Bankless Iran Unchained: How the Islamic Republic Holds Power and Why Protests Keep Returning | Sana Ebrahimi & Ameen Soleimani
29 snips
Jan 27, 2026 
Ameen Soleimani, Iranian-born activist focused on Iran’s power structures. Sana Ebrahimi, Tehran-raised PhD student and diaspora activist amplifying protests and human rights. They unpack the regime’s control stack, gender apartheid and Mahsa Amini’s spark. They discuss internet blackout tactics, corruption and the IRGC’s rule. They also probe why protests keep returning and how diaspora politics shape narratives.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Regime Is A Theocratic Power Network
- The Islamic Republic is an unelected theocracy that centralizes power in clerics and overrides democratic institutions.
- Ameen Soleimani and Sana Ebrahimi emphasize the regime's goal is transnational Islamic authority, not Iranian public welfare.
Promises Became Tools For Control
- The 1979 revolution promised independence, freedoms, and welfare but implemented clerical rule and repression instead.
- Sana and Ameen show those early slogans became tools to seize power, not deliver public goods.
Personal Family Stories From The Purge
- Both guests recount purges after the revolution where Marxists, students, and dissidents were arrested, tortured, and executed.
- Sana and Ameen describe family stories of false arrests, torture, and thousands executed in the early years.
