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Iran Cracks Down on Contentious Pop Music Video With Arrests

Popular underground Iranian singer, "Sasy," or Sasan Heidari Yafteh
Popular underground Iranian singer, "Sasy," or Sasan Heidari Yafteh
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Iran Cracks Down on Contentious Pop Music Video With Arrests

Popular underground Iranian singer, "Sasy," or Sasan Heidari Yafteh
Popular underground Iranian singer, "Sasy," or Sasan Heidari Yafteh

Iranian authorities have arrested multiple music producers connected to a California-based Iranian pop singer, his management company and Iranian media said Thursday, in Tehran´s latest effort to halt what it deems decadent Western behavior.

The arrests come as Iranian social media has been awash with criticism of popular underground Iranian singer, "Sasy," or Sasan Heidari Yafteh's, new music video. Called "Tehran Tokyo," the video features actresses, including an American porn star, gyrating in kimonos and short bodycon dresses atop cars and inside bars. The clip racked up 18 million views within a week.

Over the years, Sasy has become known for contentious lyrics that Iranian conservatives see as tainting the country's moral probity. In a previous song also featuring a porn actress, he instructed teenagers to take alcohol shots if they can't fall asleep and to scroll through Instagram instead of finishing their homework.

Hours before the video went live late Wednesday, Iranian security forces detained two popular music arrangers who worked on the song in the southern city of Shiraz and raided their studio, said Sasy´s manager, Farshid Rafe Rafahi, the CEO of Los Angeles-based EMH Productions. The brothers, Mohsen and Behrouz Manouchehri, now face prosecution by a criminal court in Tehran, he added.

A week ago, the song´s teaser, featuring the well-known porn performer Alexis Texas dancing to clubby Farsi pop, fueled such public consternation that authorities pledged to investigate the app that carried the video. Soon, Iran's guardians of conservative morals cracked down on those associated with publicizing or producing the clip.

"It's pretty crazy, she's just dancing like any person in any ordinary music video, she's not doing anything inappropriate in these scenes," said Rafahi, referring to Alexis Texas. "Sasy's mission isn't to create havoc, it's to make people happy."

Semi-official news agencies in Iran confirmed several arrests on Wednesday, alleging that Sasy´s associates in Iran had produced music "contrary to culture."

The Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran´s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also accused the music producers in Iran of running gambling websites at Sasy´s behest. Rafahi said the gambling accusations stemmed from a misunderstanding, given that a poker website helped sponsor the music video.

Sasy is now a permanent resident of the US and has lived in exile since leaving his career as a successful underground rapper in Iran in 2009. Since the video came out, Iran has promised to "pursue his case with international legal authorities," according to the Fars report.

Iranian semi-official news agencies reported that those who "cooperated with Sasy" would face "decisive judicial action."

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Report: France, Germany, UK Willing to Reinstate Sanctions on Iran 

A woman walks next to Iranian national flags in a street in Tehran, Iran, 10 August 2025. (EPA)
A woman walks next to Iranian national flags in a street in Tehran, Iran, 10 August 2025. (EPA)
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Report: France, Germany, UK Willing to Reinstate Sanctions on Iran 

A woman walks next to Iranian national flags in a street in Tehran, Iran, 10 August 2025. (EPA)
A woman walks next to Iranian national flags in a street in Tehran, Iran, 10 August 2025. (EPA)

France, Germany and Britain have told the United Nations they are ready to reinstate sanctions on Iran if it does not return to negotiations with the international community over its nuclear program, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. 

The foreign ministers of the so-called E3 group wrote to the UN on Tuesday to raise the possibility of "snapback" sanctions unless Iran takes action, the report said, citing a letter seen by the newspaper. 

"We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism," the ministers said in the letter, according to the report. 

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The British, French and German governments did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. 

The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran - from which the United States withdrew in 2018 - that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. 

The E3's warning comes after "serious, frank and detailed" talks with Iran in Istanbul last month, the first face-to-face meeting since Israeli and US strikes on the country's nuclear sites in June. 

Iranian lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2010, said Iran's parliament "has its finger on the trigger to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)" if international sanctions were reimposed after any E3 invocation of the snapback mechanism. 

Mottaki told Iran's semi-official Defa Press that parliament would approve a bill to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal within 24 hours if the E3 invoked the snapback mechanism. 

During its 12-day war with Israel in June, Tehran said its lawmakers were preparing a bill that could push it towards exiting the treaty, ratified by Tehran in 1970. 

The treaty guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forego atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.