An estimated 250,000 people rallied in Munich against Iran’s Islamist regime as part of a global day of action called by Reza Pahlavi during the Munich Security Conference.
People protesting for human rights in Iran demonstrate at Theresienwiese during the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026 in Munich, Germany.(photo credit: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)BySHOSHANA BAKERUpdated:
Some 250,000 people demonstrated against Iran’s Islamic regime in Munich’s Theresienwiese on Saturday afternoon, according to local police.
The demonstration was part of a global day of action called for by Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Persia. Pahlavi was in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.
The demonstration’s slogan was “Human rights and freedom for Iran. International solidarity with the Iranian people.”
Chants calling for the end of the mullahs in Iran were heard repeatedly, and flags of the USA and Israel were visible, according to reports from the German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).
Pahalvi, who spoke at the rally after attending the Munich Security Conference, said he wanted to lead the “transition” in Iran and enable a democratic future for the country, BR reported.
Reza Pahlavi speaks to people protesting for human rights in Iran at Theresienwiese during the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (credit: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)
At the conference, he told journalists that Iran’s future was a critical test for global security and asserted that the Iranian regime had been exporting instability for nearly fifty years, undermining the sovereignty of its neighbors, fueling conflicts in various regions, and advancing its nuclear ambitions.
In his speech at the Theresienwiese, Pahlavi urged the international community to support the freedom of the Iranian people, according to BR.
“Above all, the free nations of this world and their governments should place themselves on the right side of history,” he said.
‘I have chosen the Iranian people over the ayatollah’
US Senator Lindsey Graham also spoke at the Munich rally and commented on his participation in a post on X/twitter.
“I have chosen the Iranian people over the ayatollah. I believe they could be good allies of the United States and would march the region toward the light.” Senator Graham wrote.
“I believe the ayatollah is a religious Nazi, who would keep the region and the world in turmoil. He’s a religious fanatic who wants to purify Islam, destroy the Jewish people, and come after the United States, which he refers to as the Great Satan.”
International protests
Munich was not the only gathering for those eager to respond to Pahlavi’s call that weekend.
Large demonstrations took place in cities around the world, including Toronto, Melbourne, Athens, Tokyo, and London.
CBC News reported that people marched down Yonge Street in Toronto, accompanied by the beat of drums and chants of “King Reza Pahlavi.”
Tens of thousands potentially killed in Iran protests
In Iran, conservative estimates amid the Islamic regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters suggest that the death toll could be between 40,000 and 50,000. The US-based Iranian rights group HRANA has confirmed just over 7,000 deaths, and the organization is currently reviewing an additional 11,730 cases.
In addition to the large number of casualties, a campaign of mass arrests and intimidation has led to the detention of thousands, as Iranian authorities attempt to prevent further protests following last month’s crackdown, which was the bloodiest unrest since 1979.
The protests began on December 28 as a small demonstration in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, fueled by economic hardship, and quickly spread across the country.
Deputy FM tells BBC ‘ball is in America’s court,’ says talks have been ‘positive’; Iran won’t give up missiles, senior diplomat says, calling them ‘defensive capabilities’
Screengrab of Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, in an interview with the BBC, aired February 2026. (BBC)
Iran is ready to consider compromises to reach a nuclear deal with the United States if Washington is willing to discuss lifting sanctions, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions, but has repeatedly ruled out linking the issue to other questions including its missile arsenal.
“The ball is in America’s court,” he said, “to prove that they want to do a deal.”
“Sanctions have to also be on the table,” Takht-Ravanchi said, referring to the crippling international sanctions that his country faces, which have contributed to the near-collapse of the Iranian economy.
Takht-Ravanchi confirmed that a second round of nuclear talks would take place on Tuesday in Geneva, after Tehran and Washington resumed discussions in Oman earlier this month.
“(Initial talks went) more or less in a positive direction, but it is too early to judge,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC.
People walk across a large banner on the street depicting the US and Israeli flags defaced with footprints during a rally marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, in Tehran on February 11, 2026 (AFP)
Asked if his country was willing to transfer its stockpile of enriched uranium to a third country, the diplomat said “it was too early to say what will happen in the course of negotiations.”
Iran’s atomic chief said on Monday the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for all financial sanctions being lifted. Takht-Ravanchi used this example in the BBC interview to highlight Iran’s flexibility, though he pushed back on the idea that Tehran would fully give up its ability to enrich. The “issue of zero enrichment is not an issue anymore and as far as Iran is concerned, it is not on the table anymore,” he said.
