Tehran Regime’s Attempt to Use Images of Renowned Women to End Protests Fails

This combination of pictures created on October 14, 2022 shows (L) Iranians driving past past a huge billboard which reads in Persian “the women of my land, Iran” in Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran, and (R) an image taken on October 13, of a huge billboard showing a montage of pictures titled “the women of my land, Iran” featuring Iranian women who are all observing the hijab, on Valiasr Square in Tehran.(AFP)
This combination of pictures created on October 14, 2022 shows (L) Iranians driving past past a huge billboard which reads in Persian “the women of my land, Iran” in Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran, and (R) an image taken on October 13, of a huge billboard showing a montage of pictures titled “the women of my land, Iran” featuring Iranian women who are all observing the hijab, on Valiasr Square in Tehran.(AFP)
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Tehran Regime’s Attempt to Use Images of Renowned Women to End Protests Fails

This combination of pictures created on October 14, 2022 shows (L) Iranians driving past past a huge billboard which reads in Persian “the women of my land, Iran” in Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran, and (R) an image taken on October 13, of a huge billboard showing a montage of pictures titled “the women of my land, Iran” featuring Iranian women who are all observing the hijab, on Valiasr Square in Tehran.(AFP)
This combination of pictures created on October 14, 2022 shows (L) Iranians driving past past a huge billboard which reads in Persian “the women of my land, Iran” in Valiasr Square in the capital Tehran, and (R) an image taken on October 13, of a huge billboard showing a montage of pictures titled “the women of my land, Iran” featuring Iranian women who are all observing the hijab, on Valiasr Square in Tehran.(AFP)

A photomontage of dozens of renowned Iranian women all observing hijab disappeared from a Tehran billboard Friday.

Authorities hung up the large montage in a bid to show they had the support of famous women amid ongoing anti-government protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

The move backfired and the montage was removed within 24 hours of being erected as it featured some personalities known to oppose the headscarf rule.

Outrage over Amini’s death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the notorious morality police, has fueled the biggest wave of street protests and violence seen in the country for years.

The montage featured athletes, social and cultural figures, such as late mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, early 20th-century revolutionary figure Bibi Maryam Bakhtiari and poet Parvin E’tesami.

Fars news agency said the montage was removed after some of the figures featured had asked for their pictures to be taken down, saying they were not consulted beforehand.

Some observers criticized the billboard for showing women who had removed their headscarves during the recent protests, it added.

Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya demanded that her picture be removed.

“I am Mahsa’s mother, I am Sarina’s mother, I am the mother of all the children who are killed in this land, I am the mother of all Iran, not a woman in the land of killers,” Motamed-Arya said on Thursday in a video that has since gone viral.

She appeared in the video without a hijab headscarf, seemingly in a vehicle.

The billboard was raised by Owj Arts and Media Organization, known for pro-regime films and cultural productions.

The decision to remove the pictures was taken after “controversies and reactions,” the organization said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

The billboard on Valiasr Square often features symbolic murals related to religious, social and political themes.



Trump Says He Is Less Confident about Iran Nuclear Deal 

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP)
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Trump Says He Is Less Confident about Iran Nuclear Deal 

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP)

US President Donald Trump said he was less confident that Iran will agree to stop uranium enrichment in a nuclear deal with Washington, according to an interview released on Wednesday. 

"I don’t know," Trump told the "Pod Force One" podcast on Monday when asked if he thought he could get Iran to agree to shut down its nuclear program. "I don’t know. I did think so, and I’m getting more and more — less confident about it." 

Trump has been seeking a new nuclear deal to place limits on Iran's nuclear activities and has threatened Tehran with bombing if no agreement is reached. 

He told reporters at the White House on Monday that he had discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and said talks with Iranians were "tough." 

In the podcast interview, Trump said Iranians seem to be using delaying tactics. 

"I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made," he said. 

Trump repeated that the US would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, whether or not a deal is reached. 

"But it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying, it’s so much nicer to do it. But I don’t think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal," he said. 

Iran says it has no plans to build a nuclear weapon and is only interested in power generation and other peaceful projects. 

During his first White House term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed limits on Tehran's disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.