The Fire Next Time, Αθήνα, TX (2025)

06/15/2025

Dozens of independent Iranian activists—including workers, teachers, political prisoners, environmentalists, and children’s rights defenders—have released an open letter supporting the global “March to Gaza.” Many of these signatories are currently imprisoned in Iran for their peaceful activism. Their statement is both a condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza and a call to action for global solidarity.

The statement begins by denouncing what the activists call the ongoing genocide in Gaza, carried out by the Israeli military with the backing of the United States, European powers, and complicit regional states. They also criticize the silence and hypocrisy of international institutions that have failed to act.

They describe the “March to Gaza”—which started on June 12 from Cairo and is moving toward the Rafah crossing—as a grassroots initiative coming from workers’ and progressive movements across the region. Thousands have already joined from Tunisia and other countries, demanding an end to the siege of Gaza.

https://firenexttime.net/txap

06/11/2025

Sepideh Qolian, a well-known labor activist, was released from Evin Prison on Wednesday, June 11 (21 Khordad), after serving more than two years in prison. The news of her release was shared by her brother on her Instagram page. Mehdi Qolian, while expressing sorrow over the recent death of political prisoner Mojtaba Korkor, wrote: “My sister Sepideh is finally free, free, free after several months.”

In 2023 (1402), Sepideh had been sentenced to two years in prison for “insulting the Supreme Leader.” She was previously released in early 2023 (Esfand 1401) under a general amnesty order, but shortly afterward, she was rearrested for chanting the slogan “Khamenei, you snake! We’ll bury you!” and was sent back to Evin.

Sepideh Qolian has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times for her civil activism. She had previously shared details of torture by security agents on her X account.

06/10/2025

The largest confederation of trade unions in Norway, in an open letter to Ali Khamenei, has condemned the brutal suppression of truck drivers in Iran.

The recent truck-drivers’ strike in Iran has unfolded as a wide-ranging, nationwide protest that reflects deep-seated economic discontent: crippling fuel prices, soaring maintenance costs, unfair freight rates, insecure employment, and the repression of union activity have pushed truckers to the brink of bankruptcy. This vital workforce has battled structural economic inequality and official neglect for years. Today, their struggle has moved beyond a workplace dispute and has drawn broad attention both inside and outside the country.

The strike began in late May 2025 in Bandar Abbas and rapidly spread to more than 155 cities across Iran, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Kermanshah. More than 365,000 truck drivers have joined, causing major disruptions to transportation and nationwide supply chains.

Reports indicate that security forces have used severe violence against the drivers and their supporters. Several union activists among the truckers have recently been arrested. We are concerned for their safety and deeply worried about the worsening human-rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The independent labour movement of Iran, Norway, and the international community stands firmly for equality and opposes the injustice and discrimination imposed on workers, union activists, and the people of Iran. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions supports the truck drivers’ demands and seeks justice for all victims of the Iranian government’s discriminatory and repressive policies.

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions calls on the Iranian government to release immediately and unconditionally all truck drivers, workers, trade-union activists, and human-rights defenders in detention, to end the repression of workers, and to respect freedom of association and trade-union rights in line with International Labour Organization Conventions 87 and 98.

06/05/2025

A group of 236 Iranian intellectuals, university professors, and political, cultural, and civil society activists have issued a joint statement strongly condemning Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and calling for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces.

In the statement, the signatories — many of whom are former political prisoners, critics of Ali Khamenei, and opponents of the Islamic Republic — voiced support for a just and lasting peace, the territorial rights of Palestinians, and the end of military violence.

They also rejected the Islamic Republic’s policies in the Israel-Palestine conflict, positioning themselves against both Israeli aggression and the regime in Tehran. "We... are concerned about hegemonic rivalries and sectarian conflicts in the region, express our opposition to the Islamic Republic’s policies and actions in the Israel-Palestine conflict."

The signatories called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to face trial in an international court for war crimes and genocide. Citing the disproportionate retaliation following the October 7 attack, they stated that Israeli forces have killed 45 Palestinians for every Israeli casualty — a ratio they attribute to both revenge-driven policy and internal political power struggles within Israel.

While condemning the violence of Palestinian armed groups during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation — including the killing and abduction of civilians — the statement emphasizes that the conflict did not begin on October 7. It urges any judgment of the situation to consider the long history of occupation, land confiscation, displacement, and systematic discrimination against Palestinians, as well as Israel’s repeated violations of UN Security Council resolutions over the past 77 years.

The statement concludes by firmly distancing the Palestinian cause from the Islamic Republic, stating: “The defense of Palestine, at its core, has nothing to do with the Islamic Republic, which is itself part of the problem.”

The authors cite the famous verse by Iranian poet Saadi: “Human beings are members of a whole, in creation of one essence and soul.”

06/03/2025

In recent weeks, while the Iranian government has been carrying out large-scale crackdowns to deport Afghan migrants, officials have also tried to present a more humane image of their policies. At the same time, the numbers are staggering.

