Legal case filed over ‘assassination’ comment from ex-president Rafsanjani's daughter

Witnesses said police, Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards manned checkpoints and turned people back from access routes in Fars province.

Iran has long declined to recognize Cyrus Day in its official calendar, and has in past years restricted access to Pasargadae and, at times, Persepolis to discourage large gatherings around the Achaemenid-era sites.

Security curbs around the October 28-31 anniversary -- linked by some accounts to Cyrus’s entry into Babylon in 539 BCE -- have become routine since large crowds rallied at the tomb in 2016.

The latest closures came amid renewed public debate inside Iran over how to commemorate pre-Islamic heritage.

Ghader Ashna, secretary of the Public Culture Council at the culture ministry, told the ISNA news agency that over the past year no formal request had reached his body to add “Cyrus Day” to the national calendar, but said any proposal would be reviewed by a dedicated working group and the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

Separately, ISNA quoted cultural scholar Bahman Namvar-Motlagh as saying that honoring Cyrus did not contradict Iran’s Islamic identity and could help bolster social cohesion if handled without “excess or confrontation.”

He framed interest in Cyrus among younger Iranians as part of a broader search for common symbols of national unity in a tense regional environment.

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Rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi marked the day with a message on Instagram describing Cyrus as a “cultural symbol” associated with tolerance and justice, and contrasted that legacy with Iran’s record on political freedoms and capital punishment.

Exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, told supporters at a Toronto event earlier this month that a future post-Islamic Republic order should elevate the 2020 Abraham Accords into what he called “Cyrus Accords,” recasting Iran as a promoter of regional peace rather than conflict.

Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, is widely cited in Iran’s schools and popular culture as a touchstone of nationhood. The Pasargadae site and Persepolis -- both UNESCO-listed -- draw steady domestic and foreign tourism, though access has at times been restricted on sensitive dates.

In 2024, heritage outlets connected to the state reported fencing and concrete barriers on the road to Pasargadae ahead of the October commemorations.

Iranian scientists and officials have separately warned that land subsidence from groundwater over-extraction is emerging as a long-term threat to several heritage sites, including areas around Persepolis and the Tomb of Cyrus.

Geologists cited this month reported cracks and surface fissures in Fars and other provinces, saying cumulative deformation could damage historic fabric over years if water withdrawals are not curbed.

Cyrus Day is not an official holiday, but diaspora communities and some Iranians at home mark it annually with cultural events and online campaigns.

The Islamic Republic’s leadership has historically promoted an Islamic “ummah” identity and has sometimes viewed mass gatherings at pre-Islamic monuments as politically sensitive, especially amid periodic anti-government protests.

Iranian state bodies did not immediately issue a statement on Wednesday’s access limits in Fars.

Former President Hassan Rouhani is being targeted by hardline lawmakers, Revolutionary Guards commanders, and state-aligned media outlets. Even figures close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appear to have joined the quiet campaign to sideline him.

Although social media sentiment leans in Rouhani’s favor, visible public support is absent. The only voices defending him belong to former aides, not the broader population.

Much of the hostility stems from Rouhani’s recent remarks implicitly criticizing Tehran’s foreign policy—particularly the so-called “Look East” doctrine—and his renewed public presence since the 12-day war, which has coincided with Khamenei’s retreat from the spotlight.

Many in Tehran believe Rouhani is positioning himself for a potential role in the power vacuum that could follow the soon-to-be 87-year-old leader.

History with the Guards

In the past week, former IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, ex-security chief Ali Shamkhani, and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf—himself a former Guards general—have all publicly attacked Rouhani.

His uneasy relationship with the Revolutionary Guards dates back to his presidency.

In December 2014, he described the IRGC as “a government with guns, media outlets, prisons, its own intelligence agency, and substantial economic resources,” warning that such concentrated power could breed corruption.

The backlash was swift. Rouhani’s brother was accused of financial misconduct, tried, and imprisoned—though often seen outside prison—damaging the president’s credibility.

Old rivalries reignited

Rouhani defeated conservative and hardline candidates in both the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections with sharp rhetoric, and his opponents never forgave him.

Ghalibaf was among the contenders on both occasions.

First, he was humiliated during televised debates when Rouhani accused him of taking campaign funds from drug traffickers and backing the violent suppression of student protests in 1999. Then, in 2017, Ghalibaf was pressured by hardliners to withdraw from the race to boost Ebrahim Raisi’s chances—a strategy that failed.

