Ongoing protests and unrest in France prompted Iranian commenters to revisit the country’s role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and criticize Western responses to crackdowns in Iran, with many calling the turmoil “karma” in response to an Iran International Instagram question.
A review of nearly 3,000 comments on the post suggests that many respondents viewed events in France through Iran’s political history and their own experiences, focusing more on Western governments’ policies than on the French protesters’ demands.
Humor and sarcasm featured prominently, alongside anger over France’s hosting of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini before the revolution and frustration with international responses to the suppression of Iranian protests.
Others emphasized the right to protest and the different risks demonstrators face in France and Iran. The comments reflect the views of those who responded, rather than a representative sample of Iranian public opinion.
Memories of the 1979 revolution
One recurring theme was France’s decision to host Khomeini in the months leading up to Iran’s 1979 revolution.
Many respondents interpreted the unrest through that historical experience, arguing that France was now facing the consequences of its past policies toward Iran.
One respondent wrote: “France should pay the price for decades of supporting extremist groups, including Islamists, leftists and communists.”
Another drew a direct comparison: “The protests in France are exactly reminiscent of 1979 in Iran.”
Commenters also invoked expressions associated with the revolution, including the refrain “The scent of flowers, lilies and jasmine is in the air,” promises of free water and electricity, and sarcastic suggestions that France should establish its own Islamic Republic.
Unrest viewed as ‘karma’
“Karma” was a recurring word in the responses. Some users described the unrest as France’s past policies coming back to haunt it, while others expressed satisfaction without addressing the protesters’ demands.
One respondent wrote: “The world is round. Now they’ll suffer as we have for the past 47 years.”
Another said: “When responses to the Islamic Republic’s crimes are limited to words, statements and expressions of concern, the whole world should see the consequences.”
These comments linked satisfaction at France’s troubles to accumulated anger over Western governments’ dealings with the Islamic Republic.
‘We are deeply concerned’
Other respondents mocked the diplomatic language Western governments and international organizations have used in response to the killing and repression of protesters in Iran.
Phrases such as “We express concern,” “We call on both sides to exercise restraint,” “We are closely monitoring developments,” and “These are their internal affairs and none of our business” appeared repeatedly.
One respondent wrote: “We are closely monitoring developments in France. It seems they are not ready for democracy yet.”
Another said: “I’m sure the United Nations has expressed concern about the situation and called on both sides to exercise restraint.”
The sarcasm reflected frustration with what commenters viewed as inadequate international responses to repression in Iran.
Immigration and Islamism
Some respondents linked the unrest to France’s immigration policies and what they described as the growing influence of Islamist movements and extremism in Europe.
Their comments combined concerns about Europe’s future with criticism of the French government’s approach to immigration and religious and political groups. These were commenters’ interpretations, rather than established explanations for the protests.
Different risks for protesters
Other respondents emphasized the differences between protesting in France and Iran.
One user asked: “Why can young people in France return home after protesting?”
Amid the sarcasm and expressions of anger, the question drew attention to the risks Iranian demonstrators face at the hands of security forces.
Protests in Iran over the past decade, including demonstrations over economic hardship and labor grievances, have repeatedly faced violent crackdowns.
Iran International previously reported that at least 36,500 Iranians were killed during the January protests, describing the killings as the largest street massacre in Iran’s history.
Iran's police intelligence agency has sent threatening text messages warning citizens of possible prosecution over online activity, including people who do not use social media, according to accounts shared with Iran International.
Several citizens told the messages appeared designed to spread fear, with some reporting receiving the warnings multiple times a day.
One message cited several articles of Iran's Islamic Penal Code and warned the recipient that their involvement in approving and sharing "criminal content" online was under investigation.
"They send us 20 of these messages a day," one person told.
Another said they regularly received similar warnings but paid no attention to them.
Warnings reach people without social media accounts
Several said the messages were being sent to people who had no social media presence, raising questions about whether authorities were targeting specific online activities or distributing warnings more broadly.
"They send these messages in bulk. My father received one too, even though he doesn't have a social media account at all," one person wrote.
