Tehran
Iranian state television this week aired footage of two Americans confessing to a plot to overthrow the Iranian government. Haleh Esfandiari, 67, a prominent scholar, and Kian Tajbakhsh, 45, an urban planner who works for George Soros’ Open Society Institute, were shown separately, speaking in Farsi. Esfandiari says that her work at the Woodrow Wilson Foundation was intended to bring down the regime in Iran and “bring democracy.” Tajbakhsh says that Soros “targets the Islamic world.” The clips were trailers for a forthcoming Iranian documentary titled In the Name of Democracy, which argues that the U.S. is trying to destabilize Iran through pro-democracy foundations. Human-rights groups condemn the “confessions” and the Americans’ continued confinement as blatant violations of international law.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
China looms large over India and Pakistan's latest violenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT Beijing may not have had troops on the ground, but as South Asia's two nuclear powers bared their teeth over Kashmir, China eyed opportunity in its own backyard
-
Where the new Pope Leo XIV stands on various issuesThe Explainer The first American pontiff is expected to continue some of his predecessor's work
-
What's wrong with America's air traffic control systems?Today's Big Question The radios and radar keep going out at Newark International
