Movement’s Coordinating Council, claimed that security forces blocked several activists from leaving their homes to participate in the rally.

Ghomeishi had previously announced that he and other veterans planned to stage a peaceful, “silent” protest outside the main gate of Tehran University to oppose the continued house arrest of political figures and the imprisonment of activists.

He also insisted that the law allows citizens to protest peacefully whenever they wish, and authorities cannot deny this right to them under the pretext that the country is in “sensitive circumstances” or that the “enemy” may exploit their protests for its own propaganda purposes.

Ghomeishi also said the group had informed the Interior Ministry and “other official bodies” of the intention to hold a rally but had not heard back from them, assuming that there was no objection to the plan.

While Article 27 of Iran’s constitution technically allows peaceful assembly, authorities almost categorically deny permits for opposition protests, citing “sensitive circumstances” or the risk of “enemy propaganda” or ignore their permit requests. At the same time, pro-regime vigilante groups face no such restrictions.

Assembly permits are often denied to most political groups, effectively suppressing their protests. In contrast, hardliner vigilante groups are allowed to hold rallies freely, without authorization.

After Thursday's crackdown, Azar Mansouri, the head of the Reformist Front, protested in an X post.

He wrote: "Why do some people freely hold gatherings and meetings anywhere ... without permission, chant slogans against the president and his team, and have ironclad immunity, but another group, who happen to be veterans of the country, are arrested before holding a peaceful gathering?"

Information received from Iranians on the ground by Iran International TV on Thursday and eyewitness reports on social media, described a heavy security presence on Enghelab Avenue and around Tehran University hours before the planned demonstration. Videos showed police cars and vans lining the streets.

One witness told Iran International that around 1,000 uniformed officers—including both male and female forces—were stationed near the university, along with nearly as many plainclothes agents. Officers stopped and searched people, checking their phones for footage.

Iran International has learned that the government’s Information office instructed local media and journalists not to report on the crackdown.

In addition to the initial arrests, several university students and Saeed and Saeedeh Montazeri—children of the late dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri— and Hossein Loghmanian, a former lawmaker and also a war veteran, were detained when they attempted to join the rally.

The case has gained international attention. Back in 2017, the US State Department said of the pair's house arrest: "Their continued house arrest contradicts Iran’s international obligations including those under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, to provide minimum fair trial guarantees and not to subject citizens to arbitrary arrest or detention.

"We join the international community in condemning the continued arbitrary detention of these three individuals without charges or fair trials and in calling for their immediate release."

“The issues of Middle East settlement, Iran's nuclear program, and bilateral economic relations between Russia and the United States were also brought up during the conversation,” said the Kremlin in a statement.

The conversation also touched on the Ukraine crisis and a prisoner exchange agreement between the Washington and Moscow.

Their call hinted at future in-person meetings, potentially in Saudi Arabia. Trump suggested the summit could address broader issues, including Iran and Ukraine.

It is a turnaround after Russia's envoy in Tehran had said a day earlier that Western countries are attempting to sideline Russia and China in discussions about Iran's nuclear program due to their close relations with Tehran.

“The Russian Federation has been in this format (P5+1) from the very beginning. And, naturally, we expect that the relevant negotiations will continue in this format, since we have information that, unfortunately, Western countries are trying to wean Russia and China from this process.”

Russia continues to play a pivotal role in Iran's nuclear infrastructure, leading initiatives such as the expansion of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.

A key focus of the call was Ukraine. As reported by Reuters, following over an hour of conversation with Putin, Trump said that the Russian leader, who initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expressed a desire to end the war.

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani emphasized the need for a clear policy shift: “There are positive messages, but we want these positive messages to turn into a clear policy that makes the Syrian people feel reassured.”

The Syrian conflict, which erupted in 2011, saw Iran and Russia back Assad militarily, enabling him to hold power until a rebel offensive forced his exile to Moscow late last year.

The transitional government that replaced him faces the challenge of navigating relations with former allies. “There are wounds among the Syrian people and there is pain that the Syrian people have suffered at the hands of these two countries,” Shibani added.

Russia aims to maintain its naval and air bases in Syria, with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov meeting Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus last month.

Meanwhile, Iran, which once supported Assad and had a formidable military presence the country, has begun communicating directly with Syria’s new leadership.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters in December that Tehran had opened a direct line of communication with Syria's new leadership.

