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00:00:00A live look at the most important news and events in Iran and
00:00:04the world.
00:00:12Stay with us for the latest developments in the
00:00:14World Cup.
00:00:18With us, along with
00:00:21you.
00:00:26This is London, BBC Radio. 8 PM Tehran time.
00:00:30News headlines: Democratic leaders say ending the Iran
00:00:34war is one of their priorities after their victory in the US
00:00:37midterm congressional elections. Continued reactions in
00:00:40Iran to the defeat of Trump's allies in the congressional
00:00:44elections, from burning the US president's poster
00:00:47to advising his deputy to prevent another attack.
00:00:51We ask an expert: What impact will the defeat of the Republicans
00:00:55in the midterm elections, especially when the Iran war is
00:00:58one of the factors of dissatisfaction,
00:01:01have on Trump's decision? And the issuance of a death
00:01:05sentence for a social media activist. Concern
00:01:08over the increase in executions in Iran. We ask why activity on
00:01:12social networks has led to the issuance of a death sentence,
00:01:15and how far will the high number of executions go? All of this
00:01:18in the BBC
00:01:20community.
00:01:24Hello, you are listening to BBC Radio. I am Farin Asemi, and this is
00:01:28the World Cup program on Thursday, November 14,
00:01:312026. The producer of this program is
00:01:35Mina Jooshaghani. We will be with you for the next half
00:01:38hour. After the Democrats' victory in the US congressional elections,
00:01:42the leaders of this party say that ending the Iran war will be one
00:01:46of the main priorities of the next House of Representatives
00:01:49and Senate. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries
00:01:53promised that Congress would no longer be completely subservient
00:01:56to the Trump administration. Yesterday, JD Vance, the US Vice
00:02:00President, said that the reason for the Republicans' defeat in
00:02:03the midterm elections is the Iran war. Mahnoush Pourziayi, our
00:02:06correspondent from Washington, has joined us. Mahnoush, the Democrats
00:02:10have said that their priority is to address the people's demands
00:02:14regarding high prices and ending the Iran war. Please
00:02:17explain more about this and how likely they are to succeed in this
00:02:21in reality.
00:02:24One of the few points of agreement that you
00:02:28see in Washington, apparently now after these elections
00:02:31and their results, is that the Iran
00:02:35war and its economic consequences have caused the defeat of
00:02:38the Republicans. Both the Republicans themselves
00:02:42and the people who actually participated in the polls
00:02:45at the ballot boxes show this and
00:02:48say so. Therefore, if the Democrats
00:02:52want to act on the promises they made to the people,
00:02:56they must implement these plans. How much
00:03:00power they have in the two months ahead
00:03:03before the new Congress takes office, and after
00:03:07that, Mr. Trump will still remain
00:03:10in the White House with the same
00:03:13advisors. Mr. Trump's character has not changed
00:03:16overnight. We have seen in the last 10 years
00:03:20that it has not changed, although it has always remained
00:03:23unpredictable. And the issue of war is that, unfortunately,
00:03:27a situation has started that has no off button.
00:03:31What the Democrats can do is limit
00:03:34the war budget, meaning
00:03:37by opposing or resisting the
00:03:41approval of new appropriations, for example, in this short
00:03:45period they have until the new Congress, they can
00:03:48take action until the next
00:03:51Congress starts its work. And then
00:03:54they can, for example, if they form
00:03:57a coalition with Republicans,
00:04:00they will have the necessary majority to, despite
00:04:04Mr. Trump's opposition, for example, make new
00:04:07legislation and laws they pass possible to
00:04:11expand the war or to stop the war.
00:04:14Even now, it's a situation where
00:04:18everyone is looking for a scapegoat in the US. One of
00:04:22the people Mr. Trump is said to be displeased with
00:04:25is the Secretary of Defense. If the Secretary
00:04:29of Defense changes, can it affect the situation
00:04:32of the war with Iran?
00:04:34It depends on who you ask. The culprit
00:04:38is different. What we've heard from Mr. Trump
00:04:42until this morning is that he's happy with Secretary
00:04:45of Defense Pete Hegseth and has no intention of replacing
00:04:49him. The talks that domestic sources have had with
00:04:53some media outlets are that despite the fact
00:04:56that Pete Hegseth is not very popular
00:04:58in Congress, his performance is under question. He hasn't
00:05:02been very transparent, and his interactions with
00:05:06representatives and senators have been
00:05:08such that they don't have a very good opinion of him. But
00:05:13if Mr. Trump wants to continue supporting
00:05:16him, he can naturally prevent
00:05:20Mr. Hegseth's impeachment. For example,
00:05:23the Washington Post is talking about the possibility
00:05:27that Admiral Cooper, who
00:05:31is currently the war director in the region, or
00:05:34General Keane, who is in charge of the Joint
00:05:38Chiefs of Staff, might be the ones who actually
00:05:41become the victims of this defeat
00:05:44and fall under Mr. Trump's blade.
