Kragdar
@kragdar.bsky.social
Lawyer & observer of the Middle East / West Asia. فارسی بلدم; biraz Azərbaycanca.
Pinned
I’m Iranian-American, speak fluent Persian, have spent most of my life immersed in Iran & its ongoings in both personal & professional capacities. Feels like this is going to be useful the next few weeks as every single white American on this website assumes everyone is exactly like them.
Sorry I wrote this quickly. I don’t want to reduce it to economic conditions. It’s peoples’ lives, particularly women’s. There is a reason the Woman Life Freedom protests & Green Movement were much larger than today’s.
And this isn’t all because of Manoto. It’s because peoples’ economic conditions are much worse than 5 or 10 years ago, and they know it.
January 10, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Sorry I wrote this quickly. I don’t want to reduce it to economic conditions. It’s peoples’ lives, particularly women’s. There is a reason the Woman Life Freedom protests & Green Movement were much larger than today’s.
Reposted by Kragdar
This is true of both English and Persian language posts by the way, perhaps even more in Persian than English. Then add in the Internet and communication outages. Any video or news sent out of Iran is done via means not accessible to the "average" Iranian. Anything you see is curated by someone.
January 10, 2026 at 4:37 PM
This is true of both English and Persian language posts by the way, perhaps even more in Persian than English. Then add in the Internet and communication outages. Any video or news sent out of Iran is done via means not accessible to the "average" Iranian. Anything you see is curated by someone.
This is a complicated question.
I’m going to talk a little bit about my family, which I think is pretty representative of a standard middle class Iranian family, thus none of these details are really unique or identifying.
I’m going to talk a little bit about my family, which I think is pretty representative of a standard middle class Iranian family, thus none of these details are really unique or identifying.
the really really inorganic inflation of Reza Pahlavi Junior's image on the Western internet, despite no evidence he actually has any popularity among actual Iranians, makes me shudder as I imagine debates in 1989 between Very Smart Westerners as to whether Poland will reinstate Sanacja now
January 10, 2026 at 4:11 PM
This is a complicated question.
I’m going to talk a little bit about my family, which I think is pretty representative of a standard middle class Iranian family, thus none of these details are really unique or identifying.
I’m going to talk a little bit about my family, which I think is pretty representative of a standard middle class Iranian family, thus none of these details are really unique or identifying.
Reposted by Kragdar
Global capital can’t wait to pillage Iran with the help of a weak, ineffectual quisling prince
January 10, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Global capital can’t wait to pillage Iran with the help of a weak, ineffectual quisling prince
Images of extremely sensitive sites being attacked and destroyed in Iran, whether mosques or Red Crescent buildings. Again, it’s hard to know what to believe given the tightly controlled flow of info. I personally don’t know what to believe.
January 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Images of extremely sensitive sites being attacked and destroyed in Iran, whether mosques or Red Crescent buildings. Again, it’s hard to know what to believe given the tightly controlled flow of info. I personally don’t know what to believe.
Reposted by Kragdar
On the sidelining of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
This does not bode well.
x.com/yarbatman/st...
This does not bode well.
x.com/yarbatman/st...
January 9, 2026 at 10:04 PM
On the sidelining of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
This does not bode well.
x.com/yarbatman/st...
This does not bode well.
x.com/yarbatman/st...
Reposted by Kragdar
Back in 2003, I remember wanting Saddam Hussein gone so badly that I didn’t care who replaced him, even if it had been Satan himself.
As it turns out, who the replacement was did matter A LOT.
May the Iranian people be truly free both from the tyranny of their own regime & from foreign interference.
As it turns out, who the replacement was did matter A LOT.
May the Iranian people be truly free both from the tyranny of their own regime & from foreign interference.
January 9, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Back in 2003, I remember wanting Saddam Hussein gone so badly that I didn’t care who replaced him, even if it had been Satan himself.
As it turns out, who the replacement was did matter A LOT.
May the Iranian people be truly free both from the tyranny of their own regime & from foreign interference.
As it turns out, who the replacement was did matter A LOT.
May the Iranian people be truly free both from the tyranny of their own regime & from foreign interference.
Patrick Bet-David, monarchist and supporter of the former Shah, has lately been offering his take that Reza is just not up to the job.
It seems to be true! The man doesn’t want it, he’s not ready for it, and he’s not about to move his family back there to do it. Even if you support monarchy.
