Tehran talks soft abroad, tough at home

While the identities of many remain unconfirmed, the stories behind these images have helped create a shared narrative for a public mourning thousands of deaths during just two days of crackdown on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9.

In the weeks since, artists have used technology to blend modern tragedy with Persian mythology. These digital tributes often place fallen protesters in settings reminiscent of the Shahnameh, Iran’s national epic, lending the dead a sense of timeless honor.

The firefighter

One of the most widely shared figures is Hamid Mahdavi, a firefighter from the northeastern city of Mashhad, who was killed on Jan. 8 after being shot in the throat.

Social media posts and witness accounts say Mahdavi spent his final hours carrying wounded protesters away from lines of security forces. Digital artists have reimagined him as a guardian figure.

Videos circulating online show a man carrying the injured, but activists say it is difficult to confirm with absolute certainty whether the person in the footage is Mahdavi. For those mourning, however, the image has become inseparable from his story.

The firefighter from Mashhad is now widely seen as a symbol of rescue.

“He was brave, kind and honorable,” one user wrote in Persian on Instagram, where Mahdavi had been active before his killing. “His memory will remain eternal.”

Another wrote: “I’ve watched this video a hundred times and I still cannot stop crying.”

The man as shield

In another story that has become central to the narrative of the January uprising, a man identified by social media users as Mohammad Jabbari, or “Mohammad Agha,” is reported to have died while protecting others.

In a video that has gone viral, a man is seen holding open a building door to let protesters inside for safety, then attempting to force it shut against advancing security agents.

According to activist accounts, agents shot the man at close range after forcing their way through. Digital artists now depict him as a literal shield, with some comparing the scene to moments from the Shahnameh.

While the man’s identity cannot be verified with certainty, the narrative of “the man at the door” has taken on powerful symbolic meaning as an act of self-sacrifice.

Social media comments reflect a deep emotional connection to the scene.

“One day we will see this statue standing in the heart of Tehran,” one person wrote. Others simply posted, “Hold the door,” a phrase that has become shorthand for the act shown in the footage.

“These symbols must be built in our Iran so that future generations remember their history,” another user commented.

Shared memory for the future

The use of AI and rapidly produced digital art has allowed Iranians to create a visual record in real time.

As the government restricts traditional media and periodically shuts down the internet, these images offer a way to preserve stories the state cannot easily erase.

“We do not know the names of everyone who fell,” one user wrote beneath a viral tribute. “But these images carry the meaning of what happened. They are the glue that holds our story together.”

By focusing on individuals like Mahdavi and the man at the door, the protest movement has moved beyond statistics. Even when identities remain unconfirmed, the images ensure that stories of resistance continue to circulate—inside Iran and beyond it.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters at a foreign policy conference in Tehran that Friday’s Muscat talks were limited to the nuclear file and that Iran would not negotiate on missiles or regional issues.

“Zero enrichment can never be accepted by us,” Araghchi said, adding that talks should focus on arrangements that allow enrichment in Iran.

“We need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside Iran while building trust that enrichment is and will remain for peaceful purposes.”

Araghchi said results of the Muscat round were being reviewed and that both sides were waiting for decisions in their capitals on whether to proceed, with any next round expected to remain indirect and potentially be held outside Oman.

“The results of the talks are under review,” Araghchi said. “The overall approach of both countries is to continue the talks, and we are waiting for decision-making in the capitals.”

He added that Iran would not negotiate its missile program or regional policies, pushing back against US calls to widen the agenda.

“The missile issue and regional issues have not been on the agenda and are not on the agenda,” Araghchi said.

Tehran’s top diplomat described the first Muscat meeting as a test of seriousness, adding that talks would continue only if Iran concluded the United States was acting in good faith.

“The first session was a trial of how much we can trust the other side.”

He also said Iran had increased consultations with regional states compared with past nuclear diplomacy, and that Tehran had kept Russia and China informed of the process.