00:05:47Pete
00:05:50who until now has actually been a yes-man to Mr. Trump,
00:05:53and Mr. Trump has been relying heavily
00:05:57on him. On the other hand, when the Democrats
00:06:01take control in January, the Speaker of the House of Representatives
00:06:05will also go to a member of this party, and they have
00:06:08promised to confront the Trump cartel, according to their own
00:06:14words. How much can they stand
00:06:16against Mr. Trump's decisions?
00:06:19It completely depends on what
00:06:22issue they choose to work on. In fact,
00:06:26the Democrats must be able to strike a balance
00:06:29between addressing the people's demands
00:06:32and, for example, the issue of war and high prices,
00:06:36and at the same time, holding the Trump
00:06:38administration accountable.
00:06:40And in this situation, this balance
00:06:44may be able to help them, for example, to add
00:06:48some Republicans to their side,
00:06:51to form a coalition that can have
00:06:55the necessary majority to overcome Mr. Trump's
00:06:58veto power and take action.
00:07:01At the same time, if they want to sharpen
00:07:05their knives and go for impeaching the president,
00:07:08they may not have
00:07:12that wall. They may not get the necessary support
00:07:16from Republicans, and they may also get so
00:07:19caught up in political disputes that they lose the main message
00:07:23they gave to the people and get into trouble
00:07:27again for the 2028 presidential election. Thank
00:07:30you very much, Mahnoush Poosyayi, our correspondent in
00:07:34Washington. But, as we said
00:07:36earlier, following the Democrats' victory
00:07:40in the US congressional midterm elections, the leaders of this
00:07:44party say that ending the Iran war will be one of the priorities
00:07:48of the House of Representatives and Senate. But in Iran,
00:07:51there is still talk of preparing for the possibility
00:07:54of another attack from the US. Farnoush Amirshahi is here in
00:07:58the studio with us. Farnoush, tell us a little more about the
00:08:01reactions inside Iran. Well, the US elections have been important
00:08:05for Iran, and not only yesterday and today, but in
00:08:08recent weeks, they had also addressed this issue because
00:08:11the shadow of the war between the US
00:08:15and Iran weighed heavily on these elections, and the outcome
00:08:19of these elections was important to them. It can be said that
00:08:22the reactions had almost three axes. On the one
00:08:26hand, they were saying that Trump's defeat was a victory
00:08:29for the discourse of the Islamic Republic. This was the narrative
00:08:33seen in media close to the government, as well
00:08:36as in the reactions of some officials.
00:08:39Its outward manifestation was in the nightly gatherings
00:08:43that happened yesterday, coinciding with November 4,
00:08:46the anniversary of the hostage-taking at
00:08:49the US embassy in Iran in 1978, which was
00:08:52a continuous story, and they had used this
00:08:56coincidence yesterday and said
00:09:00that this has happened again, that what is happening
00:09:04in Iran and the whole issue of Iran
00:09:06has caused the domestic politics of the US
00:09:10to fail. They had put up large banners in
00:09:14the squares with pictures of Donald Trump,
00:09:17Benjamin Netanyahu, JD Vance, and they burned
00:09:20them during a ceremony in Tajrish Square.
00:09:23There is also a billboard installed there
00:09:27with a symbolic prison,
00:09:29where an actor playing Trump has been shown
00:09:33for some time, and what happened last night
00:09:36was that on Iranian state television,
00:09:40they showed the scene of Donald Trump being executed.
00:09:43This has received a lot of criticism, that a scene of execution
00:09:46on television at a time when children are also
00:09:50watching television is not an ethical
00:09:53and appropriate behavior. Beyond this, another
00:09:56section hopes that with this defeat,
00:10:00perhaps there will be a change in Donald Trump's policies.
00:10:04This could be seen in the editorials of some newspapers
00:10:07and in the comments of some political activists,
00:10:11who talk about how now with the rise of the Democrats,
00:10:14there is a possibility that they will prevent
00:10:18Donald Trump's warlike policies from continuing.
00:10:22However, there is also concern
00:10:25about Donald Trump's military reaction to
00:10:29this issue, especially since a message attributed
00:10:32to Mojtaba Khamenei was published yesterday, stating
00:10:36that any party that comes to power
00:10:40in the US does not mean that
00:10:43this government and this country will change its approach,
00:10:46and Iran's policy will not change towards it.