Another citizen said a security guard at their workplace had received a similar message despite using a basic mobile phone and not having Instagram.
One recipient suggested the warnings were being sent randomly because authorities knew large numbers of Iranians were active on social media.
The messages follow previous efforts by Iranian authorities to monitor online activity and warn citizens against publishing content deemed unlawful.
Citizens reject attempts to intimidate social media users
Some recipients responded defiantly, describing the warnings as another attempt by security agencies to discourage public criticism.
"They want to create fear. How are you going to frighten people with text messages when they are not afraid of bullets and executions?" one citizen wrote.
Another complained about restrictions on freedom of expression, saying: "We even need permission to breathe. We have no right to protest."
In October 2024, Tehran's prosecutor's office announced legal action against several individuals following online monitoring, citing the publication of "false news" and content allegedly intended to undermine public psychological security.
"If we speak out, our pages are shut down, we are imprisoned, tortured and executed," another wrote.
One citizen pointed to authorities' treatment of memorials for people killed during protests, arguing that a government fearful of the graves of protest victims would also fear social media posts.
Other recipients responded with the phrase "Last days, last desperate measures," expressing their belief that the warnings reflected the authorities' weakening position.
SIM card blocks and security cases add to pressure
Beyond warning messages, some described restrictions on mobile phone services and involvement by security and judicial authorities.
One said their mother's SIM card had been blocked without explanation, and attempts to restore service had resulted in the family's case being referred to the Revolutionary Guards.
"The country's prosecutor's office blocked my mother's phone line for no reason. We tried to get it unblocked, but the matter ended up with the Revolutionary Guards, and they opened a case against us," the person told Iran International.
The citizen said officials had not explained why the SIM card was blocked or identified any alleged offense.
Further attempts to resolve the matter had created serious difficulties for the family, the person added.
Iran International reported on September 24 that SIM cards were being blocked over political Instagram stories and likes, with restrictions previously directed mainly at political activists and journalists increasingly affecting ordinary social media users.
Information received by Iran International on September 12 also pointed to a new wave of SIM card suspensions targeting political and civil activists in several Iranian cities without prior notice.
People in Iran have described deteriorating hospital services, rising treatment costs, shortages of medical staff and equipment, and long waits for care, as healthcare workers struggle with low wages and growing workloads, according to accounts shared with Iran International.
The complaints come as health officials report a growing shift from private to public hospitals because of financial hardship, with the country's nursing workforce at roughly half the national standard.
Rising costs and pressure on public hospitals
Four hospitals refused to admit a patient because they lacked specialist doctors, forcing the patient to seek private treatment at a cost of 200 million rials (about $76) in a single night, according to an account sent to Iran International.
The US dollar is trading at around 2.62 million rials in Iran, reflecting the sharp decline in the national currency's purchasing power.
Iran's minimum monthly base wage stands at around 166 million rials ($63), meaning the patient's single-night medical bill exceeded a full month's minimum wage, even before other living expenses.
Another patient said an emergency department at a public hospital charged around 100 million rials (about $38), provided no invoice and said emergency expenses were not covered by insurance.
A resident of Shiraz described worsening conditions at hospitals, where shortages of doctors and nurses have disrupted patient care.
Economic hardship and higher medical tariffs have shifted 30 to 40 percent of patient visits from private facilities to public hospitals this year, Yaser Foroughi, deputy for treatment at Iran University of Medical Sciences, said.
Other patients described overwhelmed medical staff struggling to meet growing demand despite efforts to provide adequate care.
Patients face steep bills and demands for unofficial payments
Several citizens described doctors requesting cash or gold coins outside formal hospital payment procedures before performing surgery.
One patient said a doctor at Tehran's Atieh Hospital quoted 4 billion rials for leg surgery alone, with at least two weeks of hospitalization due to an infection and accommodation for a companion expected to cost another 15 billion rials.
Others complained about rising out-of-pocket expenses and insurance coverage that failed to meet their medical needs.
Equipment shortages and long treatment delays
Patients said hospitals were running short of basic supplies, forcing them to purchase items including bedsheets, syringes and gloves themselves.