Speaking at the same event, Kamal Kharazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and a former foreign minister, said Tehran’s foreign policy should prioritize ties with neighboring countries while maintaining what he called resistance to coercive pressure from adversaries.

Ali Akbar Salehi, a former foreign minister and senior nuclear official, argued that Iran faced a broader governance challenge in translating its revolutionary ideals with practical policy tools, adding that strengthening the domestic economy and modern capabilities would make Iran’s foreign policy more sustainable.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, head of the Foreign Ministry’s political and international studies center, said the conference aimed to bridge academia, industry and the foreign policy establishment.

Araghchi framed enrichment as tied to sovereignty, saying no outside power could dictate what Iran may possess, and argued that diplomacy could work only if Iran’s rights were respected.

The Muscat talks came amid high regional tensions and an expanded US military posture in the region.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that the talks were a “step forward,” adding that Tehran wanted its rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to be respected.

The messaging was unlikely to be accidental, as Friday prayer sermons are drafted by a central headquarters overseen directly by the office of Ali Khamenei and distributed nationwide to imams, often a day in advance.

In Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in the city, told worshippers that negotiations conducted “with weapons and warplanes hanging over the table” were part of “America’s political game,” dismissing the process as futile.

In Rasht, Rasoul Falahati said Iranian negotiators would not retreat “a single step.” In Karaj, Hossein Hamedani warned that “trusting the enemy is a strategic mistake,” while in Isfahan, Ahmad Mahmoudi said Iran’s adversaries were frustrated because “their hands have been cut off from Iran’s resources.”

None of the sermons struck an optimistic note.

Military officials reinforced the message, with army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia asserting that Iran had “easy access to US bases” in the region. If war broke out, he warned, “its scope will engulf the entire geography of the region.”

The same line was echoed by senior lawmaker Fada Hossein Maleki, who described the talks as part of Washington’s pressure campaign.

“We are not optimistic about these negotiations, given the previous history of talks and the recent US military deployment to the region,” he told the news website Didban Iran on Friday.

“When they bring their military to our region, they are placing a gun to Iran’s head and calling it negotiation,” he added, stressing that many members of parliament shared his pessimism.

A sharply different view came from Iran’s moderate camp.

Fayyaz Zahed, a former adviser to President Masoud Pezeshkian who resigned over what he described as mismanagement in the presidential office, predicted that Tehran would ultimately be forced to make sweeping concessions.

Speaking to Khabar Online hours before the Muscat talks began, Zahed said Iran would have to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium and freeze enrichment for an extended period. “Anything else would make entering negotiations pointless,” he said.

Zahed, however, holds no official role in the negotiations, and his remarks stood in contrast to the line coming from clerical, military, and conservative political institutions that dominate decision-making in Tehran.

Maleki’s defiant tone underscored that divide, echoing the skepticism voiced from Iran’s pulpits and military platforms earlier in the week.

“Iran is not like Venezuela, which announces its readiness to negotiate the moment the US fleet approaches its shores,” Maleki said—suggesting that even as diplomats engaged across the table in Oman, the political establishment at home was preparing the public for talks that fail, or for confrontation that follows.

Government authorities and supporters marked the birthday of the 12th and final Shiite Imam, Mahdi, with widespread street decorations, fireworks at religious sites and city squares, and tents distributing tea, sweets and food to passersby.

State media extensively covered the festivities, while pro-government social media users portrayed public participation as evidence of continued support for the authorities and the country's return to normalcy.

In the days leading up to the public holiday, state-organized celebrations are held not only in religious venues but also across government offices and schools. During this period, authorities, municipalities and private citizens decorate streets with lights and offer sweets and drinks to pedestrians.

This year’s main ceremony took place at the Jamkaran Mosque near the holy city of Qom, where large crowds gathered for fireworks and light displays. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the once-obscure mosque has expanded dramatically into a major pilgrimage and tourist complex.

Widespread opposition to the celebrations

Opposition to the celebrations has come from many who say festivities are inappropriate while millions grieve.

