Brookings panel in Washington examines political shifts in Iran

WASHINGTON, United States — The Brookings Institution in Washington held a panel on political, social and economic changes in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The session was moderated by Susan Maloney, director of the institute’s Foreign Policy Program. The panel included New York Times correspondent Yeganeh Torabi and Bazarch Mehr Sharafuddin, head of the digital division at Iran International. They examined the course of opposition movements in Iran and the stages of public resistance. Speakers reviewed the 2009 Green Movement protests, which drew about 3 million people, and the crackdown that followed. They also discussed developments in the technology sector after the 2015 nuclear deal and the security operations that came afterward. The panel addressed the social impact and generational differences linked to the Women, Life, Freedom movement that erupted after Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022. It also looked at the effects of military operations in Iran since February 2023 and the country’s worsening economic crisis.