Healthcare workers and patients had previously told Iran International in September that syringes, sterile gauze, intravenous cannulas and latex gloves were either scarce or subject to rationing.
Another patient said MRI machines at public hospitals were frequently broken or required waits of up to three months for appointments.
Some private hospitals were also refusing supplementary health insurance, according to accounts submitted to Iran International.
One person said emergency services refused to dispatch an ambulance for their 73-year-old mother, who has cancer, after she fell, because two hours had passed since the fall.
Several patients also complained about declining patience among hospital staff when dealing with patients and their families.
Nurses say they are doing the work of two people
Iran's nursing workforce stands at roughly half the national standard, forcing individual nurses to carry the workload of two people, Ahmad Nejatian, head of Iran's Nursing Organization, said on October 17.
Nurses work an average of 80 hours of overtime each month, Nejatian said.
Healthcare workers linked deteriorating services to severe staffing shortages, exhaustion and inadequate pay.
One nurse said better salaries and living conditions, comparable to those in Persian Gulf countries, Europe and the United States, would improve healthcare workers' ability to care for patients.
A patient hospitalized for 12 days, however, described nurses continuing to treat patients respectfully and work diligently despite severe staff shortages and demanding conditions.
Low wages deepen pressure on healthcare workers
One healthcare worker said medical staff were expected to provide specialized care, particularly in intensive care units, on monthly salaries of just 250 million to 300 million rials ($95–$115), with a housing allowance of 10 million rials (about $4).
Another citizen blamed the government's economic policies for making it increasingly difficult for healthcare workers to concentrate on their duties.
Some nurses have gone months without receiving their salaries, leaving them with little motivation to train new staff, a medical trainee told Iran International in September.
The accounts point to mounting pressure on Iran's healthcare system, with rising treatment costs pushing more patients toward overstretched public hospitals as staff shortages, low wages and equipment shortages constrain the care available to them.
Nearly five decades after the 1979 Revolution brought an end to Iran's legal wine industry, the country retains vast vineyards and a centuries-old winemaking heritage but remains absent from a global wine export market worth $37.8 billion in 2025.
Iran has approximately 128,000 hectares of vineyards, just 31,000 fewer than Australia, whose wine exports were worth around €1.3 billion ($1.45 billion) in 2025.
The disparity reflects the disappearance of an industry from Iran's economy following the revolution, when the newly established Islamic Republic banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages.
Grapes continue to be cultivated across Iran, including in Fars, Qazvin, Hamedan and Urmia, while Iranian raisins remain present in international markets. But an industry that could have generated exports, employment and tourism has remained absent for nearly five decades.
Historic wines of Shiraz
The name "Shiraz" is now one of the most recognizable in the global wine industry, although the grape variety has no proven genetic connection to the grapes historically cultivated in Shiraz, southern Iran.
The shared name has long fueled a theory that the Syrah grape originated in Shiraz, Persia, before reaching France. In 1832, Scottish viticulturist James Busby brought Syrah vines from France to Australia, where the variety eventually became known as Shiraz.
Genetic research later established the grape's French origins, although the precise evolution of the Australian name remains disputed. The historical association with Persia has nevertheless endured.
Wine is deeply embedded in Persian culture and literature. Words such as mey and badeh, both meaning wine, and saqi, meaning cupbearer, established an enduring presence in Persian poetry.
Wine produced in Shiraz enjoyed commercial recognition during the Safavid period, when English and Dutch merchants transported some of it through the Persian Gulf to India and other parts of Asia, primarily for their own consumption.
In 1665, Shah Abbas II granted the French East India Company permission to produce wine in Shiraz for its employees.
The tradition continued into the Pahlavi era. Before the 1979 revolution, wine production and sales were legal in Iran, with commercial wineries operating in the country.
The industry that might have been
Wine is more than the product of a vineyard. The industry extends from agriculture to factories, laboratories, glass bottle manufacturing, packaging, transportation, marketing, exports and tourism.
