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Karim Sadjadpour Profile picture
Karim Sadjadpour
@ksadjadpour
Senior Fellow @CarnegieEndow; Currently writing a book for @AAKnopf; Adjunct professor @Georgetown; Advisor @AspenInstitute; Former YGL @WEF; 🏃🏽‍♂️
Erin Livingston Profile picture Graham George Profile picture mark Profile picture Georges Cadoudal Profile picture phal Profile picture 15 subscribed
Mar 10, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1. A short thread on the Iran-Saudi normalization agreement brokered by China, reasons why each country was motivated to sign the agreement, and what to look for to determine whether it will have a meaningful and enduring impact.
wsj.com/articles/saudi… 2. What’s in it for Beijing? Simply put China wants stability in the Middle East to ensure the free flow of energy from the region. De-escalation between two regional powers and major energy producers is critical to those objectives.
Nov 21, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1. Protestors in the city of Piranshahr, Iranian Kurdistan. Their determination is palpable. Video via @SamRasoulpour 2. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are using combat weapons against a civilian population in Piranshahr mostly armed with rocks.
Nov 20, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
1. Today, World Children's Day, the Iranian regime's deplorable treatment of minors, at home and abroad, deserves extra scrutiny.

10-year-old Kian Pirfalak, an inspiring inventor, was the latest victim. His classmates recently attended his funeral.

Kian's story isn't isolated. 2. Iran has long had the world's highest rate of executions (per capita). It has been executing minors for decades.

During the last two months of nationwide protests it has killed more than 50 minors.

