Iran marks 1979 Islamic Revolution anniversary under pressure from inside and out

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran marked the 47th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution on Wednesday as the country's theocracy remains under pressure, both from U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting sending another aircraft carrier group to the Mideast and a public angrily denouncing their bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Trump made the suggestion in an interview published Tuesday night as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, long an Iran hawk, visited Washington to push the U.S. toward the strictest-possible terms in any agreement reached with Tehran in the fledgling nuclear talks.

A top Iranian security official planned to visit Qatar on Wednesday after earlier traveling to Oman, which has mediated this latest round of negotiations.

On Iranian state television, authorities broadcast images of thousands taking to the streets across the country Wednesday to support the theocracy and its 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But on Tuesday night, as government-sponsored fireworks lit the darkened sky, witnesses heard shouts from people's homes in the Iranian capital, Tehran, of “Death to the dictator!”

In the streets, people waved images of Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Some chanted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who earlier ordered the country's foreign minister to enter talks with the Americans, was expected to later give a speech at Tehran's Azadi Square.

Among Iran's 85 million people, there is a hard-line element of support for Iran's theocracy, including members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which crucially put down the protests last month in a bloody suppression that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained. Others often take part in demonstrations as they are government employees or to enjoy the carnival atmosphere of a government-sponsored holiday.

As the commemoration took place, senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani left Oman for Qatar. That Mideast nation hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

Qatar also has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Speaking to the Russian state channel RT, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran still does “not have full trust for the Americans.”

“Last time we negotiated, last June we were in the middle of negotiation then they decided to attack us and that was a very very bad experience for us,” Iran's top diplomat said. “We need to make sure that that scenario is not repeated and this is mostly up to America.”

Despite that concern, Araghchi said it could be possible “to come to a better deal than Obama,” referencing the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers Iran reached when former U.S. President Barack Obama was in office. Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

The United States has 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.

Already, U.S. forces shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the region, noting, “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going."

It remains unclear what carrier could go. The USS George H.W. Bush has left Norfolk, Virginia, according to U.S. Navy Institute News. The USS Gerald R. Ford remains in the Caribbean after the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

A woman carries an Iranian flag and a picture of the late commander of the Revolutionary Guard aerospace division Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who was killed in an Israeli strike in June 2025, during an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi, Freedom, Street in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A cleric and other people attend an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People take a selfie in front of an Iranian-built missile during an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) sq. in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard stand guard near the Azadi ( Freedom ) monument during the annual rally commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution at Azadi Square in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman holds a poster of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, as she stands on a banner containing an image of the Israeli flag in an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi, or Freedom, Street in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Policemen stand guard during an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution as a woman walks at right at the Azadi (Freedom) St. Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People attend an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution as the Azadi (Freedom) monument tower is seen at rear in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A man wears a Uncle Sam's hat as he stands in front of an Iranian-built missile during an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) sq. in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People attend an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution as the Azadi (Freedom) monument tower is seen at rear in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman holds a poster of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, as she stands on a banner containing an image of the Israeli flag in an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi, or Freedom, Street in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A cleric crosses an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new Tennessee law has eased up on two longstanding financial hurdles for people with felony sentences who want their voting rights back, including a unique requirement among states that they must have fully paid their child support costs.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved the Democratic-sponsored change, which now lets people prove they have complied for the last year with child support orders, such as payment plans. The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from voting rights restoration.

Advocates for years have sought various changes to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration system at the statehouse and in court. They say loosening these two rules marks the biggest rollback of restrictions to voting rights restoration in decades.

“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for the advocacy group Free Hearts led by formerly incarcerated women like her.

Most Republicans voted for it and Democrats supported it unanimously. The law took effect immediately upon Republican Gov. Bill Lee's signature last week.

“I think people are at a point where they want to just remove the barriers out of the way and allow people to be fully functional members of society,” said Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor.

In 2023 and early 2024, the state shelved a paperwork process that didn’t require going to court and decided gun rights were required to restore the right to vote. Election officials said a court ruling made the changes necessary, though voting rights advocates said officials misinterpreted the order.

Last year, lawmakers untangled voting and gun rights. But voting rights advocates opposed some of the bill's other provisions, such as keeping the process in the courts, where costs can rack up if someone isn't ruled indigent.

Easing up on the financial requirements uncommonly split legislative Republicans. For instance, Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it, while House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it, noting that people aren't getting forgiveness on making their payments.

“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights)," Sexton said. "I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”

Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said in committee his vote would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”

For some, backed-up child support payments could reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, and court costs could be hundreds or thousands more, said Gicola Lane, Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote community partnership senior manager.

Advocates credited their narrowed focus, omitting goals such as automatic restoration of rights, no longer tying restitution payments to voting rights, or offering a path for certain people to restore their right who are permanently disenfranchised, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.

The bill passed the Senate last year and the House this year.

Lawmakers gave the child support requirement final passage in 2006 within an overhaul bill that also created a voting rights restoration process outside of court. Critics said the child support rule penalized impoverished parents.

Democrats were then narrowly hanging onto legislative leadership in both chambers. Republicans held a slim Senate majority but GOP defectors voted for a Democratic speaker.

Last year marked the dismissal of a nearly five-year-old federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which saw some election policy changes along the way.

Roughly 184,000 people have completed supervision for felonies and their offenses don't preclude them from restoring their voting rights, according to a plaintiffs expert’s 2023 estimate in the lawsuit. About one in 10 were estimated to have outstanding child support payments, and more than six in 10 owed court courts, restitution or both, the expert said.

Both Republican and Democratic-led states have eased the voting rights restoration process in recent years. Some states have added complexities.

In Florida, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, the Republican-controlled Legislature watered that down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.

Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states. In 15 others, it occurs after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maine and Vermont, people with felonies keep their voting rights in prison, the NCSL says.

Ten other states including Tennessee require additional government action. Virginia ’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights of people convicted of felonies. In some states, including Tennessee, certain conviction types render someone ineligible.

However, Virginia lawmakers this year have passed a proposed state constitutional amendment to ask voters whether they want automatic voting rights restoration after someone is released from prison. Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters' consideration that would automatically restore voting rights after certain completed sentences, including probation.

FILE - The Tennessee Capitol is seen, Jan. 22, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)