It seems to be true! The man doesn’t want it, he’s not ready for it, and he’s not about to move his family back there to do it. Even if you support monarchy.
January 9, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Patrick Bet-David, monarchist and supporter of the former Shah, has lately been offering his take that Reza is just not up to the job.
It seems to be true! The man doesn’t want it, he’s not ready for it, and he’s not about to move his family back there to do it. Even if you support monarchy.
It seems to be true! The man doesn’t want it, he’s not ready for it, and he’s not about to move his family back there to do it. Even if you support monarchy.
Reposted by Kragdar
I wish the Iranian diaspora were disconnected from the Internet instead of the people in Iran.
January 9, 2026 at 9:35 AM
I wish the Iranian diaspora were disconnected from the Internet instead of the people in Iran.
Please don’t do this. We all like nice vacations, but please imagine saying “Had a wonderful time in Minneapolis, would love to return to that magical place one day” right now. Or I dunno, about New Orleans during Katrina.
Freaks. From an academic on Twitter… “Western friendly”? Seriously?
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
January 9, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Please don’t do this. We all like nice vacations, but please imagine saying “Had a wonderful time in Minneapolis, would love to return to that magical place one day” right now. Or I dunno, about New Orleans during Katrina.
Reposted by Kragdar
Freaks. From an academic on Twitter… “Western friendly”? Seriously?
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
January 8, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Freaks. From an academic on Twitter… “Western friendly”? Seriously?
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
And is THAT your main concern while people are fighting for their very existence?!
Reposted by Kragdar
24 hours of no contact with inside Iran. Not even direct calling my mum’s landline. Seems they have cut off the entire country. No news of my friends who went out to “stroll around and see what’s going on” 25 hours ago. Anxiety reaching high levels.
January 9, 2026 at 7:47 PM
24 hours of no contact with inside Iran. Not even direct calling my mum’s landline. Seems they have cut off the entire country. No news of my friends who went out to “stroll around and see what’s going on” 25 hours ago. Anxiety reaching high levels.
Reposted by Kragdar
I have been thinking about this a lot recently.
In Iran, the trend is towards a government increasingly scared of its people.
In the US, the trend is the reverse—a government increasingly dismissive of its people, and its people increasingly scared of their government.
In Iran, the trend is towards a government increasingly scared of its people.
In the US, the trend is the reverse—a government increasingly dismissive of its people, and its people increasingly scared of their government.
May 1, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I have been thinking about this a lot recently.
In Iran, the trend is towards a government increasingly scared of its people.
In the US, the trend is the reverse—a government increasingly dismissive of its people, and its people increasingly scared of their government.
In Iran, the trend is towards a government increasingly scared of its people.
In the US, the trend is the reverse—a government increasingly dismissive of its people, and its people increasingly scared of their government.
24 hours since I last heard from family. I don’t know anyone who’s been able to establish contact. Keep that in mind as you see any news out of Iran.
Whatever you are seeing, someone with power—power that ordinary Iranians don’t currently have—wants you to see it.
Whatever you are seeing, someone with power—power that ordinary Iranians don’t currently have—wants you to see it.
January 9, 2026 at 7:23 PM
24 hours since I last heard from family. I don’t know anyone who’s been able to establish contact. Keep that in mind as you see any news out of Iran.
Whatever you are seeing, someone with power—power that ordinary Iranians don’t currently have—wants you to see it.
Whatever you are seeing, someone with power—power that ordinary Iranians don’t currently have—wants you to see it.
Reposted by Kragdar
On the anniversary of the fires, I spent some time in Amir's Garden, named for Amir Dialameh, an Iranian immigrant who lugged plants atop a ridge to rehabilitate a burn scar after a fire swept through Griffith Park in 1971.
It was a reminder that we're all tenders of this fire-prone landscape
It was a reminder that we're all tenders of this fire-prone landscape
Burn scars
It's remarkable, given our climate reality, that more neighborhoods were not lost one year ago. But truly engaging with that climate reality means we have to rethink the entire city at once
www.torched.la
January 9, 2026 at 7:01 PM
On the anniversary of the fires, I spent some time in Amir's Garden, named for Amir Dialameh, an Iranian immigrant who lugged plants atop a ridge to rehabilitate a burn scar after a fire swept through Griffith Park in 1971.