During the same decades that Iran's wine industry ceased operating, countries including Australia, Chile and New Zealand expanded their presence in the international market through investment in technology, education and branding.
According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Australia had approximately 159,000 hectares of vineyards in 2025 and exported wine worth about €1.3 billion ($1.45 billion).
The comparison does not mean Iran and Australia have identical winemaking potential. Commercial winemaking requires suitable grape varieties, specialized equipment, established production standards and access to international export networks.
A hypothetical model based on OIV statistics and Australian industry data suggests that if 20 percent of Iran's existing vineyards were dedicated to growing grapes suitable for winemaking, annual wine production could reach approximately 125 million liters.
The estimate assumes an average harvest of seven metric tons of grapes per hectare and a conversion rate of 0.7 liters of wine per kilogram of grapes.
Under a hypothetical scenario in which Iran exported half of that production, divided equally between bottled wine at about $5 per liter and bulk wine at about $0.80, annual exports would be worth around $186 million at 2025 prices.
The figure is illustrative rather than a forecast. The calculation does not account for the cost of converting vineyards and building a wine industry, or the value of grape and raisin production displaced in the process.
Even with those limitations, it illustrates how part of Iran's existing agricultural capacity could have developed into an export-oriented industry.
Such an industry could also have generated employment across grape-growing regions, supporting agricultural workers, food-processing businesses, packaging plants, transportation companies and exporters.
A wine tourism destination?
In many parts of the world, winemaking has become an important contributor to tourism, attracting visitors and generating income beyond the vineyards themselves.
Bordeaux in France, Tuscany in Italy and Napa Valley in the United States are among the best-known examples of regions where vineyards have become tourist attractions alongside their role in wine production.
Shiraz, the capital of Fars province in southern Iran, would have had many of the ingredients for developing a comparable form of tourism, although revenues generated by established international wine regions cannot simply be applied to Iran.
The city and surrounding region already boast internationally recognized attractions, including Persepolis, the ancient ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Pasargadae, the tombs of the Persian poets Hafez and Saadi, historic Persian gardens and distinctive local cuisine.
Vineyards, winery tours and opportunities to experience local food and wine could have complemented these attractions.
The name "Shiraz" itself could also have represented a valuable commercial advantage, although its international recognition in wine today is largely the result of Australia's successful industry.
Combining the international familiarity of the Shiraz name with the legacies of Hafez and Saadi, Persepolis, Persian gardens and the region's long history of winemaking could have helped establish a distinctive identity for local tourism.
Other grape-growing regions of Iran such as Qazvin province and the city of Takestan, as well as Hamedan and Urmia, could have established wine-producing regions based on their climates and traditions of grape cultivation.
Iran's lost opportunity extends beyond the wine that might have been produced. It encompasses nearly five decades in which investment, jobs, exports and tourism around such an industry were unable to develop.
Perhaps a glimpse of what such an industry might have become can be found in one of the most celebrated verses of Hafez, the 14th-century Persian poet whose name remains inseparable from Shiraz:
Come, let us scatter flowers and pour wine into the cup.
Let us break through the roof of heaven and devise a new design.
Iranians receiving unemployment benefits say payments have been delayed by up to two months, leaving some struggling to pay for food and service debts, according to messages sent to Iran International.
Recipients described repeated delays of several weeks and said banks and Social Security offices had provided little clarity over when the money would arrive, as inflation above 70% and the rial’s steep decline further squeeze household finances.
“Unemployment benefits are our only lifeline. I’m struggling to cover expenses for myself, my spouse and children,” one recipient said. “Every day the money doesn’t arrive, we’re left with an empty table and a sense of shame.”
Payments ‘weeks late’
Several recipients reported recurring delays of 20 to 25 days, while others said they had gone without benefits for as long as two months.
One person whose payment was more than a month overdue said people depended on the modest allowances to put food on the table and service debts.
The person said Bank Melli and Refah Bank had refused to accept responsibility for the delay, while the Social Security Organization said it had issued the payment check and the matter was now in the banks’ hands.
Another recipient reported a 25-day delay in receiving a monthly allowance of 160 million rials, saying Branch 15 of the Social Security Organization routinely made late payments.