The diplomat also pushed back on the idea of giving up Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, which Israel seeks to include in any deal between the Washington and Tehran.
“When we were attacked by Israelis and Americans, our missiles came to our rescue so how can we accept depriving ourselves of our defensive capabilities?” Takht-Ravanchi said, referring to last year’s 12-day war with Israel, during which Iran launched hundreds of missiles at Israel, which killed nearly three dozen Israeli civilians and wounded thousands.
“We are hearing that they are interested in negotiations,” the senior diplomat said, though he lamented the mixed messages from the US, noting that what Trump says publicly is different from the messages Iran receives in private. “They have said it publicly; they have said it in private conversations through Oman that they are interested to have these matters resolved peacefully.”
Women walk past a ballistic missile launch vehicle in Tehran on February 11, 2026, during a rally marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution (AFP)
Trump has repeatedly threated to use military force against Iran if the talks fail, and said Friday that regime change “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.”
“We are not hearing that in the private messages,” Takht-Ravanchi said, adding: “If we feel this is an existential threat, we will respond accordingly.”
“It is not wise to even think about such a very dangerous scenario because the whole region will be in a mess,” he added.
“We see an almost unanimous agreement in the region against war,” he continued. “We are hopeful we can do this through diplomacy, although we can’t be 100 percent sure.”
“We will do our best but the other side also has to prove that they are also sincere,” Takht-Ravanchi said.
A US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will meet with the Iranians on Tuesday morning, a source had told Reuters on Friday, with Omani representatives mediating the US-Iran contacts.
In this handout photo released by the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 6, 2026, US special envoy Steve Witkoff (C), Jared Kushner and Omans Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi pose for a photo during a meeting in Muscat. (Handout/Omani Foreign Ministry/AFP)
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, denies seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
The Islamic Republic has refused to expand the scope of the negotiations to include its ballistic missile program and support for regional proxy forces, which Israel is demanding be included in any deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, returning from a meeting with Trump at the White House, on Thursday said any agreement with Iran must cover “not only the nuclear issue, but also ballistic missiles and Iran’s regional proxies.”
The premier expressed “general skepticism about the possibility of reaching any agreement with Iran,” but said Trump believes the Iranians could be forced into “a good deal.”
Tehran may have used the delay in the US’s potential strike to make the beneath-mountain facility nearly untouchable.
A satellite image shows airstrike craters covered with dirt at the Natanz Enrichment Facility, following US airstrikes, in Natanz County, Iran, June 24, 2025(photo credit: MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)ByYONAH JEREMY BOB Updated: High-resolution satellite imagery of Iran’s largest and most crucial remaining nuclear facility shows a recent rush to protect it from potential US or Israeli aerial attack, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (the “good ISIS”).
Satellite imagery on Tuesday appeared to show that Tehran has taken advantage of delays in any such attack since the December 28 protests started to better defend the facility.
The nuclear facility in question is a large tunnel complex at Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, aka Pickaxe Mountain. It is near a series of Natanz nuclear facilities that were the center of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program until the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June.
Most of the other numerous Natanz facilities, including existing centrifuges at the time, were destroyed in the conflict. For reasons that have not been fully explained, this facility was not struck.
Construction at the site started by 2021, and the ISIS think tank and The Jerusalem Post revealed its existence to the public in early 2022.
People wave flags next to an Iranian missile on display during the 46th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
According to the think tank, the relatively new, enormous underground facility is still not thought to be operational, one of the reasons it may not have been struck previously. But there are concerns that it could be used to enrich uranium or even for some kind of clandestine rush to a small nuclear weapon at some point if not dealt with.
Tehran continues to invest in its most important undamaged nuclear facility
Since last June, it almost certainly has received extra attention and emphasis from Iran as its singularly most important undamaged facility for potential nuclear program use.
From the start, Iran had been digging and building this new facility near the Natanz area very deep under the mountain, which is far larger than the one atop the Fordow facility and would be even more impregnable. The US bombed Fordow with bunker busters last June.
The main mountain harboring the new Natanz tunnel complex is 1,608 meters above sea level, the think tank said.
The mountain that harbored the Fordow centrifuge enrichment plant, called Kūh-e Dāgh Ghū’ī, was about 960 meters tall.
This makes the Natanz mountain about 650 meters taller, or more than 50%, potentially providing even greater protection to any facility built underneath it.
All this was true even before last June.
Heavy construction suggests facility is not yet ready for operations
In a previous report, ISIS president David Albright wrote: “Fordow is already viewed as so deeply buried that it would be difficult to destroy via aerial attack. The new Natanz site may be even harder to destroy.”