In a recent statement, the head of the Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs Office at the Ministry of Interior, speaking to *Farhikhtegan* newspaper yesterday, called himself a “defender of Iranian rights” and said: “Undocumented foreigners must leave the country.” Meanwhile, the police announced that over the past year, they carried out more than 1,200 operations and arrested and deported 1,176,000 Afghan migrants.

06/02/2025

I recently interviewed Rohini Hensman, a Marxist scholar and writer from Sri Lanka, known for her work on East and South Asia. The conversation was based on her 2018 book, in which she sharply criticizes the global left—especially in the West—for its position on events in the MENA region. In our interview, she reflects on her own experiences and shares her thoughts on the current state of the left:

I think we have to concentrate on challenging the dominant narratives, which are often shared between left, right and centre. For example, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that there was an ‘Islamic revolution’ in Iran in 1979, when there was nothing of the kind. There was a democratic revolution in 1979, and then a struggle between democratic forces and Islamist fascism. As Mansoor Hekmat puts it, 11 February 1979 was a people’s revolution which was only completely crushed by ‘an Islamic, counter-revolutionary coup d’état’ on 20 June 1981.

When you look at it like that, it becomes much harder to legitimize the Islamic Republic even from a liberal point of view much less a socialist one. Then there is the question of the origin of the Israeli state, which is popularly thought to be a result of the Holocaust, when in fact it originated in the settler-colonial, white-supremacist and Jewish-supremacist project of the Zionists back in the 19th century and entailed the destruction of the Palestinians as a people.

For Western leaders and most of the media, who have colluded with the genocide in Gaza since 7 October 2023, this perspective is completely lacking, so they shut their eyes to the genocide even when Israeli leaders proclaim it loud and clear and soldiers themselves circulate evidence of it. Anti-Zionist Jews have done a wonderful job making this perspective visible.

In these two cases – and many more, including Stalin’s counter-revolution in Russia – once we have succeeded in flipping the script, changing the narrative, disinformation and ‘alternative facts’ lose their power.

https://firenexttime.net/lbs8

05/29/2025

As the nationwide strike of truck drivers and transport workers in Iran continues—demanding fair wages, proper insurance, road safety, and human dignity—the National Union of Truck Drivers and Transport Workers issued a statement strongly criticizing the arrest of eleven drivers in Kermanshah and reaffirming the continuation of the strike.

According to the statement, despite pressure and threats, the strike has expanded, and the number of cities joining the movement has reached 130. Truck drivers in cities like Quchan, Golpayegan, and Arak have also shown their support by organizing symbolic gatherings and protest parades.

The symbolic action of the drivers in Arak, known as the "Unity Parade," was a response to threats and empty promises made by officials.

The arrest of a group of drivers in Kermanshah sparked anger and reactions. Hundreds of drivers gathered in front of the Kermanshah Governor’s Office to protest. The union supported this gathering and called for the immediate and unconditional release of those arrested. It also warned that repression is not an answer to legitimate demands, but rather a sign of the government’s failure to respond to fair demands.

In another development, reports showed that on the seventh day of the strike, drivers of fuel tankers from the Abadan Refinery also joined the strike. This shows further expansion and deepening of the protests among different groups of drivers.

The Free Union of Iranian Workers also reported—based on social media sources—that instead of addressing the economic and job-related demands of the drivers, the authorities have resorted to threats, arrests, and empty promises.

At the same time, public support for the drivers’ strike is growing, and this movement, which comes from harsh economic conditions and long-ignored demands, has turned into a large and nationwide campaign for social justice.

05/29/2025

As truck drivers across Iran continue their industrial strike, security forces have adopted a repressive approach. In recent days, reports have emerged about threats and arrests of protesting drivers in various cities. These actions come despite the fact that the truckers are simply demanding better working conditions and fair pay—demands that fall within their basic labor and civil rights.

On Wednesday, Sediq Mohammadi, a truck driver, was arrested by the Intelligence Department in Sanandaj for participating in the nationwide strike and was taken to an unknown location. A day earlier, Shahab Darabi, a trucker from Eslamabad-e Gharb, was also arrested after joining the protests. Darabi had posted a video on Instagram expressing support for the strike. His whereabouts are still unknown.

On the fourth day of the strike, the Union of Truckers’ and Drivers’ Organizations across Iran released a statement saying that police forces violently attacked protesting drivers at the Sanandaj terminal using pepper spray and arrested several people. The union called these actions repressive and criticized government officials for trying to silence the protests instead of seriously addressing the drivers’ demands.

In a separate statement, the union reported that 11 drivers were arrested in Kermanshah by security forces, once again showing the government’s attempt to crush legitimate labor demands. In response, hundreds of drivers gathered in front of the governor’s office in protest. The union emphasized that these arrests targeted drivers who were only asking for fair freight rates, insurance, and safe roads—demands that reflect the state’s failure to meet basic human needs and its increasing pressure on protesters.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor of Shiraz announced that a number of protesting drivers had been arrested and accused them of disrupting the transport system. He claimed, without giving exact numbers, that these individuals were “deliberately and in an organized way causing disruption.”