It was a reminder that we're all tenders of this fire-prone landscape
It was a reminder that we're all tenders of this fire-prone landscape
Reposted by Kragdar
The Israeli view on intervening in Iran - that this is even a topic of debate is stomach churning
January 9, 2026 at 7:08 PM
The Israeli view on intervening in Iran - that this is even a topic of debate is stomach churning
Reposted by Kragdar
Pro-Israel think-tankers are already trying to shape Iran’s future around partition. Iran is not some kind of exceptional entity that is immune from the fate that other regional states have experienced at the hands of the West. But at the same time, Iranian nationalism runs very very very deep /n
January 9, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Pro-Israel think-tankers are already trying to shape Iran’s future around partition. Iran is not some kind of exceptional entity that is immune from the fate that other regional states have experienced at the hands of the West. But at the same time, Iranian nationalism runs very very very deep /n
Very Interesting to me when this same outlet is extremely concerned about the state’s violence against protestors in Iran.
January 9, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Very Interesting to me when this same outlet is extremely concerned about the state’s violence against protestors in Iran.
A lot of Iranians believe this. But this logic is also why many do not trust Reza and his crowd, because that line of thinking is what brought Khomeini to power last time around.
January 9, 2026 at 5:13 PM
A lot of Iranians believe this. But this logic is also why many do not trust Reza and his crowd, because that line of thinking is what brought Khomeini to power last time around.
I recognize my incredibly lucky station in life and the blessed privilege I live in that I have the wherewithal to be annoyed by the lawyers and commentators on here getting their Iran news from attention-seeking Anglos who retweet MEK and a Germanic parrot.
January 9, 2026 at 5:08 PM
I recognize my incredibly lucky station in life and the blessed privilege I live in that I have the wherewithal to be annoyed by the lawyers and commentators on here getting their Iran news from attention-seeking Anglos who retweet MEK and a Germanic parrot.
Reposted by Kragdar
Yes, Reza Pahlavi called on people to take to the streets last night. But he also did in the summer during the Israeli bombing of Iran and people ignored him. A broken clock…. U.S. media, including PBS, needs to stop framing protests in Iran around a 65 year old who has never held a job
January 9, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Yes, Reza Pahlavi called on people to take to the streets last night. But he also did in the summer during the Israeli bombing of Iran and people ignored him. A broken clock…. U.S. media, including PBS, needs to stop framing protests in Iran around a 65 year old who has never held a job
Reposted by Kragdar
Let me add: by centering RP you are erasing the bravery and strategic thinking of Iranian teachers, nurses, oil workers, truck drivers, university students, farmers, journalists and many others who have been demanding representation and a better life on a daily basis and for at least 20 years.
January 9, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Let me add: by centering RP you are erasing the bravery and strategic thinking of Iranian teachers, nurses, oil workers, truck drivers, university students, farmers, journalists and many others who have been demanding representation and a better life on a daily basis and for at least 20 years.
I would add to this the role of women and gender. Reza and his backers seek to establish monarchy, a fundamentally unequal system, so it’s no surprise that patriarchy or economic inequality are of little note to them.
January 9, 2026 at 4:58 PM
I would add to this the role of women and gender. Reza and his backers seek to establish monarchy, a fundamentally unequal system, so it’s no surprise that patriarchy or economic inequality are of little note to them.
The internet in Iran is completely cut still. In past outages, there’ve been ways around it. None this time. Be wary of any news you might see. My own impression is last night’s protests were likely quite violent and involved clashes with security forces.
January 9, 2026 at 2:04 PM
The internet in Iran is completely cut still. In past outages, there’ve been ways around it. None this time. Be wary of any news you might see. My own impression is last night’s protests were likely quite violent and involved clashes with security forces.
Reposted by Kragdar
A judicious summary of where we are at in Iran and what helped get us here
In my latest on #IranProtests, I argue that the country is locked in a state of political paralysis—marked by recurring protest cycles, escalating repression, & no clear transition path. What happens when neither bottom-up forces nor top-down power holders can decisively outmaneuver the other? #Iran
Is Iran Trapped in a State of Political Paralysis?
Protest Cycles, State Repression, and the Limits of Popular Mobilization
guardeddomains.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:30 PM
A judicious summary of where we are at in Iran and what helped get us here