You can read it in Arabic here, and check out MBN’s flagship Arabic-language Alhurra news platform (English version here).
This week’s edition of the briefing is a joint effort by our new Iran reporter Tara Rad, who is writing under a pseudonym, and myself.
Here’s what you need to know. There are plenty of meetings taking place this week in New York and Washington, but it’s not clear what the results will be for the war in Iran. Ships are being hit by projectiles of unknown provenance in the Strait of Hormuz. The government claims that power outages are coming to an end — but they’re still happening. Two public events on the same day show two different sides of Iran. And the authorities shut down a French culture center in Tehran.
Find out more below, and share your thoughts, analysis, and predictions with me at ailves@mbn-news.com. If you were forwarded the MBN Iran Briefing, please subscribe.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
If the leader of the revolution has now deemed it in the country’s interest and has left the government open to negotiations, that is a very important act of prudence.
—Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks as he holds a picture of Ali Khamenei, late supreme leader of Iran, during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP.
TOP OF THE NEWS
1. Contact Resumes in New York
As I noted in Monday’s edition of this briefing, the Iran war looms over everything even though it isn’t on the formal agenda of either the United Nations General Assembly or the Trump-Xi meeting this week.
In the first meeting between the two sides in three months, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in contact on the sidelines of the UNGA, though the two sides disagree about the nature of the meeting.
In a post on X, Witkoff said that “we engaged in lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day,” while Iranian outlets claimed that the talks were “direct.”
Iranian media also found it important to claim that the meeting was requested by the U.S. side. One headline read, “Iran FM meets with U.S. envoy on UN meeting’s sidelines at American side’s insistence.”
In other developments in New York, U.S. president Donald Trump’s scheduled meeting on Tuesday with Gulf leaders was expanded to include the Syrian and Turkish presidents and the king of Jordan, while the speeches by the U.S. and Iranian presidents yielded no surprises.
2. The Trump-Xi Summit: Iran in the Background
As the U.S. and Chinese presidents meet in Washington to discuss tariffs, Taiwan, and AI, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran may prove impossible to avoid. A spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry criticized the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which President Trump signed into law on Friday, saying “China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions that lack authorization from the United Nations and a basis in international law.”
As reported in the previous edition of this briefing, Beijing hosted Araghchi last week. The Iranian press readout of the meeting said that the Chinese foreign minister had declared that China firmly supports “Iran’s sovereignty, security, and national dignity.”
Well, at least it’s okay to swim. Wading in the Gulf waters as vessels in the background transit the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas. Photo: AFP.
3. Hormuz, Again
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre, which keeps track of events on the high seas, reported yesterday that a cargo vessel was on fire and adrift in the Strait of Hormuz after being struck by an unknown projectile. All crew were evacuated, with two casualties reported. This follows two incidents on Monday, when two tankers were hit within hours of each other, one struck by an unknown projectile and another hit by debris from unknown projectiles. Injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, the national security committee of Iran’s Parliament approved a fine of 20% of cargo value – payable only in rial – for vessels transiting the strait without authorization. This is part of a broader bill still before Parliament.
A senior Iranian official said that Iran could reopen the strait within seven days if the U.S. pulled back militarily and lifted its blockade.
4. Ongoing Blackouts
Iran’s Energy Ministry announced this week, for at least the third time since early September, that scheduled power cuts will soon come to an end. Provincial utilities are still publishing detailed outage schedules for towns across Lorestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Mazandaran provinces.
The minister had already promised days earlier that outages would end within the week. He then separately declared there were no more scheduled power cuts at all.
IN OTHER NEWS
Taking aim at the Jan-Fada rally in Tehran, Friday. Photo: AFP.
A Tale of Two Marathons
Last Friday, Tehran offered two very different pictures of Iran.
On one side of the capital was the “Jan-Fada” event, a mass gathering involving men and women, Basij units and other groups. Among the participants were women in black chadors or military-style clothing as well as a group of women riding motorcycles. The event was presented by organizers as a display of military readiness, sacrifice and national defense.
At a different event the same day, women took part in a public run. The event was widely described in Iranian media as a marathon, although it was actually a 10-kilometer race. Women and men ran separately. Photographs and videos showed some of the female runners without headscarves.
The two scenes could hardly have looked more different. Friday is the weekly day off in Iran. It is also the day of Friday prayers, religious services that have an important political role in the Islamic Republic. Friday sermons regularly address domestic and foreign policy.