That old hostility is now resurfacing in parliament, where Ghalibaf has taken the lead in attacks on Rouhani. He has been more measured in tone, but ultraconservatives appear to have taken the cue.

On October 26, hardline MPs Amir Hossein Sabeti and Hamid Rasai called for Rouhani’s trial and imprisonment.

While such demands aren’t new, Sabeti went further, claiming Rouhani is positioning himself for a “higher role”—a thinly veiled reference to his rumored ambition to become Iran’s next Supreme Leader.

A potential contender?

Rouhani remains a singular figure among Iran’s clerics: he holds genuine academic credentials, speaks with eloquence, and has a revolutionary pedigree.

Few clerics can match his combination of seniority and stature.

It’s not hard to see why Khamenei and his son Mojtaba—whose name is heard more than any other in succession chatter—would like Rouhani weakened.

There’s no evidence that the leader’s office is involved in what appears to be a concerted attack on Rouhani, but Khamenei once publicly rebuked him after the former president called for a referendum to restore presidential powers.

Fall from grace

Rouhani’s main liability is his loss of public trust.

He misled the nation about the IRGC’s missile strike on a civilian airliner in 2020 and authorized the violent suppression of peaceful protests in 2019.

Stylistically, he models himself after Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, the former chief justice killed in a 1981 bombing.

Always impeccably dressed, with a neatly groomed salt-and-pepper beard, he projects discipline and control—and is perhaps the only senior figure in the moderate camp who can claim a serious security record.

As pressure mounts, many in Tehran wonder whether this campaign against Rouhani will end well—for him or for the system.

His situation recalls the parable of a man falling from a high-rise building. When asked how things were going halfway down, he replied, “So far, so good.”

Centering around the Islamic veil which conservatives view as a sacrosanct symbol of Iran's Islamic identity which they are empowered to force on society, the dispute exposes deepening cultural and political rifts inside the country.

The image, which was intended to represent the alleged victim symbolically, drew ire from conservative elements who accused the newspaper of allegedly insulting Islamic values and undermining the hijab.

State TV presenter Mohammad-Reza Shahbazi harshly criticized the choice, saying, “Virtuous and veiled women are pure from the filth you wallow in day and night, which sometimes reeks like this (rape case). Put up a picture of one of your own kind instead.”

Editor-in-chief Mohammad-Javad Rouh said the alleged victim did not wish to reveal her identity and that using an unveiled photo as a symbolic image was not possible under the Islamic Republic’s media restrictions.

Rouh rejected claims that the paper had targeted the hijab.

“We did not speak against the hijab, nor did we intend to create controversy,” Rouh said. He added that the newspaper had fulfilled its journalistic duty by interviewing both the complainant and the accused’s lawyer in what he called “a balanced, professional report.”

The hardline website Mashregh News claimed, citing an informed source, that Iran’s Press Supervisory Board had already issued three formal warnings to Ham-Mihan in recent months.

It alleged that one of the paper’s violations was serious enough to be referred to court and that “a judicial verdict is imminent," without elaborating.

Mashregh further accused the paper of intentionally publishing the rape case article by journalist Elaheh Mohammadi — who was imprisoned in 2022 for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini — shortly before a potential suspension.

“The behavior of Ham-Mihan’s managers in assigning a project to a journalist with a history of arrest for security issues, whose past reporting triggered one of the country’s deepest crises, is now under review,” the outlet wrote.

Hardliners on the offensive

State-aligned outlets quickly turned the incident into a political storm. The official Mehr news agency said Ham-Mihan had been taken down for “violating professional ethics.” Tasnim, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, accused the paper of “a deliberate insult to the traditions of a large portion of Iranian women.”

Online, conservative commentators called the newspaper’s decision immoral.

Filmmaker Mikail Diani claimed it showed “malice and an effort to create social division,” while Fatemeh Raygani, a philosophy researcher, wrote on X that the report had “polluted the symbol of the black chador with a story of (alleged) sexual assault.”

Not the first time

The closure of Ham-Mihan underscores the precarious position of moderate media in Iran, where professional reporting on sensitive social issues can quickly provoke accusations of immorality or political subversion, leaving editors and reporters under intense scrutiny from authorities and the public alike.