A person with 22 years of employment history who had been unemployed for six months said the organization’s Shemiran branch in northern Tehran had failed to pay their benefits.
Others described receiving vague promises from local offices.
“The payment was supposed to arrive by the 15th of the month, but there’s been nothing. Some branches told us to wait until the 30th because it might be paid then,” one person said.
Under Iranian law, workers who involuntarily lose their jobs may qualify for unemployment benefits if they meet employment and insurance requirements.
For many recipients, the payments are their primary source of income while looking for work.
Social Security under strain
The delays come amid wider concerns about the finances of the Social Security Organization (SSO), Iran’s main social insurance institution responsible for unemployment benefits and pensions.
SSO chief Mostafa Salari said on July 27 that the organization faced a monthly pension shortfall of at least 170 trillion rials even if it collected all current insurance contributions. He put its debt to the central bank at 750 trillion rials.
Pensioners have also protested over delayed payments in recent months. On Sept. 20, retirees gathered in Tehran, Ahvaz, Rasht, Shush and Kermanshah to demand outstanding payments, including delayed pension adjustments.
The complaints come alongside broader reports of unpaid wages and insurance contributions across Iran.
Iran International reported last month that workers in several sectors, including factories and healthcare facilities, were facing delayed salaries and insurance contributions.
Workers laid off from Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas have also reported unpaid wages and difficulties accessing unemployment benefits.
For those waiting for payments, however, the immediate problem is making ends meet.
“They haven’t deposited my unemployment benefits. I have countless loan repayments and debts, and I’m desperate,” one recipient said. “Social Security treats us so badly, as though we’re the ones who owe them money.”
Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi says his next film will be in Persian and set in Tehran but shot abroad to avoid Iran's mandatory hijab rules and government permit requirements.
In a caption accompanying Instagram video excerpts from a cinema masterclass in Brazil, Farhadi said the screenplay for his next film, a social drama, was nearing completion and filming was planned for 2027.
"My next film, whose screenplay is nearing completion, is a social drama in Persian and has nothing to do with Palestine," he wrote, apparently responding to social media rumors.
"Although the story is set in Tehran, as I have previously stated, I am not willing to make a film under an official permit and with mandatory hijab requirements. For this reason, the film is scheduled to be shot outside Iran next year."
Under Iran's film regulations, filmmakers must obtain production permits from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees the film industry and enforces government censorship requirements.
Directors must submit scripts for approval before filming, while completed productions undergo a separate review before they can be screened publicly. Female performers are also required to wear the hijab on screen, including in scenes depicting private settings.
Farhadi, who won Academy Awards for A Separation and The Salesman, had already announced plans to return to Persian-language filmmaking.
In an August 18 interview with film industry publication Screen Daily, he said his next project would be shot outside Iran and France, citing political and social restrictions as his reason for not filming in his home country.
His latest comments explicitly reaffirmed his refusal to work under Iran's official permit system and mandatory hijab requirements.
Farhadi rejects Tehran’s interpretation of his Hollywood remarks
The filmmaker also addressed controversy surrounding remarks he made about Hollywood cinema and American democracy during a masterclass in Brazil.
Farhadi said some media outlets had incorrectly described his comments as an interview with entertainment publication Variety, when they were made in response to a moderator's question about the Hollywood film Argo during a session attended by students and cinema enthusiasts.
The 2012 film, directed by Ben Affleck, depicts a CIA operation to rescue six Americans from Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.
"Criticizing parts of Hollywood cinema, the condescending perspective in some films, and discussing American democracy in no way means endorsing the existence of democracy or the way Iran is governed," Farhadi wrote.
He accused media outlets close to Iran's government of exploiting his remarks for political purposes, saying the same outlets had spent years insulting and attacking him.
"The appropriation of my remarks by certain media outlets close to the government is a blatant misuse for their political objectives, which I have never believed in," he wrote.
"Iran, my homeland, has been my red line throughout all these years," Farhadi added. "Everything I have said, and everything I will say from now on, has always been based on this conviction."
