{"id":613505,"date":"2026-09-12T04:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/613505\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T04:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T04:34:20","slug":"irans-regime-is-dying-from-within-journalist-negar-mojtahedi-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/613505\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s regime is dying from within, journalist Negar Mojtahedi says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The channel she works for, Iran International, is an independent broadcast and digital news service based in London that provides extensive coverage of the war, state violence, and human rights violations in Iran in both the Persian language and in English.<\/p>\n

The channel has been criticized by the regime and often reports under significant personal risk to Mojtahedi and her colleagues. International media and journalists follow its reports closely and rely on it for news about developments in Iran and the region.<\/p>\n

The following is a conversation with Mojtahedi, edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n

\"NegarNegar Mojtahedi is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker. (credit: KYRANI KANAVAROS)Why has Iran International become so important in recent years?<\/p>\n

What makes Iran International so important is that we amplify voices from inside Iran without the regime\u2019s filters.<\/p>\n

Reporters here work under extraordinary danger, risking imprisonment or even execution. Many colleagues were forced into exile simply for reporting the truth, but they remain deeply connected to sources inside Iran.<\/p>\n

We saw this after the killing of Mahsa Amini, which ignited the Woman, Life, Freedom movement<\/a>. Courageous female journalists helped expose the truth and were imprisoned for it.<\/p>\n

Western media too often rely on Iranian state-controlled sources<\/a>. Iran International provides something different: independent reporting that gives viewers a much clearer picture of what is happening on the ground.<\/p>\n

What is the current state of the Iranian people?<\/p>\n

Life is extremely difficult, beginning with the economy. Inflation is almost World War II-like. Prices for cooking oil, chicken, meat, bread, and other essentials have risen 400% to 500%.<\/p>\n

Iran is losing its middle class, which is essential to sustaining a democracy. The regime-connected wealthy<\/a> get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class is pushed downward. People are even surviving on lower-calorie diets.<\/p>\n

Despite decades of sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement, Iranians were not previously impoverished like this. This is a new phase.<\/p>\n

Do you think Western media provide accurate coverage of what is happening in Iran?<\/p>\n

When Western journalists operate inside Iran under the regime\u2019s restrictions, with handlers nearby and people afraid to speak freely, viewers need to understand that context. Otherwise, you risk presenting regime propaganda as legitimate journalism.<\/p>\n

I see the same problem with coverage of executions. A headline might say, \u201cIranian teen accused of killing a police officer is hanged,\u201d but that implies a legitimate judicial process. A former UN prosecutor I interviewed described these executions as murders. There is no due process, often no credible evidence, and defendants may be tortured into false confessions and denied legal counsel.<\/p>\n

When Reuters, NBC, BBC, or others repeat the regime\u2019s accusations without explaining these realities, they aren\u2019t giving audiences the full story \u2013 they\u2019re amplifying the regime\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n

Do Iranians feel betrayed by US President Donald Trump, after he failed to provide the support they expected?<\/p>\n

Some definitely do. It\u2019s heartbreaking when Iranians hear Trump speak positively about dealing with the regime or JD Vance say it was \u201ccool\u201d talking to Iranian officials.<\/p>\n

They felt betrayed by president [Barack] Obama during the Green Movement, and now some see that pattern repeating. They thought Trump would be different because he was so vocal.<\/p>\n

The killing of supreme leader [Ali] Khamenei helped, but the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] remains in power and is even harsher.<\/p>\n

\"YearsYears after the Woman, Life, Freedom movement erupted, acts of defiance by Iranian women continue to challenge the authority of the Islamic Republic. (credit: JOHN WESSELS\/AFP via Getty Images)What is preventing a successful national uprising?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s everything: coordination, planning, unity, resources, and foreign support. If you want the bazaaris to strike, there needs to be a strike fund so families can survive.<\/p>\n

During the 1979 revolution, very different forces united against the shah. Today, Iranians again need unity across ethnic, political, and ideological lines.<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t US and Israeli strikes send a stronger message to the surviving\u00a0leadership?<\/p>\n

Because the attacks stopped. Israel was doing an amazing job attacking Basij military headquarters, and then it stopped. What message does that send?<\/p>\n

The key is breaking the regime\u2019s cohesion. After the January massacre, we did not see large numbers of IRGC members<\/a> say, \u201cI cannot kill my own people anymore.\u201d That\u2019s not a good sign.<\/p>\n

Despite the strikes, they still have underground facilities, missiles, and the ability to reconstitute. Their strategy is to wait out Trump. They believe time is on their side.<\/p>\n

Can a transactional American approach work with a regime whose overriding goal is survival?<\/p>\n

If they believe they can wait out Trump, they won\u2019t negotiate unless it helps them stay in power.<\/p>\n

Normal economic relations with America also threaten the Islamic Republic\u2019s identity, which was built around being anti-American and anti-Israel.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, the regime\u2019s strongest ideology is money and survival. They have spent 47 years building corrupt financial networks that benefit themselves, not the Iranian people.<\/p>\n

Do Iranians who oppose the regime still want US and Israeli strikes?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s complicated. When the strikes began and Khamenei was killed, people believed this might finally lead to regime change. Iranians thanked Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. People danced on balconies.<\/p>\n

But even if another war prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, that alone doesn\u2019t end the repression.<\/p>\n

What should the Iranian diaspora\u2019s role be?<\/p>\n

Many Iranians abroad would return and help rebuild. But there is tremendous infighting in the diaspora. There is unity about wanting change, but not about how to achieve it.<\/p>\n

The collapse of the Georgetown coalition during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement sent a terrible message. If we cannot form a coalition outside Iran, what does that tell people risking their lives inside?<\/p>\n

Still, I haven\u2019t lost faith, even though we don\u2019t have a Nelson Mandela figure.<\/p>\n

What gives you hope for Iran\u2019s future?<\/p>\n

The Iranian people.<\/p>\n

A mother whose 21-year-old medical-student daughter was killed in January stood publicly without a hijab and celebrated her daughter\u2019s life. She was saying: You killed my daughter, but you cannot control how I grieve or her memory.<\/p>\n

She may not consider herself an activist. But by rejecting how the Islamic Republic tells women to dress, mourn, and behave, she stands against everything the regime represents.<\/p>\n

That tells me the Islamic Republic is already dead. It\u2019s only a matter of time.\u25a0<\/p>\n

The writer is the director of the Middle East Political Information Network. He regularly briefs Congress and the State Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The channel she works for, Iran International, is an independent broadcast and digital news service based in London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,1037,87,125804,55,46,13810,47,43],"class_list":["post-613505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-interview","tag-iran","tag-iranian-protests","tag-islamic-republic","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem-report","tag-middle-east","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}