Ham-Mihan, run by Gholamhossein Karbaschi — a senior member of the centrist Executives of Construction Party and a former Tehran mayor — was relaunched in July 2022 after previous suspensions.

It has faced closure twice before, in 1999 and 2008. Since its relaunch in 2022, it has drawn scrutiny for its coverage of gender and social issues.

Karbaschi told Eco Iran a few days ago that several of his reporters were summoned and threatened by Revolutionary Guards intelligence agents after publishing a piece on challenges facing female heads of households.

“What threat can a newspaper with a circulation of one or two thousand pose to the state?” he asked.

The dispute comes amid intensifying pressure on Iran’s press. According to the Defense of Free Information organization (DeFFI), at least 95 journalists and outlets faced legal or security action in the first half of 2025, with six reporters temporarily detained and collective prison sentences exceeding 22 years.

Some observers believe the main reason for the action taken against Ham-Mihan was reporting the alleged rape case itself.

Veteran reformist columnist Ahmad Zeidabadi wrote: “In a country where you can’t even report on a private criminal case, what need is there for newspapers at all? State TV and Kayhan (which is funded by the Supreme Leader’s office) are enough.”

"The signing of a strategic agreement between Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a matter that pleases us," Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X.

"The Islamic world is in need of this brotherhood. And we no longer need speeches to resolve the region's issues, but rather action and cooperation," he added following a meeting with Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi in Tehran.

Larijani also praised Pakistan’s stance during a 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel, saying it “reflects a shared understanding of the region’s strategic realities.”

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a strategic defense agreement in September, pledging mutual protection in the event of external aggression.

Nuclear armed-Pakistan has one of the world's largest armies but lacks fellow Sunni state Muslim state Saudi Arabia's vast energy wealth.

Both countries have long been suspicious of the Shi'ite Muslim theocracy in Tehran, which they view as a competitor for regional influence.

Iran’s endorsement of the agreement signals a rare moment of apparent convergence amid deepening geopolitical faults in the Middle East.

Pakistan shares a 560-mile border with Iran, where both countries face persistent threats from armed groups operating in the frontier region, including cross-border militancy.

In January 2024, Iran and Pakistan exchanged missile and drone strikes targeting militant groups in one of the most serious military escalations between them in decades.

Despite the exchange, both sides moved quickly to de-escalate, activating diplomatic channels and emphasizing that the attacks aimed at non-state actors not each other’s governments.

Iraq's Ministry of Communications awarded no bid contracts to state conglomerate the Muhandis General Company and an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias the Popular Mobilization Front to maintain the national fiber-optic network, the Atlantic reported.

The business gives the groups the opportunity for illegal profiteering, the magazine cited Iraqi officials and telecoms industry officials as saying, adding that it could give Tehran or its allies the possible ability to surveil Iraqis.

The US Treasury sanctioned MGC this month, accusing it of being led by Iranian Revolutionary Guards-backed militia Kata’ib Hizballah and siphoning off revenues from government contracts.

As parliamentary polls loom early next month, the Iraqi government has championed vast construction projects after decades of violence following a 2003 US invasion.

But Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has cemented his position by folding Iran-aligned factions including militia leaders who helped win a national fight against Islamic militants into his economic and political fold.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week urged Baghdad to swiftly disarm Iran-backed militias in a phone call with al-Sudani, accusing the Shi'ite groups of diverting the Arab nation’s resources to Tehran’s benefit.

With this technical know-how, these militias or their Iranian backers could monitor civilian and government communications.

In a related development, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani sought to authorize a 5G mobile network contract for another consortium linked to the Popular Mobilization Front. A senior judge temporarily blocked the deal, citing national security risks, though legal experts say the suspension may not hold, The Atlantic reported.

Iran's former ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Tehran aims to foster resistance far and wide.

"Resistance is not a proxy force; it transcends time and place, meaning today's resistance is not confined to the geography and ideology of the Islamic world," Tasnim News cited Hossein Kazemi Qomi, former ambassador to Iraq, as saying in Tehran.

"Westerners claim that the resistance is a proxy network backed by Iran, while their claim is baseless, as what has shaped the resistance is religious and ideological identity along with shared threats," he added.

Iran's armed affiliates in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon have suffered blows from Israeli attacks. The armed Houthi movement in Israel and Iraqi militias stand out as Tehran's more intact allies.