Trump's Iran policy, Pakhshan Azizi's death sentence halted—and more
The Iranist for the week of January 24, 2025
Some news from me: I’ve joined The Washington Institute as a senior fellow.
THE هفت/SEVEN THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:
۱/1 Reading the Trump Iran policy tea leaves
THE INAUGURATION On January 20, hours before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said:
“We hope that the approaches and policies of the [new] US government will be realistic and based on international law and respect for the interests and desires of the nations of the region, including the Iranian nation.” (Times of Israel)
President Trump didn’t make a reference to Iran during his inauguration speech. However, he mentioned it at the inauguration parade while addressing family members of Israeli hostages and one former hostage:
“None of you would even know anything about this tragedy that you’re going through right now. But Iran was broke, anybody that bought oil from Iran, they couldn’t do any business with us. You’re not going to do business with America. China passed, everybody passed, they were broke. They didn’t have money for Hamas. They didn’t have money for Hezbollah. And your sons would be alive and they certainly wouldn’t be incarcerated like they are. It’s a shame…” (Roll Call)
How Tehran reacted to Trump’s inauguration:
“[C]onservative and ultraconservative Iranian dailies notably refrained from covering the future of US-Iran relations, while reformist newspapers were actively considering various strategies to engage with Washington.” (Iran International)

FACES OF MAX PRESSURE OUT Hours after being sworn-in, Trump announced on Truth Social that Brian Hook, the head of his transition team and the former Special Envoy for Iran during his first administration, had been fired. In a post, the president wrote:
“My Presidential Personnel Office is actively identifying and removing over a thousand presidential appointees from the previous administration who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again… Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars… YOU’RE FIRED!” (X)
On January 21, President Trump revoked the Secret Service detail of his former National Security Advisor John Bolton (CNN). Trump initially ended his protection after he left his administration in the first term, but President Joe Biden restored it. Iran has repeatedly vowed revenge for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani’s assassination via US drone strike in 2020 and has singled out former Trump officials for their direct or indirect involvement. In 2022, the US Justice Department announced criminal charges against an IRGC member for allegedly trying to plan the assassination of Bolton. The former advisor is known for his hawkish views on Iran.
On the same day, Bolton wrote on X:
“I am disappointed but not surprised… Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021… The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call.”
Two days later, on January 23, Trump also revoked the security detail of Hook and former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was also reportedly the target of an assassination plot (New York Times). Pompeo was the face of the first Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign.
As the New York Times reports, “the threat assessments from the intelligence community that the risk level remained for… Pompeo… Hook and… Bolton had been the basis for the Biden administration granting it to them.” The Biden administration had also said an assassination of a former US government official would be an act of war.
AN IRAN ENVOY? The Financial Times is reporting that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will take on the Iran file, noting that:
“Trump and his aides have telegraphed in early meetings that they want to keep open a path to avoiding a broader confrontation with Iran. Some Trump officials have told foreign diplomats and colleagues that they expect Witkoff to lead efforts to see whether a diplomatic accommodation is possible.”
The billionaire real estate developer was key in securing the Gaza ceasefire. On January 23, Trump was asked if he would place Witkoff in charge and if he wanted him to talk to Iran directly. The president responded, “No, he’s certainly someone I would use. He’s done a fantastic job. He’s a great negotiator.” (X)
Reporters also asked Trump whether he would support strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He replied:
“I’m not going to answer that… Hopefully that can be worked out without having to worry about it. It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step. Iran will hopefully make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal that’s okay too.” (Times of Israel)
RESTRAINED IRAN APPROACH? On January 21, Michael P. DiMino, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and advocate of restraint in dealing with Iran, was named deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. As Al-Monitor reports, “DiMino was a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Koch-funded think tank advocating restraint in engaging the US military in foreign policy.”
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? Given the firing of Hook and pulling of Secret Service details for the former special envoy, Bolton, and Pompeo, as well as the Witkoff and DiMino appointments, Tehran may interpret these events as positive signals from the Donald Trump administration.
Picking up on this common thread, the Tehran Times, the English daily of the state-run Islamic Propagation Organisation, said that Iran-based analysts remain skeptical as there is still talk of maximum pressure being part of the Trump administration’s Iran policy. Similarly, there are other hawkish figures in the administration, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
۲/2 Kurdish-Iranian activist Pakhshan Azizi’s death sentence temporarily halted
Nine were arrested in Kurdistan province for participating in strikes protesting Pakhshan Azizi and Varisha Moradi’s death sentences (VOA).
Read: A year of resistance inside Iran’s prisons against executions (CHRI)
۳/3 Two Supreme Court judges assassinated
On January 18, two Supreme Court judges with atrocious human rights records were assassinated at the court in the capital, Tehran (CNN). A third judge and a bodyguard were also wounded in the attack. The assailant—who had no pending legal cases—killed judges Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh and then attempted to flee before taking his own life. No group has claimed responsibility for the assassinations.