00:10:50Well, this has created the speculation that Iran probably does
00:10:53not want to change its policy, and as a result,
00:10:57this can also be an axis. Let me also
00:11:01say that Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has responded to JD Vance
00:11:04in a detailed tweet, saying, among other things, that the
00:11:08war with Iran has affected the Republicans' defeat. Qalibaf,
00:11:12addressing him, said, "Tell these words you said here to your boss,
00:11:15meaning Donald Trump, because he is preparing for the
00:11:18next phase of the war." Farnoush, if
00:11:22you could briefly tell us about the diplomatic efforts,
00:11:25for example, Mohsen Rezaee's trip to Moscow and meeting
00:11:29minute. This trip was not announced in advance. It was
00:11:32two or three days after the two sides spoke
00:11:36on the phone. Now, Iranian media say that Mohsen
00:11:39Rezaee, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has
00:11:42gone to Moscow to deliver a message attributed to Mojtaba
00:11:46Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. It is not clear
00:11:50what this message is about, but Vladimir Putin has
00:11:54been more active lately in mediating
00:11:57between the US and Iran. At the same time,
00:12:00Abbas Araghchi also had calls today with the foreign ministers
00:12:04of the Mecca Pact: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey,
00:12:07as well as separate telephone conversations with the foreign
00:12:11ministers of Qatar and Oman, two parties actively mediating.
00:12:14All of this indicates that
00:12:18diplomatic efforts are still underway
00:12:21to prevent another round
00:12:25of war between the two countries. Thank you very
00:12:28much to Farnoush Amirshahi, here in the studio with us.
00:12:31But what will be the effect of the
00:12:34midterm election results on the Iran war? For more analysis,
00:12:38Omid Memarian, a political analyst from the Dann Institute
00:12:41in Detroit, USA, is with us. Mr. Memarian, what
00:12:45impact can the defeat of the Republicans in the midterm elections,
00:12:48especially when the Iran war is cited as one of the factors of voter
00:12:52dissatisfaction, have on Trump's decision? What decision
00:12:55will he make? Is it a military
00:12:56option or
00:13:00an agreement? First, regarding the impact
00:13:04of the Iran war on the US elections, I would like to point
00:13:07out that usually, foreign policy
00:13:11issues in the US do not attract the attention
00:13:14of voters, but if a foreign policy issue has a direct
00:13:17impact on their lives, then this changes the
00:13:21situation. A combination of factors, including the Iran
00:13:25war, have led to gasoline, diesel,
00:13:28services, and transportation prices,
00:13:32among other things, going up, and people fully feeling it.
00:13:35Among them is the Iran war, the tariffs Mr. Trump
00:13:39imposed, and various policies he implemented.
00:13:42Now, the Democrats have an agenda in the US
00:13:46Congress when they come to power, which is to pressure
00:13:49for the war to end. Despite the fact that
00:13:52the US Congress
00:13:55has a significant role in providing financial
00:13:59resources and funding for the war, it can put
00:14:02pressure on Mr. Trump's administration officials,
00:14:06summon them to the House of Representatives and the Senate
00:14:09to testify about their decisions, and in short,
00:14:13create a lot of pressure. But Mr. Trump still
00:14:16has a lot of freedom in foreign policy and can make many
00:14:20decisions and use his power
00:14:24from various sectors to launch a military
00:14:28attack and end the war as he wishes. The prolonged
00:14:31war will be very toxic for Mr. Trump and for
00:14:35the Republicans because as long as the war
00:14:37if prices continue to rise
00:14:41or remain high, the Democrats will blame it on the
00:14:45war and say that it is due to the war and its
00:14:49continuation. Therefore, Mr. Trump is forced to end the war
00:14:52sooner. But whether he wants to end it sooner through
00:14:56negotiations or a new military attack
00:14:59is a matter of debate and concern. And now,
00:15:03although the possibility may have decreased, the concern
00:15:06about the war still exists, given that the lobbies
00:15:10and those who were in favor of war are still present
00:15:14and influencing Mr. Trump's decisions. On the other hand,
00:15:18we have Tehran. The Iranian government may
00:15:21consider Trump's defeat a sign of his weakness
00:15:34and the tough stances of Islamic Republic officials.
00:16:07This means that if the officials of the Islamic Republic
00:16:11present a proposal, a creative plan, that is actually
00:16:15noteworthy and
00:16:19revives the hope that serious negotiations can be established,
00:16:22at least in a limited framework initially, and then
00:16:26move towards a more comprehensive framework, then, of course,
00:16:30they greatly reduce the chance of a military attack,
00:16:33because more forces exist that support negotiations.
