میدل ایست آیIranian press review: Calls grow for sanctions relief across political divide
Iranian press review: Calls grow for sanctions relief across political divide
Meanwhile, officials stress the need to recognise public grief, IRGC targets reformist politicians, and lawyers speak out about forced confessions and rushed trials
An Iranian woman walks past an anti-US mural depicting an Iran-US negotiation, painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran, on 6 February 2026 (AFP)
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Moderates urge swift end to sanctions
A new round of negotiations between Iran and the US has once again divided opinion inside the country. Before last year’s 12-day war with Israel, opponents of talks were more vocal. Now, against the backdrop of recent US military threats in the Gulf, supporters of negotiations appear to be speaking louder.
In an unusually direct appeal to President Masoud Pezeshkian, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a former Tehran mayor and a figure close to the moderate camp, said the government must act to lift sanctions.
“Mr President, we must do something to get rid of these sanctions,” Karbaschi said, according to etemadonline.
Referring to the West, he added, “The world is cruel. America is a bully, and Europe is even worse. But we have to think about the people and take steps for their lives, security and economy.”
Ali Bigdeli, an international affairs expert, also urged officials to conclude the current round of talks. He criticised the approach taken by previous negotiating teams.
“The old strategy no longer works, and the signs of its failure are clear,” Bigdeli said in the Saazan Degi daily newspaper. “If negotiations are going to continue, they must be based on today’s realities, not yesterday’s illusions.”
In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes all the major decisions, such as negotiations with Washington. He has not publicly commented on this round of talks, which has been interpreted as a sign of approval.
Officials call for recognition of ‘collective grief’
Three weeks after the violent suppression of nationwide protests, figures close to the political establishment have begun to acknowledge a deep social crisis. They are calling on authorities to recognise what they describe as a “collective grief” gripping the country.
According to official figures, 3,117 people were killed during the protests. However, independent sources say the real toll is much higher, with some human rights groups putting it at more than 6,000. Experts link the scale of the psychological impact to the level of violence used against demonstrators.
Saeed Khademi, an adviser to the national Welfare Organisation, addressed the issue in an article in the Arman Meli newspaper titled “Recognising mourning”. He warned that unresolved social unrest could erupt again.
Khademi also tied the country’s fragile mood to economic hardship and fears of military conflict.
“If the true grief and pain of the victims and their families is not recognised, a wounded and irritable mind is formed that can lead to anger and social tension,” he wrote.
Pirouz Hanachi, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also called for greater social empathy in the Etemad daily.
“Ignoring public grief or trying to quickly and carelessly overcome it can lead to the accumulation of resentment,” he wrote.
“Suppressed grief manifests itself sooner or later in the form of anger and distrust.”
Prominent reformist figures arrested
Prominent figures linked to reformist political groups have been targeted by the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in recent days, amid a big wave of arrests.
The first arrests following the nationwide protests in January only targeted ordinary citizens and those who took part in anti-establishment demonstrations. However, this has changed in recent days.
On Monday, local media reported the arrests of Javad Imam, Ghorban Behzadiannejad, Hossein Karroubi and Ali Shakouri-Rad.
Shakouri-Rad, a former member of parliament and a veteran soldier of the Iran-Iraq War, had attracted attention three days before his arrest for remarks about efforts by security forces to push protests towards violence.
In a leaked recording, he said: “Security institutions in Iran have injected violence into every protest so they can use it as an excuse for repression. It has been this way from the beginning, it continues today, and it is getting worse day by day.”
In recent days, several senior figures from the Reform Front, an umbrella group bringing together reformist parties and organisations, have also been arrested. Those detained include Azar Mansouri, the group’s general secretary, and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, head of its political committee.
Meanwhile, other reformist figures have been summoned by intelligence agencies, including Mohsen Armin, Badr al-Sadat Mofidi, and Feyzollah Arab Sorkh.
The scale and speed of these arrests and summons have not been seen in Iran since the protests that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election and the rise of the Green Movement.
Lawyers protest at curbs on detainees' rights
Iranian lawyers have stepped up their protests over the treatment of people detained in the recent demonstrations, warning that many are being denied basic legal rights.
In an opinion piece in the Etemad daily, lawyer Hamidreza Haji Esfandiari criticised what he called “extralegal restrictions” placed on detainees.
Citing Article 35 of the constitution, which guarantees the right to a lawyer, he wrote: “This principle is not a granted privilege, but an inherent and inseparable right from the human dignity and judicial security of individuals.”
Esfandiari also pointed to later amendments that restrict political defendants to a list of approved lawyers. He said enforcing this rule “reduces defence to a ceremonial and ineffective matter”.
In recent days, a group of lawyers published an open letter protesting against what they described as ongoing violations of detainees’ rights.
They warned that continuing down this path would lead to “an even greater destruction of the manifestations of the rule of law”.
The lawyers cited several examples, such as blocking access to legal counsel, rushed trials lasting only minutes, the broadcast of forced confessions on the national broadcaster, and the extraction of confessions under pressure.
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