However, Tehran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s December call for Syrian youth to resist their new rulers has raised tensions. Shibani warned, “Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty and security.”

Syria’s war devastated the nation, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. Iran withdrew in December after the rebel victory, marking a significant setback for Tehran’s regional influence.

“The Russian Federation has been in this format (P5+1) from the very beginning. And, naturally, we expect that the relevant negotiations will continue in this format, since we have information that, unfortunately, Western countries are trying to wean Russia and China from this process.

"Without Russia and China, such negotiations will never achieve their goal and will not be productive," Alexey Dedov said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Dedov's comments come amid a period of diplomatic impasse concerning the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a pact that fell apart after the United States withdrew from it in 2018 under President Donald Trump.

Attempts to revive the agreement have stalled following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has intensified geopolitical tensions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected the chance of holding negotiations with the US this week as President Donald Trump reinstated his maximum pressure policy.

Russia remains a critical partner in Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, spearheading projects such as the expansion of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.

Dedov said that Moscow and Tehran are working to complete the plant's second and third units, an initiative he described as vital to addressing Iran’s energy challenges.

The ambassador also spoke about the relationships between the two countries, referencing a recently signed strategic partnership treaty designed to enhance collaboration in various areas.

Tehran and Moscow first established a long-term agreement in March 2001, known as the Treaty on the Foundation of Mutual Relations and the Principles of Cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation Act. The initial treaty was valid for a decade and was later renewed twice, each for an additional five years.

Even though there have been talks of a new agreement since 2020, no updated treaty has been completed.

Iran and Russia have faced criticism, with Iranian analysts expressing doubts about Moscow's dependability.

Ataollah Mohajerani, a former government official, previously cautioned in Etemad newspaper that Russia could forsake Iran if it served its own interests.

Despite external pressures and internal doubts, both countries are advancing their joint initiatives, such as the North-South International Transport Corridor, which aims to improve trade routes linking Russia to the Persian Gulf.

Held outside the Parliament on Sunday, the latest such rally featured chants against President Masoud Pezeshkian and members of his administration, particularly his strategic deputy, Javad Zarif, whom the vigilantes demanded be removed from office.

Known as the “People of the Party of God” (Ummat-e hezbollah), vigilante groups in Iran are closely aligned with ultra-hardliner factions such as the Paydari Party and the Basij militia of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The Paydari Party has close ties to former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, whom they supported in the snap presidential elections after the death of incumbent President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.

Critics argue that authorities provide these groups privileges denied to other political organizations.

The moderate conservative Fararu news website criticized the rally, noting in a report on Monday that the freedom of assembly granted to these vigilantes is particularly striking.

“Freedom of speech [and assembly] is a blessed thing and an understandable [right] but only when it exists for all activists,” the piece on the site read.

Vigilantes protesting outside the Parliament on Sunday

Their protests also targeted Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei and Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, accusing them of failing to enforce stricter hijab regulations and tighter internet filtering.

In their most recent rallies, these vigilantes, who have significantly dwindled in number in recent years, continued to demand a missile strike against Israel in response to its October attack on Iran's military facilities.

While the Iranian constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly under Article 27—requiring gatherings to be unarmed and in accordance with Islamic principles—political parties and groups are still prohibited from freely assembling in public spaces.

Female vigilantes protesting outside the Parliament for hijab enforcement on January 11

Assembly permits are often denied to most political groups, effectively suppressing their protests. In contrast, vigilante groups are allowed to hold rallies freely, without authorization, and often accuse rival political figures of treason or insufficient religious piety.

Unlike vigilantes, activists and citizens who attempt to hold rallies or protests are typically met with harsh dispersal or arrest by police and security forces for "illegal assembly."

In December, an Interior Ministry official warned ultra-hardliners and their affiliated vigilante groups of serious consequences if they continued to disrupt societal harmony with their protests against the President's new, more progressive policies.

On Sunday, the Ministry's Director General for Political Affairs reiterated the need for rally permits, but as in previous instances, no action has been taken against the vigilantes' illegal demonstrations in recent days.

Despite their shrinking numbers—Sunday’s rally reportedly attracted fewer than 100 participants—vigilante gatherings continue to garner significant media attention.

Speeches at the rally included one by Morteza Agha-Tehrani, a member of the Central Council of the Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and a member of Parliament's Cultural Committee.

Agha-Tehrani said that enforcing the hijab law shelved for the time being by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) to avoid unrest, would ultimately “bring security.”