Iran’s state-run IRIB news agency also reported the arrest of two truck drivers related to the ongoing protests. In a video released with the report, the two are shown confronting another truck driver for continuing work during the strike on a road in Khuzestan province. Security forces then arrest them. In the video—recorded under unclear conditions—the arrested drivers say they had been trying over the past four days to encourage others in Khuzestan to join the nationwide strike.

05/29/2025

The head of the Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs Office at Iran’s Ministry of Interior emphasized that all Afghan census documents have been voided. He stated that, apart from six specific groups eligible to remain in Iran by obtaining temporary residency cards, all undocumented Afghan nationals have until July 5, 2025 (15 Tir 1404) to leave the country — less than 40 days from now.

This official reported that the number of undocumented Afghan nationals stood at 2.1 million last year. An additional 2 million people, whose census documents were valid until March 20, 2025 (30 Esfand 1403), have now been added to this figure — bringing the total number of undocumented Afghan nationals in Iran to 4.1 million.

Accordingly, the authorities expect 4 million people to leave Iran within one month.

05/28/2025

I was planning to write a full report on Pablo Picasso’s exhibition in Tehran, but I got caught up with another project and time passed. Still, I didn’t want to miss the chance to share this piece here.

In a time when the world is blurred by the smoke and fire of wars, the exhibition of one of the most famous anti-war paintings of the 20th century—Guernica by Pablo Picasso—in Tehran is not just ironic; it’s a symbolic disaster. Guernica was created in memory of the brutal bombing of a small Spanish town by the same name in 1937. The attack was carried out by N**i and Italian fascist air forces at the request of General Franco. This painting is a scream against repression, death, and the lies that demand blood in the name of order and power.

But now this image is displayed in a place that turns it into decoration for a war room, not a lesson. The Islamic Republic—the same regime that officially sends drones and missiles to Russia to be used in its invasion of Ukraine—also claims to support the people of Palestine. Yet in practice, not even one of those same drones that destroy Kharkiv has been used to stop the genocide in Gaza.

Can this exhibition of Guernica under such conditions be anything other than a mockery of truth? How can you talk about people’s suffering while producing and exporting the tools that cause it?

And the contradiction doesn’t end there. The Islamic Republic’s global allies—Russia and China—who claim to challenge Western domination, both made billions of dollars in trade with Israel in 2024. China, while suppressing media and keeping moral silence, buys cheap oil, sells technology, and maintains scientific and military cooperation with Israel. Russia—now playing the role of General Franco in our time—not only coordinates with Israel in Syria but has never once taken an independent stance against the massacre of Palestinians.

Everything has been turned upside down. Picasso, who painted Guernica in anger over fascist crimes, is now being appropriated by regimes that are themselves expressions of that same death-driven logic. Fascism is not only about violence—it’s about reversing truth, repeating lies until they become part of public memory. Until those who send missiles to Ukraine use anti-bombing art as political decoration.

Guernica in Tehran is not just a painting. It’s a warning—a warning about how fascism steals art, language, empathy, and even protest itself, and turns them into shields for crime. Just as it kills truth in order to survive.

05/28/2025

The Islamic Republic has officially recognized Afghanistan as a safe country.

The advisor to the Interior Minister and head of the Bureau for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs stated on national television last night that the government does not intend to accept any new refugees from Afghanistan. He emphasized that the current situation in Afghanistan “does not meet the criteria for refugee status” and added, “The conditions in that country are not such that people’s lives are in danger.”

He also announced that more than 6 million foreign nationals currently live in Iran, about 4 million of whom lack official residence documents and have entered the country without any identification papers. According to him, 50% of Afghan migrants live in Tehran—nearly 3 million people—and he claimed they have placed heavy pressure on the capital’s healthcare, education, and public service infrastructure.

These statements come as deportations of migrants have intensified in recent months. The Interior Ministry has declared that all temporary residence permits have expired and their holders are no longer entitled to public services. A few months ago, Iran’s police chief stated that by the end of March 2025 (Iranian calendar), the deportation of 2 million people would be completed.

According to official figures, only 772,000 Afghan nationals have been recognized as official refugees, whose status has been confirmed by the UNHCR.

05/26/2025

In fact, if the Middle East is freed from constant wars, people will gradually step forward to demand their democratic rights. In different countries, people are rising up to escape the miserable lives that have been imposed on them.

Protests erupted over the weekend in two southern districts of Iraq as prolonged power outages fueled public anger, with residents in Ghammas setting tires ablaze to block a main highway and demonstrators in Numaniyah warning the Ministry of Electricity of further action if services don’t improve.

Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity said Thursday that a sharp drop in Iranian gas imports has caused a loss of about 3,500 megawatts in national power production, raising concern over the country’s ability to meet demand during the summer months.

At the same time, various cities across Iran are also facing severe restrictions in the supply of electricity and water.

https://en.964media.com/36362/

The Fire Next Time

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