00:16:37But if they are to, as before, like during the JCPOA and
00:16:41before that, always see the US as a single entity
00:16:45and these changes are not meaningful to them, and they always
00:16:48have a hostile and enemy view,
00:16:52and they don't see how they can use the opportunities
00:16:56that arise to solve the country's problems, then we may
00:17:00go towards options that Mr. Trump is willing to do,
00:17:03and powerful lobbies that exist in the US, including
00:17:06the Israeli lobby, will impose that on Mr. Trump.
00:17:10Now that Democrats have gained control of both houses of
00:17:14Congress, how much power do they actually have to prevent
00:17:17a new Trump attack on Iran? Is there a law
00:17:20that can help them? Honestly, there is no
00:17:24law to prevent Mr. Trump from attacking Iran. Mr. Trump
00:17:28has a lot of freedom and can use his power
00:17:32in various ways for a military attack on Iran. If they
00:17:35feel there is a danger or say there was a threat
00:17:39and in short, they want to attack under some
00:17:43pretext, Congress cannot stop them. Over the past
00:17:46decades, we have seen Obama, George
00:17:48Bush, and Mr. Trump himself use this issue,
00:17:52use this capacity. In foreign policy, there
00:17:56is a lot of pressure. From the public opinion's
00:18:00perspective, the cost will be higher, but Mr. Trump
00:18:03is not someone who will be worried about his record
00:18:07in the next two years. His public opinion rating
00:18:11cannot get worse than it is now. His situation in
00:18:14public opinion is very low and bad. His popularity
00:18:18is very low. But he is not a conventional president
00:18:21who makes decisions in the same way as previous
00:18:24presidents, using the same computational system and making
00:18:27reasonable decisions. Therefore, any possibility exists from
00:18:31his point of view. Thank you very much to Omid Memarian,
00:18:35political analyst from the Dann Institute in Detroit, who
00:18:39joined us. In the latest development in the case of
00:18:42the three victims of Savak torture against him,
00:18:46the Florida State Court in a new ruling
00:18:49agreed to continue the legal proceedings, stating
00:18:52that the plaintiffs' fear of retaliation and
00:18:55Sabeti's life were the reasons for years of
00:18:59delay in filing the complaint. We asked Raha Bahreini,
00:19:02a lawyer and researcher at Amnesty International
00:19:06in London about the significance
00:19:08of the court's ruling. In these days when news
00:19:12of executions and torture surrounds us, this ruling
00:19:16is very important, not only for addressing the torture
00:19:20that has remained without judicial review and accountability
00:19:24for decades, but also as a hopeful message
00:19:27to the victims of torture during the Islamic Republic
00:19:31who want to file a complaint. If individuals accused
00:19:35of torture are identified in the US,
00:19:38even after years or months of the incident, the court
00:19:41explicitly stated that the issue of passage of time
00:19:45cannot be raised at all, because repressive
00:19:49and human rights violating regimes
00:19:52have always been in power in Iran,
00:19:55and there have been no courts that could
00:19:58even hear the plaintiffs' complaints. It has been
00:20:02a continuous chain of repression. This means not only torture
00:20:06during the Pahlavi
00:20:12regime, but also crimes that are becoming more
00:20:15severe during the Islamic Republic. It says that
00:20:19given this situation, as long as such repressive
00:20:22regimes rule in Iran, foreign courts can hear
00:20:26the plaintiffs' complaints without delay. This point
00:20:30is important because according to the Torture
00:20:33Victims Protection Act in the US, such a
00:20:36complaint usually must be filed within a 10-year
00:20:39period from the date of the incident. But
00:20:42in extraordinary circumstances, this time limit can be
00:20:46extended, and the court here has explicitly
00:20:50stated that this delay was justified due to
00:20:52the repressive situation, as well as Mr.
00:20:56Sabeti's concealment, according to the court.
00:20:59That was Raha Bahreini, a lawyer and researcher
00:21:02at Amnesty International in London. Reza Shafakhah,
00:21:05the lawyer for Amir Hossein Mousavi, a social media
00:21:09activist known by the username "James Biden," has
00:21:12announced that his client has been sentenced to death.