Oct 21, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
1. Efforts have been underway for more than a month to get Starlink terminals to Iran. One group of activists--who want to stay anonymous to protect their networks--asked me to share this video. They've already sent dozens of terminals to Iran and intend to scale up. 2. These efforts are still *very* nascent, but they have evidence the terminals are working and claim they're taking extra precautions to lessen the risks to users. Videos have also begun trickling out of Starlink terminals being used inside the country.
Oct 20, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
1. Iran's internal vulnerabilities (due to ongoing protests) and the rift in US-Saudi relations (due to a dispute over oil production) have increased the risk of another Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia/Saudi oil facilities, which the world can ill-afford.🧵 nytimes.com/2019/09/19/wor… 2. In 2019 Iran carried out, with impunity, a surprisingly precise missile and drone attack on Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. Although Saudi Arabia managed to quickly restore oil production, there are new reasons why Iran may try it again. reuters.com/article/us-sau…
Oct 12, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
On @Morning_Joe I argued if the US were to revive the nuclear deal with Iran in this moment, it would constitute meddling in Iran's internal affairs by empowering an embattled, unpopular regime that is trying to violently crush a peaceful freedom movement. on.msnbc.com/3EBy2pf Iran currently appears unable to reach an internal consensus on the nuclear deal. But if protests persist in the coming weeks/months, they may feel the need to revive the deal out of desperation. We should be clear about our interests and loyalties.
Oct 9, 2022 • 18 tweets • 7 min read
1. In a recent @washingtonpost oped I wrote that Iran's potential transformation from theocracy to representative government could be a "geopolitical game changer" and the "single most important key to transforming the Middle East." Here's why 🧵 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… 2. Since 1979, Iran’s government has not prioritized the economic and national interests of its people, but rather an intolerant revolutionary ideology dedicated to fighting the US, destroying Israel, and remaking the Middle East in its image. foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/…
Oct 2, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
1. The single best way to understand Iran's uprising is not any book or essay, but Shervin Hajipour's 2m anthem "Baraye" which garnered over 40m views in 48h (before he was imprisoned). Its profundity requires multiple views. (Translation by @BBCArdalan) 2. The lyrics are a compilation of tweets for #MahsaAmini that are unique to the context of a young, modern society ruled by a geriatric religious dictatorship. They yearn for "a normal life", instead of the "forced paradise" of an Islamist police state.
Sep 30, 2022 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
"What we can see from the current protests and strikes...is a very real possibility of regime change." Excerpts from a very insightful and powerful interview with Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iran's leading women's rights attorney. By @karl_vick time.com/6218181/iran-p… Image "Sentence after sentence, ruling after ruling are imposed on our bodies in terms of our dress. And not only that, but rape and other transgressions. They hit you and hurt you and bruise you, and wrap you up in the veil once again that conceals the harm that’s inflicted on you."
Sep 28, 2022 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
Sickening details about Mahsa Amini's death. She was arrested for "wearing tight trousers", and women who were arrested alongside her told her father that "she was beaten inside a van that was transporting them." By @PHREUTERS #مهساامینی reuters.com/world/middle-e… "Amini minded her own business and steered clear of politics, two sources close to her family said, traits that most Iranians hope would keep them out of trouble in the Islamic Republic."
Sep 25, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I spoke w/ @elonmusk about Starlink in Iran, he gave me permission to share this: “Starlink is now activated in Iran. It requires the use of terminals in-country, which I suspect the [Iranian] government will not support, but if anyone can get terminals into Iran, they will work" Biden administration officials are open to helping get Starlink terminals to Iran but there are two main challenges, financial and logistical. It will cost many millions of dollars to setup and sustain thousands of Starlink terminals to Iran. This challenge is surmountable.
Sep 24, 2022 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
1. To understand Iran's protests it's striking to juxtapose images of the young, modern women killed in Iran over the last week (Mahsa Amini, Ghazale Chelavi, Hanane Kia, Mahsa Mogoi) with the images of the country's ruling elite, virtually all deeply traditional, geriatric men. ImageImageImageImage 2. 83-year-old @khamenei_ir has been ruling since 1989. He's the only leader many young protestors have ever known. The institutions he's empowered-and empower him-are likeminded hardliners whose main source of diversity is whether their beards and turbans are black or white ImageImage
Sep 20, 2022 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
1 The Iranian regime’s brutal killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini—whose head was reportedly bludgeoned repeatedly against a wall after she was detained for showing too much hair—should permanently alter how foreign officials and reporters interact with Iranian officials #مهساامینی 2 In her recent 60 Minutes interview w/ President Raisi (here questioning the Holocaust), Leslie Stahl said “I was told how to dress, not to sit before he did, and not to interrupt him.” These terms are no longer acceptable; they legitimate discrimination
Jun 1, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
1. Last week I testified before the @SFRCdems on the need for a US strategy toward Iran that has three broad objectives: 1) Contain Iran’s nuclear program 2) Counter Iran’s regional influence and 3) Champion Iranian democratic ambitions. foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/… 2. Since 1979 Iran has sought to expel the US from the Middle East, replace Israel with Palestine, and remake the region in its image. Whether or not the nuclear deal is revived, Iran's aspirations to help topple the US-led world order will continue. foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/…
Jul 13, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The FBI uncovered a plot by the Iranian regime to kidnap Brooklyn-based Iranian activist @AlinejadMasih. "Iranian Intelligence Services Allegedly Plotted to Kidnap a US Journalist and Human Rights Activist from New York City for Rendition to Iran" justice.gov/opa/pr/iranian… "A New York federal court unsealed an indictment today charging four Iranian nationals with conspiracies related to kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud, and money laundering. A co-conspirator, also of Iran, faces additional structuring charges."
Apr 16, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
RIP Vartan Gregorian, a father figure to so many of us and one of the greatest men I’ve known. This is one of many poems he taught me: “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation” -Rumi Image Vartan was a proud Armenian who was born in Tabriz, studied in Beirut, and emigrated to America as a young man. He became President of some of America's greatest universities and cultural institutions, but never forgot his roots. His memoir is beautiful: amazon.com/Road-Home-My-L…
Nov 27, 2020 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
1 Fakhrizadeh was the captain of Iran’s nuclear program as Soleimani was the captain of Iran’s regional activities. Iran’s regional/nuclear ambitions don't end after their deaths, but the absence of their leadership and institutional memory will be felt. 2 Tehran has already blamed Israel, the most likely culprit. But if initial news reports prove correct that he was killed by suicide attackers, speculation may turn to Sunni radicals rather than the Mossad.
Nov 17, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
1. Obama’s memoir contains revealing insights—and useful lessons—about his Iran policy. Perhaps the central takeaway was his understandable concern that conflict with Iran could “upend” his entire presidency, just as the Iraq war upended George W Bush’s presidency. Image 2. Obama writes that weeks into his presidency he wrote a secret letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader in the hopes of commencing US-Iran dialogue. Khamenei’s harsh response, Obama said, was tantamount to “the middle finger.” ImageImageImage
Oct 22, 2020 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Thread: The appeal of cyber warfare is its low cost/high impact. What appears a simple operation, plausibly carried out by a few tech-savvy students on behalf of Iran's regime, has now consumed the time of senior US officials and made national headlines. washingtonpost.com/technology/202… 2. Russia's 2016 hack against Democratic party officials--using simple spearphishing emails--proved that technically unsophisticated operations can have a profound political impact, and are often difficult to prove. It's often due to *our* negligence more than *their* evil genius
Jan 12, 2020 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
1. It took me years to understand the sinister strategic genius of Ghassem Soleimani. This is the abridged story (based on my @WSJ essay) of the world from his eyes, and how his decisions-coupled w/ costly US errors-impacted the lives of tens of millions wsj.com/articles/the-s… 2. Rewind to 2001. After 9/11, a nervous Iran cooperated w/ the US to oust the Taliban (their mutual adversary) from Afghanistan. Months later Iran was furious when George W Bush placed them in the 'Axis of Evil'-along with Iraq and N Korea-in his 2002 State of the Union Speech.
Jan 11, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1. This is a truly incalculable loss for Iranians. The victims were highly-educated young people with bright futures. Since 1979 the Iranian regime has always prioritized revolutionary ideology before the security and prosperity of its citizens. This tragedy may force a reckoning 2. Those who know Iran knew that sympathy for the regime in the aftermath of Soleimani's killing would be short-lived, but no one anticipated the mood could change so quickly: