We've analysed new videos published by @vahid.online that show rows of body bags at the Kahrizak mortuary in Tehran on 10 January. We've counted at least 186 bodies in one clip and at least 178 bodies in another, although the true figure is likely much higher. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I wrote about the Iranian protests, the challenges they face to bring about democratization and why I think the writing is on the wall for the Islamic Republic. Let me know what you think! www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

A good discussion from yesterday

"... the regime won’t be able to kill its way out of this crisis. The core policies of the 1979 revolution—puritanical sociocultural repression at home and anti-Western and anti-Israeli activity abroad—will have to be discarded." by @arashtehran.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Question for @arashtehran.bsky.social: how do you interpret this protest slogan? Iran First? "No to Gaza; no to Lebanon; my life only for Iran.” From: www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

A couple of BOOK EVENTS: Tomorrow night @arashtehran.bsky.social is doing an online event with Backstory. backstory.london/products/wha... Then on the 27th @shippersunbound.bsky.social is talking to David McCloskey in Dulwich about his latest book: www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

I spoke with Arash Azizi about what is different between US policy on Venezuela and Iran. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

ENTRE LES MOLLAHS, ISRAËL ET TRUMP : L’IRAN PRIS AU PIÈGE @aminesnoussi.bsky.social reçoit @arashtehran.bsky.social dans ce nouvel Entretien d'Actu www.lemediatv.fr/emissions/20...

One of the most powerful images of the Iranian protests is that of an Iranian young woman burning Khamenei’s portrait, and lighting her cigarette with it. Photographer unknown.

Change May Be Coming to Iran Trump’s ouster of Venezuela’s president has the Islamic Republic on edge and the opposition energized. @arashtehran.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

ENTRE LES MOLLAHS, ISRAËL ET TRUMP : L’IRAN PRIS AU PIÈGE @aminesnoussi.bsky.social reçoit @arashtehran.bsky.social dans ce nouvel Entretien d'Actu www.lemediatv.fr/emissions/20...

Listeners have been asking for a shoppable TGS bookshelf since we launched the show, so we’ve kindly obliged with the help of Bookshop! You’ll be able to find books by our authors as well as the ones they’ve recommended on the pod, all while supporting indie bookstores! It’s really a win-win.

I really feel like the Tate Modern might be turning a corner. After years of incredibly tedious and annoying captions alongside very poorly conceived exhibitions, both Nigerian Modernism and the Emily Kam Kngwarray (closes on 11 January) are a massive return to form.

CNN just pointed it out, but since no one has posted it yet, I'll be that guy. Here's today's round of Kill Your Inner Mercator: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Venezuela in a way your brain can handle

Trump on María Corina Machado: "I think it'd be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman but she doesn't have the respect."

i think that people really underestimate reality that 1) administration has no doctrine, it is really about a single, mercurial, and half-awake man 2) the administration is a constantly churning system with factions that rise and fall contextually 3) might not have happened if trump tower caracas

FOX & FRIENDS: What do you think is next for the Venezuelan people now that you have removed Maduro so he can face American justice? TRUMP: Well, we're making that decision now. We can't take a chance on letting somebody else run it, just take over where he left off. So we're making that decision

Can the protesters prevail against the Islamic Republic? Arash Azizi looks at the Iranian movement's challenges and prospects:

Lee: As a Black woman, there’s no way I don’t have hope. I’ve seen a lot in my life, and we have these moments of backward steps. But we have hope. I see hope. I see our young people—they have hope. I see them fighting hard for our democracy and for a better life.

i'm really having a hard time getting past the "surely we can all agree that Somalis are worse than trash" thing. this feels new and very bad

so who on here is talking about what’s going on in Iran?

The best history podcast there is

Here is the editor of Tablet agreeably reposting someone calling nonwhite NYC immigrants "worthless biotrash." It's astonishing how quickly this stuff has escaped containment

Our executive director, Rabbi @mhughesrob.bsky.social, was invited to officially represent @partners4israel.bsky.social at @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's inauguration yesterday as the 112th mayor of New York City - and was honored to attend!

I wrote about #IranProtests www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Ringing out the year by repeating one of my most common rants: The closure of an institutional library is a very strong predictor of institutional decline.

Alona is a real force and I love what she has done in Prospect

It's the end of a year, so I'm going to make the most of the excuse for some shameless self-promotion. Slightly seriously though, I've produced some journalism I'm proud of in 2025, so here is a thread of some of the pieces I wrote for @prospectmagazine.co.uk .... /1

Also after the war broke out, @arashtehran.bsky.social joined me on the Prospect podcast to discuss the crisis. Arash is Iranian and I'm Israeli, so this felt very meaningful /8 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro... / 8

SUPPORT MERIP: Help us out during our year-end campaign! Make a one-time or monthly donation here! buff.ly/f0kChM5

People who care about Iran’s future should be paying attention to protests in Soush square and Yaftabad. These suggest a different social configuration and ones that can reverberate beyond Tehran (at least this is what I learned 20 years ago).

As @benpatrickwill.bsky.social notes: the proliferation of AI generated 'references to non-existent papers ... is potentially corrosive to the scholarly knowledge environment'. But who are those, citing these papers? We can't ignore our responsibilities as scholars. Students may be another question.

the ADA was probably the last piece of great bipartisan American legislation on civil rights, and it's fiercely under attack from a deeply ableist administration. But it's a great achievement!

Rfk is going to cause so so many deaths. He already has. Im TERRIFIED seeing the level of vaccine ignorance online. Especially among parent groups😔

I used to teach an undergrad historical methods class and their favorite day was always the one where we listen to @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social telling Naomi Wolf (live, on air on the BBC) that she misinterpreted her data and based her whole book around something that didn’t happen

Iran’s economy is wrecked, its allies deposed, its once-fearsome militia humiliated, Arash Azizi argues. But Ali Khamenei is holding the line while he still can. What happens next?

articles like this are aimed at other members of the demographic who feel that wokeness has quashed their job prospects, but As A Woman, it's pretty discouraging to read them and realize how many of my peers might see me as having achieved my own career only by stealing what was rightfully theirs

What's going on in Iran in the aftermath of the 12 Day War? I wrote about the security calculations, the power struggle -- and the scary stasis that has gripped Iran today www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Noam Chomsky’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein display none of the fawning chatter found from, say, Larry Summers. And he does not appear to have been co-opted by whatever access Epstein provided. https://bit.ly/4s3vx5A

"Powerful forces far from Australia have responded to the conflict in Gaza by promoting anti-Semitism globally, and acts of violence like the one in Sydney are the predictable result," Arash Azizi argues:

I wrote about the Bondi Beach shooting www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

No, this is not why there was an antisemitic terror attack in Australia today. You really can critique the actions of the state of Israel without saying that they are responsible for all antisemitism across the entire world. Truly, you can.

BREAKING: Dan Elkayam, a young French Jewish man, has been confirmed killed in the shooting at the Chanukah party in Bondi Beach. May his memory forever be a blessing.

Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah. Praying for his full & speedy recovery. And so deeply inspired by his example.

“It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi’s latest film, “turns the camera inward, toward the pugnacious debates pitting Iranians against one another,” Arash Azizi writes: https://theatln.tc/kPTTDVCH 🎨: The Atlantic. Source: Emma McIntyre / Getty.