Golnar Motevalli

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Golnar Motevalli

Golnar Motevalli

@golnarM

Iran coverage at Bloomberg. Based in Tehran from 2013 to 2020. Native cockney. Priors: Afghanistan and Turkey. Formerly BBC and Reuters. All opinions are mine.

Midnight Milk Bar Katılım Haziran 2013
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Parin Behrooz
Parin Behrooz@Parinlalala·
I reported and wrote about the state imposed near-total internet blackout in Iran, which has cut off the voices of majority of Iranians inside as bombs drop. People (myself included) haven't been able to reach loved ones for 19 days, unless they are able to afford increasingly pricey, risky and unreliable workarounds. "They've cut it off so bad I say a prayer every time I try to connect," one Tehran resident told me before losing internet again. nytimes.com/2026/03/18/wor…
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Bahman Kalbasi
Bahman Kalbasi@BahmanKalbasi·
Tehran. Israel’s bombing.
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Javier Blas
Javier Blas@JavierBlas·
If it was an attempt to escalate to de-escalate, Iran has showed that it has escalation dominance (as it believes it has nothing to lose in a scorched earth strategy hitting oil and gas assets). Trump is now trying to de-escalate.
Javier Blas@JavierBlas

Both sides are now targeting upstream (ie, production) oil and natural gas assets. Is this an attempt to escalate to de-escalate? Or is it simply a sign that escalation is spiralling out of control?

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Robert Malley
Robert Malley@Rob_Malley·
Striking by Oman’s FM : «there are 2 parties to this war who have nothing to gain from it ..This is an uncomfortable truth to tell, bc it involves indicating the extent to which America has lost control of its own foreign policy. But it must be told » economist.com/by-invitation/…
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United Nations Geneva
United Nations Geneva@UNGeneva·
.@drmaisato, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in #Iran, describes the scale of human rights violations in the country since the nationwide protests began on 28 December, speaks about the human rights implications of the current conflict within Iran 🇮🇷.
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Shibley Telhami
Shibley Telhami@ShibleyTelhami·
"Ali Larijani had opposed the succession of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader and had lobbied the council of clerics that elected him to consider changing their vote for a more moderate choice." nytimes.com/live/2026/03/1…
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Tom Bateman
Tom Bateman@tombateman·
Amid the lack of clarity over what the president was told or not about an imminent threat from Iran to the US, it’s worth remembering the White House has already said the imminent threat justification was a “feeling” Trump had - “a feeling… based on facts” from Witkoff & Kushner
DNI Tulsi Gabbard@DNIGabbard

Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people to be our President and Commander in Chief. As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country.  The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for helping coordinate and integrate all intelligence to provide the President and Commander in Chief with the best information available to inform his decisions.  After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion.

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This is Iran
This is Iran@ThisIs_Iran·
Persian architecture work that made the Chehelston Palace It is one of Iran’s historical monuments in Isfahan. It’s a place where the pillars tell the story of King Abbas II & the tiles the craft of Persian craftsmanship. It’s a sad reality that some support the bombing of it.
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Ali Alfoneh علی آلفونه
Ali Alfoneh علی آلفونه@Alfoneh·
The assassination of elites open to U.S. talks betrays Israel’s objectives: regime collapse, civil war, and Iran’s partition—diverging from President Trump’s approach. But Israel and the U.S. may end up with a radicalized IRGC dictatorship instead. shorturl.at/MYoJm
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William Dalrymple
William Dalrymple@DalrympleWill·
In light of the war in Iran, and the US/Israeli bombing campaign, we disrupt our current series on Chairman Mao to bring you a vital historical analysis of a country we have covered in depth on @EmpirePodUK. William is joined by Ali Ansari, Professor of Middle Eastern History at St. Andrews, to discuss the decades of revolution, regional conflict and sparring with America & Israel have finally led to the mass bombing of Iran and current global crisis linktr.ee/empirepoduk
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MENA Visuals
MENA Visuals@menavisualss·
🎬 In 2008, Iranian director Majid Majidi released a masterpiece that resonated deeply across world cinema: "The Song of Sparrows." In this film, a simple family story quietly unfolds. Karim, a kind but struggling father who loses his job at an ostrich farm, travels to Tehran to earn money for his family. His young son Hussein, meanwhile, dreams of raising goldfish in a muddy water tank, hoping to turn it into something beautiful and profitable. When the boys finally buy the goldfish, disaster strikes. The bucket leaks, slips, and breaks. In moments, their bright, shimmering hopes scatter across the hot asphalt. The children try desperately to save the fish, but not everything can be rescued. In the end, Hussein releases the surviving fish into a stream, choosing kindness over money. Karim watches in silence, slowly understanding how far he has drifted from the simple values he once lived by. Majidi’s visual feast was not only a poetic success but also a critically acclaimed one. The film won over 10 international awards, most notably the "Silver Bear for Best Actor" for Reza Naji at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.
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Nicholas Kristof
Nicholas Kristof@NickKristof·
I fear @vali_nasr is right. When I met Ali Larijani I found him an absolute insider kingpin of the Iranian regime -- but also the kind of strong and pragmatic leader who just might be able to hammer out a peace deal. Not sure, but I wonder if the war will now be harder to end.
Vali Nasr@vali_nasr

Larijani’s replacement will be appointed by IRGC. With every assassination U.S. and Israel engineering greater radicalization of Iran’s leadership. It will makes for a bleak future for Iran, Iranians, the region and ultimately makes it far more difficult for U.S. to disentangle itself from endless conflict in the region.

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Golnar Motevalli
Golnar Motevalli@golnarM·
So we are basically going to be left with a rump leadership that's inevitably going to be dominated by Paydari hardliners/IRGC hardliners and the pro-Mojtaba faction. I wonder where Rouhani and Zarif are now.
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Siavash Ardalan
Siavash Ardalan@BBCArdalan·
Aid workers are rescuing the injured from under the rubble in the west of Tehran following a wave of US/Israeli bombings this morning. There were reportedly some deaths too as US and Israeli bombers pounded Tehran and a number of other cities across Iran.
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Ali Hashem علي هاشم
Ali Hashem علي هاشم@Alihashem·
Been here in Tehran for the past couple of days, here are a few observations. 📌 Striking contrast, despite the ongoing military confrontation, daily life largely continues. Shops, restaurants, and malls are open, clear shift from the paralyzed atmosphere of last year’s 12-day war. 📌Iranian authorities are navigating on two layers. State rhetoric clearly frames this as an existential conflict, yet there is a concerted domestic effort to project normalcy and stability for residents. All indicators suggest the government is bracing for a protracted, multi-month conflict. 📌 Because Tehran is such a huge city, the physical toll of the conflict isn't spotted. Destruction is localized, though the damage is unmistakable in certain districts. Meanwhile, state mobilization remains highly visible, with several pro-government rallies taking place across various neighborhoods. 📌 Following a deceptively calm day yesterday, airstrikes targeted local fuel depots post-midnight. The escalation continued into this morning with a massive blast heard toward the city center, followed by at least two more explosions in the northern suburbs. 📌 These strikes on critical energy infrastructure represent a significant pressure on the state and residents. Aside from the day to day impact, the scene, the smoke, the smell all have their own effects.
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Keşfet

@drmaisato @EmpirePodUK @vali_nasr @h0d3r_fa @elonmusk @BarackObama @taylorswift13 @cristiano