Tehran not interested in talks with US, MP says

“I prefer to leave my artistic work for a day when the Islamic Republic no longer exists in my country,” she said.

Embarking on a farewell tour, she framed her decision within the wider social shifts unfolding in Iran, particularly the growing rejection of the compulsory hijab and the generational frustration she believes now defines the country.

“We are seeing our youth, especially women, fighting for their most basic rights,” she said, describing a society confronting economic strain, political repression and demands for ordinary freedoms.

Defiance of compulsory veiling is now widespread in Iran as women and girls appear in public without headscarves in one of the most visible social shifts since Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022.

The pressures facing a new generation, Googoosh said, have accelerated her own sense of responsibility as an artist.

“People in my country are struggling to give their families an ordinary life. They struggle for clean water, clean air, and land where they can live. Our young people grew old without ever enjoying their youth. Our people must end this painful cycle and gain the freedoms every human being deserves.”

Iran’s rulers have long relied on strict hijab enforcement by police and Basij forces. The current situation comes amid persistent power cuts, water shortages and a weakened economy, all of which risk fueling further anger.

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A life shaped by stardom and silence

Born Faegheh Atashin, she entered the spotlight as a child performer and quickly became one of pre-revolution Iran’s most recognizable cultural figures. Her look, voice and stage presence shaped an entire era of Iranian pop culture.

After the 1979 revolution, she remained in Iran and spent two decades barred from performing under the new theocracy, facing surveillance, harassment and a period of imprisonment. When authorities finally allowed her to leave in 2000, she resumed her career abroad, launching a revival that connected her with Iranians who had long been cut off from her music.

“After the revolution, the pressure on me grew,” Googoosh said. “Since Farsi is my mother tongue and I grew up in Iran, I could not adjust to living outside my country. I did not want that life. I hoped I could somehow continue performing for my own people, inside my own country.”

Local prosecutor Gholamhossein Asghari said police acted “immediately” after receiving a report about suspected illegal activity involving historical objects. He said a joint team with cultural heritage experts and the economic security police uncovered “a considerable number of prohibited and historical items that belong to the cultural heritage of the country.” Initial assessments put their value at around one thousand billion tomans (8.4 million USD). Three vehicles tied to the case were also impounded, he said.

Iran continues to face extensive trafficking of antiquities despite laws that classify such items as national heritage and ban their sale or export without official approval. Smuggling networks operate across the region, taking advantage of high demand. In one case reported by the outlet SedayeMiras, Achaemenid era gold artifacts smuggled out of Iran were sold on the black market in Dubai for about 1.1 million dollars, far below their estimated value of three million dollars. The report said the pieces included a gold pendant depicting Darius I, gold armlets, Achaemenid era jewelry and a 2,500 year old gold diadem.

Heritage experts say inadequate maintenance, limited protection and environmental damage have left many historical sites vulnerable. Asghari said cultural heritage is central to Iran’s identity and that any harm to it amounts to an attack on the nation’s history.

“In many Western countries today, women are paid less than men for doing the same work." Khamenei’s official English-language account posted on Wednesday. "That’s how they are today, which is totally unjust.”

The message echoed parts of a speech he delivered the same day to an audience of women and girls, in which he defended the compulsory Islamic veil and criticized the treatment of women in the West.

A "readers added context" note under his post, a feature introduced under the platform's new owner Elon Musk which collates users' responses, said bluntly:
"Iran has a greater gender inequality than the entire west."

X user Guney Yazar quipped: "So the guy who jails women for not covering their hair now lectures the West on pay equity. The irony’s richer than any oil field."

One user prompted Grok, the artificial intelligence feature on X, to describe the punishment for defying the hijab under the 86-year-old theocrat.

"Under Iran's 2024 Hijab and Chastity law, women not wearing the hijab face fines from 15 million to 500 million rials ($24–$790), escalating to up to 1.5 billion rials, travel/online bans, and prison up to 5-15 years for repeats," it said.

