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In a striking development amidst Iran’s ongoing negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program, fresh convictions have been handed down to Mohammadi. This occurs against a backdrop of escalating tensions and a looming threat of military intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Iran’s leading diplomat underscored the nation’s resilience by emphasizing its capacity to “say no to the great powers.” This statement was made shortly after critical talks held in Oman with U.S. representatives, where Iran maintained a firm stance.
Supporters of Mohammadi have been vocal about her situation, with details emerging through her lawyer, Mostafa Nili. On the social media platform X, Nili confirmed the recent sentencing, which was delivered on Saturday by a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad. These courts are notorious for issuing verdicts with minimal opportunities for defendants to challenge the charges levied against them.
Nili disclosed that Mohammadi received a six-year prison sentence for “gathering and collusion,” an additional one and a half years for propaganda, along with a two-year travel ban. Furthermore, she faces two years of internal exile to the city of Khosf, located around 740 kilometers southeast of Tehran.
While Iranian authorities have yet to publicly acknowledge the sentence, Mohammadi’s supporters report that she has been on a hunger strike since February 2. Her arrest in December followed her participation in a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a notable Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate from Mashhad. During the event, footage captured her demanding justice for Alikordi and others, a rallying cry that further underscores her commitment to human rights.
Mohammadi a symbol for Iranian activists
Supporters had warned for months before her December arrest that Mohammadi, 53, was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.
While that was to be only three weeks, Mohammadi’s time out of prison lengthened, possibly as activists and Western powers pushed Iran to keep her free. She remained out even during the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel.
Mohammadi still kept up her activism with public protests and international media appearances, including even demonstrating at one point in front of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where she had been held.
Mohammadi had been serving 13 years and nine months on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran’s government. She also had backed the nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which have seen women openly defy the government by not wearing the hijab.
Mohammadi suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, her supporters say. Her lawyer in late 2024 revealed doctors had found a bone lesion that they feared could be cancerous that later was removed.
“Considering her illnesses, it is expected that she will be temporarily released on bail so that she can receive treatment,” Nili wrote.
However, Iranian officials have been signaling a harder line against all dissent since the demonstrations. Speaking on Sunday, Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made comments suggesting harsh prison sentences awaited many.
“Look at some individuals who once were with the revolution and accompanied the revolution,” he said. “Today, what they are saying, what they are writing, what statements they issue, they are unfortunate, they are forlorn (and) they will face damage.”
Foreign minister strikes hard-line tone
The news about Mohammadi came as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium – a major point of contention with Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.
While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the talks Friday in Oman with the Americans as “a step forward,” Araghchi’s remarks show the challenge ahead. Already, the US moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.
“I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,” Araghchi said.
“They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is in the power to say no to the powers.”
‘Atomic bomb’ as rhetorical device
Araghchi’s choice to explicitly use an “atomic bomb” as a rhetorical device likely wasn’t accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organised military program to seek the bomb up until 2003.
Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, the only non-weapons state to do so. Iranian officials in recent years had also been increasingly threatening that the Islamic Republic could seek the bomb, even while its diplomats have pointed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t build one.
Pezeshkian, who ordered Araghchi to pursue talks with the Americans after likely getting Khamenei’s blessing, also wrote on X on Sunday about the talks.
“The Iran-US talks, held through the follow-up efforts of friendly governments in the region, were a step forward,” the president wrote. “Dialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution. … The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but it does not tolerate the language of force.”
It remains unclear when and where, or if, there will be a second round of talks. Trump, after the talks Friday, offered few details but said: “Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly – as they should.”
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