"We are a great nation, we'll take Iran back" chanted in dozens of places across the country

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Wednesday, 26 Shahrivar 1404, September 17, 2025. Yesterday, 25 Shahrivar, the anniversary of the killing of Mahsa Amini and the start of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution, there were protest gatherings, chanting, and marches in dozens of places across the country. Last night, reports came in of protest gatherings and chanting in Gohardasht in Karaj, in Mashhad, and in Arak. Around Tehran and in Greater Tehran, in Shahrak-e Qods,

0:54 or Qaleh Hasan Khan, in Shahrak-e Chitgar, at Sadeghieh Square, as well as in Tehranpars and Haft Hoz in Narmak, and in many other places, people chanted from windows and rooftops or marched through the streets, either in silence or with chanting. The slogans most often chanted were "Death to the dictator," "Death to Khamenei," and "We are a great nation, we will take Iran back." In Qarchak Prison in Varamin, female political prisoners threw their headscarves and a hangman's noose into the fire last night, since

1:56 the "No to Execution Tuesdays" campaign, held every Tuesday, also fell on Tuesday yesterday, and in this way they commemorated the anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution. In Saqqez, Mahsa Amini's hometown, bazaar merchants and shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and went on strike yesterday despite the regime's threats and security pressure. Out of fear, the regime had blocked all roads to the Saqqez cemetery, Mahsa Amini's resting place, and it also created a security atmosphere in dozens of other cities. For example, in Tehran, forces were stationed at the Vali-e Asr intersection, and in Neyshabur, Qazvin, Shiraz, Tabriz, Kermanshah, and

2:56 many other places, the regime had imposed a heavy security atmosphere in advance out of fear of popular protests. Interestingly, yesterday, on Mahsa's anniversary, Kayhan newspaper, which is published under the supervision of Mr. Khamenei with his appointee Mr. Hossein Shariatmadari as managing director, or better said, the Kremlin's spokesman, quoted Mohammad Reza Naqdi, who was at one time a commander of the police force, the Basij, and so on, and is one of the regime's executioners now active as a deputy in the IRGC. It wrote that he had said Mahsa Amini had actually been poisoned by her own cousin. Interestingly, it was a lie that did not last even half an hour

4:00 before Amjad Amini, Mahsa's father, wrote that Mahsa had no such cousin at all. Why tell a lie that will be exposed in less than half an hour? In any case, all these events show the desperation of the regime and the fear of regime officials, and how terrified they actually are of the people's movements and protests. On Mahsa's anniversary, HRANA, the human rights news agency, stated in a report that in 1401 [2022], during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, 552 people were killed and 34,000 people were detained.

4:55 The regime has executed 12 of those arrested, and 8 more are still awaiting execution. The Iran Human Rights organization has also stated that since 1401 the Islamic Republic's execution machine has executed 291 people, and in the current year alone, since the start of the year, 975 people have been handed over to firing squads. The Iranian Writers' Association has also stated in a declaration that the unbroken cycle of executions and killings that began in the 1980s, and

5:48 continued through the summer of 1988 and the massacre of political prisoners, has gone on to this day, and that there are currently 50 political prisoners sentenced to death. The Association has called for the unconditional release of all political prisoners. Interestingly, at dawn today, Wednesday, Babak Shahbazi, a young, well actually middle-aged, man with a wife and children who worked as an air-cooler repairman, was executed on charges of spying for Israel. Apparently the basis of the charge is that while repairing the coolers and cooling equipment of some government buildings, he passed information to Israel,

6:42 something he repeatedly denied, and they tried to extract a confession from him under severe torture. But it seems the real reason is that he had written a letter to Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, declaring himself ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians on the front lines against Russian aggression. It seems that Russia's dominance over the country's judiciary and security apparatus is such that they try to suppress even statements like this against Russia or in support of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations held an extraordinary session of its general assembly yesterday,

7:43 and government agents raided the meeting and arrested everyone present. After a few hours, they confiscated their mobile phones and belongings and released them all, except Masoud Farhikhteh, a teachers' union activist, who is still in detention. Samineh Baghcheban passed away today at the age of 97. The author of several children's books, she was one of the founders of education centers for hard-of-hearing and deaf children in Iran, and the daughter of Jabbar Baghcheban, who was in fact the founder of deaf education in Iran.

8:43 Samineh Baghcheban's lifetime of service to these children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and her tireless work in such a humane cause, deserve every recognition. She graduated in English from Tehran Teachers' College and studied the education of such children and communication with deaf children at Columbia University in New York, and she dedicated her entire life to this work. Her funeral procession will take place tomorrow in front of the Baghcheban School.

9:41 But the good news is that France has selected "A Simple Accident," the film by the courageous Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival this year, as French cinema's entry for the 2026 Oscars. In a statement, France said that the Iranian regime, which did not even permit the film to be made or screened, would certainly not submit it to the Oscars on Iran's behalf, and since under Oscar rules a film must be submitted by a country in order to

10:35 compete in the Oscars' international category, France said: we have taken on this task, in hope of the victory of Iran and the Iranian people.