"Severe cases may invoke the death penalty under 'corruption on earth.' A recent Supreme Leader directive calls for stricter enforcement, though many women continue to defy it."

'Enslaving not liberating'

The nearly 50-year-old system over which Khamenei presides views the veil as an emblem of Islamic identity and chastity.

One of the gravest sins of Western capitalist logic and culture is that they deceitfully label corruption and promiscuity as 'freedom,' he added in another post. "And when they try to spread that culture, they say, 'We're liberating you!' But in fact, they're enslaving people."

Other users cited data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) appearing to confirm an element of Khamenei's assertion.

The bodies found that, adjusted for experience and hours, the gender pay gap in Western countries stands at around 1-4%.

But both the World Bank and the International Labor Organization (ILO) list Iran’s gender pay gap for identical roles at 35%, fueled by laws requiring male guardian permission for women to travel, work or study.

Gender rights record

Users also replied with pre-1979 Islamic Revolution photos of unveiled Iranian women, images of morality police violence and memorials to a young woman named Mahsa Amini whose death in morality police custody stoked mass protests in 2022.

The demonstrations were quashed with deadly force.

Iran ranks 143 out of 146 countries in the latest World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.

Amnesty International has documented systemic gender discrimination in Iran in its 2024 report, including up to 74 lashes for defying hijab rules and frequent impunity for honor killings.

“With respect to Iran, the public is not only supportive of the airstrikes conducted last summer, they are keen on several forceful responses to preventing Iran from developing a nuclear device,” the Washington DC-based organization, which is dedicated to advancing the late Republican president's ideals, said in its findings.

The Reagan National Defense Survey, conducted in the last week of October and first week of November by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company, examines American views on threats and US military posture toward allies and adversaries.

“Americans back further economic sanctions 73%, deploying US cyber capabilities 70%, renegotiating the Iranian nuclear deal 66% and even using US military force 54% in the service of thwarting Iran’s nuclear weapons program,” the findings added.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but Israel, the United States and other Western powers doubt its intentions.

China remains the top perceived US threat 29%," the poll added, "followed by Russia 21% and North Korea 9%, with Iran at 3%."

77% Republican respondents supported the June strikes compared to 39% of Democrats.

“This year’s survey underscores a clear message: Americans believe US leadership is indispensable to global security and peace,” said Roger Zakheim, Director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, said in a statement.

The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year after President Donald Trump set a 60-day ultimatum.

When no agreement was reached, Israel launched a surprise offensive on June 13, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

“This sentence happened in the middle of this process, but I will finish this campaign and go back to Iran as soon as possible after,” Variety magazine quoted Panahi as saying at the Marrakech Film Festival in Morocco.

“I have only one passport … the passport of my country, and I wish to keep it,” Panahi added. “Although I was given the opportunity, even in the hardest years, I never considered leaving my country and being a refugee elsewhere.”

Panahi’s remarks come after his lawyer, Mostafa Nili, announced the prison sentence issued against the filmmaker in absentia earlier this week.

Nili said the sentence includes a two-year travel ban and bars him from membership in political or social groups, adding that they plan to appeal.

Panahi, whose movies have repeatedly brought him into conflict with Iranian authorities, said he is aware of the risks of returning.

“I know my films don’t please the government,” he said. “But that’s not a reason for me not to go back to my country.”

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Panahi’s latest film, It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his experience as a political prisoner, is France’s submission for the Oscars and screened at the Marrakech festival on Thursday.

It was filmed in secret in Iran and follows the moral journey of a group of former political prisoners who believe they have captured their torturer.

In May, Panahi received the Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for the film.

Panahi has faced restrictions and arrests for more than a decade.

He was sentenced in 2010 to six years in prison and a 20-year ban on filmmaking, travel and giving interviews, though he continued to work in secret. In 2022, he was detained again and spent seven months in prison before launching a hunger strike that led to his release in early 2023.