This particular Friday came just two days after the fourth anniversary of the death of Zhina Mahsa Amini. Her death in custody following her arrest by Iran’s morality police in September 2022 sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests and put the compulsory hijab at the center of one of Iran’s biggest political and social confrontations in recent years.
That history gives the images from the race a significance beyond sports. Since 2022, appearing in public without a headscarf has become one of the most visible ways Iranian women challenge the compulsory hijab. That does not mean the women running on Friday intended to make a political statement; we do not know their individual motivations. But the images appeared in a country where what women can wear in public remains a major political and social dispute.
“Jan-Fada” roughly means someone prepared to sacrifice their life. Sasan Zare, a spokesman for the event, has said the idea grew out of people volunteering to help the country from the first days of the war with the United States and Israel. In May, he said 31.3 million people had registered. That figure comes from the campaign and has not been independently verified.
The event also drew heavily on the religious and ideological symbolism of the Islamic Republic. Tasnim described it as a 313,000-person parade involving Basij combat units, Jan-Fada groups and other participants. The number 313 carries particular significance in Shiite belief, referring to the 313 companions traditionally associated with the Mahdi, the messianic figure whose return Shiites await. Separately, Hassan Hassan-Zadeh, commander of the IRGC in Greater Tehran, said around 500,000 people had registered to take part in the Tehran event. The 313,000 figure comes from Tasnim and has not been independently verified, while the 500,000 figure refers to registrations, not attendance.
The event was closely tied to the institutions and symbolism of the Islamic Republic. It included Basij combat units and displays of military equipment, and began under the command of the head of the IRGC in Greater Tehran with the slogan “We answer your call, Khamenei.” President Masoud Pezeshkian also attended. The IRGC — including the Basij under its command — is designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
So, on the same Friday, Tehran produced two strikingly different images of Iranian women. In one, women took part in a state-backed event built around military readiness, sacrifice and religious symbolism. In the other, women ran through a public park in athletic clothes, some even without the headscarves the state requires them to wear.
The next day, the Tehran prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened a case against people involved in organizing the race, saying that “legal and religious” rules had not been observed.
But the race had been officially approved. Tehran’s Provincial Security Council had issued a permit for the event. Organizers said participants had been required to observe “Islamic norms.”
The controversy reached Parliament, where MPs criticized the race and raised broader concerns about the hijab. One lawmaker questioned why this type of sporting event was being organized for women and asked whether other forms of exercise could be provided instead.
That leaves an obvious question: How did an officially approved race become the subject of a criminal case the following day? The available reporting does not answer that.
The timing adds another unanswered question. The date of the race had been set about a month earlier, and officials later acknowledged that it could have been changed once the date of the Jan-Fada event became known. The available reporting does not establish who decided to keep both events on the same Friday, or why.
Writing in Ettelaat, Ramtin Mortazavi cautioned against treating the two scenes as evidence of two opposing groups of Iranians. Someone taking part in Jan-Fada, he argued, might also enjoy sports or criticize conditions in Iran, while a runner should not automatically be placed in an opposing political camp.
Accès interdit: sealed French language center in Tehran. Photo: Reuters
Iran Shuts Down French Language Center in Tehran
Iranian authorities shut down a French language center in Tehran linked to the French Embassy, accusing it of operating illegally and engaging in activities against national security.
The judiciary said the Centre de Langue Française, or CLF, had continued operating despite repeated warnings to obtain the required permits. It also accused the center of using language teaching to identify and build networks of people and help Iranian professionals leave the country. The judiciary did not publicly provide evidence to support those allegations.
France rejected the move. Its Foreign Ministry called the closure “unjustifiable and unacceptable” and said the Iranian ambassador would be summoned. It also said France would take measures in response.
The dispute comes after another confrontation involving the French Embassy this summer.
As we reported last month, in July, two French Embassy employees were held and questioned by Iranian security forces. The two countries gave very different accounts of what happened. Iran said the employees had attended a meeting with people facing security accusations and denied allegations that they had been assaulted. France said they were holding an ordinary professional meeting with people who worked with the embassy. It said the employees were held for more than four hours and that one was physically assaulted.
The dispute escalated in August. France declared two employees of the Iranian Embassy in Paris persona non grata in response to the July incident. Iran also declared the two French Embassy employees persona non grata and barred them from returning to Iran.