00:21:15Mr. Shafakhah says that his client has been sentenced
00:21:18to death on charges of "corruption on earth"
00:21:22through activity on the Twitter account "James Biden." In
00:21:26recent months, the ruling has been issued while in
00:21:29recent months, after the December protests and the US-Israel
00:21:33war against Iran, the Iranian government has executed many
00:21:36people. The Iran Human Rights Organization says that the Islamic
00:21:40Republic has executed 691 people since the beginning
00:21:44of the current calendar year. Hossein Raeisi, a lawyer
00:21:47and professor at Carleton University from Toronto,
00:21:51Canada, is with us. Mr. Raeisi, welcome to the program. Amir
00:21:54Hossein Mousavi has been sentenced to death for activity
00:21:58on social media and on charges of "corruption
00:22:02on earth." Is it legally possible for activity
00:22:05on a Twitter account to lead to such a
00:22:08ruling? First, I would like to
00:22:12greet you and all your viewers and listeners.
00:22:15And I must say that it should be
00:22:18very unlikely for such a thing to happen. Unfortunately,
00:22:22Mr. Mousavi's lawyer has not
00:22:25released more details regarding
00:22:28how the charge of "corruption on earth" was
00:22:32attributed to Mr. Mousavi. But usually, Article
00:22:35286 of the Islamic Penal Code is used,
00:22:39which states that anyone who has extensive activity
00:22:43in organized crime or publishes such content.
00:22:45How the court can reach
00:22:49this issue is very, very difficult,
00:22:53that it is merely through
00:22:56activity on a Twitter account or a virtual
00:22:59activity. And when we consider the entirety
00:23:03of what we know about this case so far,
00:23:06such as forced televised confessions,
00:23:09and such as Mr. Mousavi being
00:23:12held in solitary confinement for very
00:23:16long periods, and it is natural that he was
00:23:20tortured. Solitary confinement is considered torture
00:23:23according to the laws of the Islamic Republic itself.
00:23:26And when access to the case
00:23:30and information regarding the case is not made public,
00:23:33when Mr. Salavati, for example, is the
00:23:36judge of the case, with a history of infamy
00:23:40for issuing many unjustified
00:23:43death sentences, which this
00:23:46person actually has on his record.
00:24:04After the December events, after the two wars we
00:24:08went through last year, unfortunately, the Islamic
00:24:11Republic easily sends young
00:24:14people to the firing squad without
00:24:17having valid reasons.
00:24:21For political accusations, it very easily
00:24:25issues such sentences without having to
00:24:28explain to public opinion, without having to
00:24:32clarify the reasons for the case or hold a public
00:24:35hearing so that society is aware of it.
00:24:38You mentioned that after the December
00:24:41protests and the war, a large number of people
00:24:45were executed. According to the Iran Human Rights
00:24:48Organization, since the beginning
00:24:51of the current calendar year, people have been executed
00:24:54in Iran. Despite international protests, we are still
00:24:58witnessing the issuance and execution of death
00:25:01sentences. Do you think that these international
00:25:05reactions and protests have not been sufficient,
00:25:08or that the Islamic Republic simply ignores
00:25:11them and seeks to create fear and terror?
00:25:15We can consider both. What we are facing
00:25:19in the realm of international human rights today
00:25:22is that it is severely weakened
00:25:26because even major powers that
00:25:29in the past, or in any case, whose countries
00:25:33claimed to uphold human
00:25:36بشر و رعایت حقوق بین الملل داشتن یا خودشون در
00:25:40rights and international human rights, or were
00:25:43leaders in this field, have presented a double
00:25:47standard. The issue of using the human
00:25:50rights system is a flawed system for any place
00:25:54where powers want to use it. Although the human
00:25:57rights system is exactly a system that can save
00:26:00the world if it is
00:26:03implemented correctly. However, we do not have
00:26:07a powerful function from the United
00:26:09Nations today that can
00:26:12prevent behaviors that are not
00:26:15transparent and, in fact, at
00:26:19least politically question
00:26:23the structure that undertakes
00:26:25to expand the death penalty.
00:26:29And also, from a political
00:26:36and diplomatic perspective, we do not see countries
00:26:40being able to do anything other than expressing concern
00:26:44about the increase in executions in the current situation
00:26:53situation, when the Islamic Republic sees that
00:26:56it is under international pressure
00:26:59and under attack, and also internally.
00:27:24The Islamic Republic has made it vulnerable against
00:27:28Israel. What is the source of this level of
00:27:31Israeli intelligence penetration into the Islamic
00:27:34Republic's structure? And why has
00:27:38Israel so far not been able to achieve
00:27:41its desired result by using this intelligence
00:27:45and security capital? Weakening a political
00:27:48system is different from your ability to change
00:30:24To what extent will the next US Congress delegation, which is due to take office in less than two months,
00:30:28affect the White House's policy towards
00:30:32Iran? And before they arrive, will we
00:30:35witness another war or a new agreement?
00:30:39This is Dariush Rajabian with the third page of the special US election live from London.