The official death toll from the February 8–9 protests, announced by the government — more than 3,000 people — nearly matches the total number of deaths recorded during the previous monarchy between 1963 and 1979.

An X user identified as Homayoun wrote: “When the state breeds death, theatrical joy is merely the mask of shamelessness. Celebrating over fresh wounds is neither faith nor hope; it is only the habit of witnessing the suffering of others.”

Religious and political figures boycott the festivities

At least two prominent clerics — Grand Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani, a senior religious authority and former reformist politician, and Grand Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaqeq-Damad, an Islamic scholar known for criticizing the state’s harsh response to protesters — announced they would refrain from holding birthday celebrations in solidarity with mourners.

Bayat-Zanjani’s son, Mohsen Bayat-Zanjani, a well-known philanthropist, said on X that his father’s office would cancel its annual event. The Institute for Religious Enlightenment, overseen by Mohaqeq Damad, issued a statement saying he would not host a celebration this year.

Neither cleric has publicly condemned the killings, prompting sharp criticism from some X users, though others praised the move. Hadi Mehrani, a former Iran-Iraq war veteran and ex-political prisoner who now openly supports the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, commended them for “standing with the people and honoring the dead.”

Beyond these two figures, no other senior clerics have been reported to oppose the festivities, and neither cleric explicitly blamed the government for the deaths.

Azar Mansouri, head of the Reform Front, wrote on X: “In the midst of this exhausting collective mourning and the deep wound inflicted on the nation’s soul, what celebration?” Pro-government commenters responded that celebrating the Imam’s birth is obligatory regardless of circumstances.

Historical precedence

Boycotting religious celebrations during periods of mourning has historical precedent in Iran. In July 1978, after dozens of demonstrators were killed in Tehran’s Jaleh Square, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared public mourning and urged people to avoid festivities for Mahdi’s birthday, emphasizing unity in the political struggle.

In 1962, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpayegani similarly called for canceling the celebration in protest against the Shah’s “White Revolution” reforms.

Protesters respond with slogans

Citizen journalists have circulated reports of residents chanting slogans from windows during the festivities.

One X user said members of the Basij militia set up a booth in the Chitgar district of western Tehran playing religious music and Quran recitations, prompting apartment residents to shout slogans in opposition. A video posted by the user captured voices chanting “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Death to the Basij.”

Outside Iran, a group of supporters of exiled prince Reza Pahlavi gathered Tuesday outside the Islamic Centre of Manchester, disrupting a planned Mahdi birthday celebration with chants and protests.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan worked on the framework proposal ahead of the Friday talks, The Times of Israel reported, citing two Middle Eastern diplomats.

The proposal includes a non-aggression pact under which Washington and Tehran would agree not to target one another, the report said, adding that the pact would also cover allies and Iran-backed armed groups in the region.

The framework drafted by the six countries would also address Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles and Iran-backed armed groups, according to the report.

One of the diplomats cited in the report acknowledged that binding Israel to such an agreement would be difficult.

Proposed Iran commitments

Separately, Al Jazeera reported that mediators from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt have presented Iran and the United States with a framework of key principles to be discussed in Friday’s talks, citing two sources familiar with the negotiations.

Under that proposal, Iran would commit to zero uranium enrichment for three years, after which it would limit enrichment to below 1.5 percent, the report said.

Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium — including about 440 kilograms enriched to 60 percent — would be transferred to a third country under the framework, according to the report.

The Al Jazeera report said the proposal also includes a ban on Iran's initiation of ballistic missile attacks and a commitment by Iran not to transfer weapons or technologies to its allied armed groups in the region.

Iran and the United States have not yet reacted to these reports.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Thursday the negotiations would focus solely on the nuclear issue, underscoring Tehran’s position that other matters — including missiles and regional activities — are off the table.

A day earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington expects talks with Iran to address a range of issues beyond the nuclear file.

“I think in order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles. That includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region. That includes the nuclear program, and that includes the treatment of their own people,” Rubio said, referring to items on the US agenda for Friday’s talks with Tehran.