Razini and Moghiseh were involved in the mass execution of 5,000 political prisoners, known as the 1988 massacre, and also faced corruption allegations (AP). In 1999, Razini survived an assassination attempt after a bomb was attached to his car.
Moghiseh is known for presiding over cases related to the 2009 post-election protests known as the Green Movement and for sentencing human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes. He has also pressed charges against numerous artists, journalists, internet users, and members of the Baha’i religious minority (Treasury.gov). He was sanctioned by the European Union and the United States for human rights violations.
On January 19, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the prayers at their funeral (Iran International). Some Iranian social media users commented that it appeared he was wearing something under his clerical garb, possibly a flak jacket (IranWire).
۴/4 Iran alleges Swiss national who committed suicide in prison photographed military sites
۵/5 Zarif back at Davos
On January 22, Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in a sit-down with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: “I hope that this time around, [Trump 2.0] will be more serious, more focused, more realistic.” (The Guardian) Watch Zarif’s full sit-down at Davos.
The vice president is also facing online backlash after he said that Iranian women are increasingly not covering their hair because the government has chosen not to enforce mandatory hijab laws, which is false (IranWire). Iranian social media users quickly debunked his claims by posting real-time evidence of ongoing hijab enforcement. Ironically, the secretary of Tehran’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Council said Zarif should be arrested for his comments about the loosening of hijab rules (Iran International).
At Davos, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Tehran to renounce nuclear weapons and “engage constructively with the other countries of the region.” (Reuters) This prompted a response from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X, who wrote:
“Iran’s longstanding commitment to the global nonproliferation regime is clear.
- Iran signed, in 1968, the NPT as a founding member.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a religious edict outlawing all WMDs.
- Iran signed, in 2015, the JCPOA which imposed the most intrusive inspection regime in IAEA history…”
Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said at Davos that Tehran was “pressing the gas pedal” on enriching uranium to near weapons-grade (Reuters).
۶/6 Court sentences rapper Tataloo to death
۷/7 ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ nominated for Oscar
OTHER اخبار/NEWS THAT MADE HEADLINES:
Human rights
۰ Tehran arrests two girls for dancing at Iran-Iraq war memorial (Iran International)
۰ 11 Baha’i women arrested to serve prison sentences (IranWire)
۰ Kurdish activist Jabbar Oyhangi missing 10 days after arrest (IranWire)
۰ Wave of arrests targets Sunni activists in southern Iran (IranWire)
۰ Journalist Jila Baniyaghoob’s home raided by security forces (IranWire)
۰ Iran intensifies crackdown on human rights lawyers amid growing repression (CHRI)
۰ Judiciary shields perpetrators of ‘Bloody Friday’ state massacre (CHRI)
۰ Narges Mohammadi calls for criminalization of gender apartheid (IranWire)
Domestic issues
۰ Official fired after photos of daughter without hijab emerge (IranWire)
۰ Ex-president’s daughter opposes religious rule, supports nukes for Iran (Iran International)
۰ Iran blackouts leave industry in tatters ahead of Trump’s return (Bloomberg)
۰ Energy shortages threaten industrial jobs across Iran (IranWire)
۰ Iranian currency hits record low as Trump takes office (IranWire)
Foreign policy + security
۰ Former CIA analyst pleads guilty to leaking classified documents on Israel’s plans to attack Iran (CNN)
۰ UK warns of Iran’s apparent attempts to force ships into its waters amid IRGC drills (Times of Israel)
۰ Saudi Crown Prince MBS moves to exploit vacuum left by Iran (Bloomberg)
۰ Tehran but not Washington has signaled readiness for talks, Iraq’s FM says (Iran International)
۰ Saudi FM says Trump presidency doesn’t raise risk of Iran-Israel war (Times of Israel)
۰ European Parliament calls to end Iran’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ (Iran International)
۰ Iran unveils new underground naval base amid tension with US and Israel (Reuters)
۰ Russia and Iran have a troubled history despite their current alliance (AP)
۰ Ships carrying missile propellant ingredients set to sail from China to Iran, say officials (Financial Times)
۰ Iranian army conducts drill on Afghan border following Trump’s inauguration (Al-Monitor)
Iran deal + sanctions
۰ Trump’s Iran policy puts focus on $30 billion-a-year oil revenue (Bloomberg)
۰ Bangladesh Central Bank issues warning on Iranian LPG imports (Iran International)
Arts + culture
۰ Al Tajino: Iranian puppet maker turns simple materials into art (IranWire)
Diaspora
۰ Testing ground: Sanaz Toossi brings her Pulitzer Prize-winning play English to Broadway (Vogue)