Iran International
Stanford professor and historian Abbas Milani says the Islamic Republic's real opposition is not abroad but inside the country: women walking unveiled, teachers refusing propaganda, and artists reimagining history.
Milani told Eye for Iran podcast that Iranian women are at the heart of today’s opposition.
“The Iranian woman who decides to walk in the streets of Tehran, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, without a veil… that’s the most potent opposition to this regime,” he said.
Despite intensified crackdowns, women continue to defy compulsory hijab laws.
Public opinion surveys point in the same direction. A poll conducted last summer involving more than 77,000 people found that a majority reject the Islamic Republic and favor either regime change or a structural transition.
Milani said the most authentic expressions of opposition are found in cultural acts, not exile politics.
“It is the manifesto of the future of Iran,” he said.
Milani highlighted a recent production at Stanford University by acclaimed playwright Bahram Beyzaie, a reinterpretation of the revolution through the eyes of women. The play drew widespread interest inside Iran, with audiences requesting online access, while receiving little notice outside.
Awakening from a 'nightmare'
“Iranians have woken up from this nightmare,” Milani said referring to the Islamic Republic, “but now they need to get rid of the source of this nightmare, which is dogmatism, which is religious domination, which is velayat-e faqih. (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist)"
Milani’s remarks come as Iran faces one of its harshest crackdowns in decades. Rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been executed in the past year, many in public.
In Isfahan, authorities have begun ordering the confiscation of Baha’i homes and assets — a move the community’s representatives described to Iran International as “economic strangulation.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi, and women’s rights defender Hasti Amiri has been sentenced to three years in prison after protesting executions and appearing unveiled in public.
The long shadow of 1953
Milani argues that Iranians have too often been trapped in emotional narratives of the 1953 coup orchestrated by the CIA and the 1979 Islamic Revolution, casting the monarchy and the Islamic Republic in black-and-white terms.
"The Shah was, at worst, an authoritarian leader. At best, he was a modernizer,” Milani said. “This regime, at best, is a pseudo-totalitarian regime. And at worst, totalitarian.”
The difference, Milani said, is that while the monarchy did not attempt to reshape private lives, the Islamic Republic has tried to engineer a “new man and woman,” reducing women to second-class citizens and criminalizing dissent.
Milani argued that younger Iranians are less interested in “black and white” narratives about 1953 that toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh, and more focused on freedom, equality, and dignity in their daily lives.
The Islamic Republic has long invoked the 1953 coup to justify hostility toward the United States, while downplaying the fact that Mosaddegh’s supporters were outlawed after 1979.
In 2023, the CIA for the first time described its role in ousting Mosaddegh as “undemocratic.” Yet Milani says the coup cannot be reduced to CIA intrigue alone, arguing that Iran’s clergy were decisive in turning against Mosaddegh.
Iran's future in people's hands
Seven decades on, he believes the lesson is clear: Iran’s future will not be decided by nostalgia or in-exile politics but by the resilience of ordinary citizens.
“The future of Iran,” Milani said, “is in the hands of those women, those teachers, those citizens who refuse to live by this ideology. They are the opposition to this regime.”
“Iranian society is more represented by intellectuals who used to be religious and now go and kiss the feet of a Baha’i and say, I’m sorry for everything we have done to you,” he added. “That’s the future of Iran. Those women are the future of Iran. They are the opposition to this regime.”
You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran on YouTube or listen on any major podcast platform like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, or Castbox.
The E3 have warned Iran they would restore UN sanctions by the end of August unless it reopened talks on its nuclear program immediately and produced concrete results before the deadline.
Iran is set to resume its nuclear talks with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (the E3) on August 26, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday following a phone call with his British, French, and German counterparts as well as the EU foreign policy chief.
Despite the planned meeting, the Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman and Axios's Barak Ravid said the talks did not make any progress.
"The Iranian foreign minister didn't come with any new proposal or idea on addressing concerns regarding the nuclear program," Axios reported citing an informed source.
The Axios report said the call started "in a confrontational tone with the Iranian foreign minister ranting about whether E3 have the right to trigger snapback."
“After E3 pushback, Araghchi expressed some openness to an extension of the snapback but stressed this is for the United Nations Security Council to decide, not for Iran,” the report said citing an unnamed source.
On Friday, Iran's top security official rejected the European proposal for the extension of the August deadline, saying, "Some countries have requested a six-month extension [of snapback deadline], but Iran does not agree."
"We had an agreement that was supposed to be completed within 10 years; it's not meant to be extended repeatedly. This is just rule-twisting, and we do not accept it," Ali Larijani said in an interview with the Supreme Leader's website.
The “snapback” or “trigger mechanism” is part of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Under Resolution 2231, any party to the accord can file a complaint accusing Iran of non-compliance. If no agreement is reached within 30 days to maintain sanctions relief, all previous UN sanctions automatically “snap back,” including arms embargoes, cargo inspections, and missile restrictions.
Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna criticized the E3’s position on X, saying they should consider the consequences of the policy they are pursuing.
No interest in talks with US
Shortly after the call with Araghchi, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stressed that Iran's engagement with the United States and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are crucial.
However, Araghchi showed no willingness or intent to engage in further conversations with Washington, according to Axios.
“The Iranian foreign minister didn’t express willingness to resume talks with the United States and claimed it is the US that isn’t interested in negotiations,” Ravid reported.
Larijani echoed that position on Friday, saying the United States must first show genuine intent.
“Genuine negotiation takes place when the other side understands that war is useless, that Iran will not surrender under pressure, and that Iranians are not the kind to give in,” Larijani said.
Massimo Aparo, Deputy Director General and Head of the IAEA Safeguards Department, visited Iran on August 11, but no framework for inspections has yet been announced.
“Araghchi claimed Iran is cooperating with the IAEA and gave no indication that Iran might allow access to UN inspectors,” Ravid said.
According to Axios, the Iranian foreign minister also gave no information about the whereabouts of Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, insisting that they are hidden under rubble and inaccessible.
