The exiled son of Iran’s last shah, who has emerged as a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, made his strongest call yet for the protests to broaden into a revolt to topple the clerical rulers.
State media said a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, and blamed “rioters”. State TV broadcast footage of funerals of members of the security forces it said were killed in protests in the cities of Shiraz, Qom and Hamedan.
Footage posted on Friday on social media showed large crowds gathered in Tehran and fires lit in the street. In one video verified by Reuters showing a nighttime protest in Tehran’s Saadatabad district, a man is heard saying the crowd had taken over the area.
“The crowd is coming. ‘Death to the dictator’, ‘Death to Khamenei’,” he said, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Protests have spread across Iran since Dec 28, beginning in response to soaring inflation, and quickly turning political with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule. Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest.
U.S. forces conducted strikes against ISIS targets in Syria on January 10 in what appears to be payback for the January 6 attack that killed two Iowa National Guard soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter, according to reporting by Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson.
Tomlinson reported the strikes live, describing them as a measured U.S. response following the deadly Palmyra-area incident that targeted U.S. personnel. As of this writing, U.S. Central Command has not issued a formal statement confirming the operation, a common delay while assessments are ongoing.
The reported strikes follow a familiar pattern. After the January 6 attack, the U.S. launched Operation Hawkeye Strike on December 19, hitting more than 70 ISIS targets across central Syria with over 100 precision munitions, according to CENTCOM. Today’s reported action appears more limited, suggesting a focused effort against high-value ISIS targets rather than a broad campaign.
While details remain unconfirmed, defense analysts expect the operation involved precision airstrikes designed to limit collateral damage while reinforcing deterrence. Platforms commonly used in similar operations include F-15E strike aircraft, A-10s, or remotely piloted aircraft operating from U.S. positions in the region.
President Trump was briefed on new options for military strikes in Iran, a senior U.S. official confirmed Sunday.
Mr. Trump appeared to lay out his red line for action on Friday when he warned that if the Iranian government began “killing people like they have in the past, we would get involved.”
“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts,” he said at the White House. “And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
On social media, Mr. Trump offered his support for the protesters, saying that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
Mr. Trump’s warnings come as nationwide unrest challenging Iran’s theocracy crossed the two-week mark. At least 538 people have died in violence surrounding the demonstrations, U.S.-based activists said, with fears the death toll is far higher. More than 10,600 people have been arrested, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said.
A reporter asked President Donald Trump about the protests in Iran:
REPORTER: There’s been protesters killed in Iran. You said we were locked and loaded, ready to go. What is the line there for when the US is going to get involved in those protests?
TRUMP: We’ll take a look. We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States.
A member of Iran’s security forces was killed during a fourth day of protests in the country, which have been sparked by a currency collapse, the semi-official Fars news agency has reported.
Citing regional official Said Pourali, Fars said the incident happened in the city of Kouhdasht, in the western Lorestan province, adding that a number of members of the security forces were also injured.
Footage verified by BBC Persian appears to show security forces firing at protesters in the city on the same day.
President Donald Trump warned Friday that the United States would step in if Iran’s regime turns its guns on peaceful protesters, as economic demonstrations across the Islamic Republic spiral into deadly unrest.
If Iran “kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote in an overnight post on Truth Social.
Iranian leaders quickly fired back, threatening retaliation and warning that any U.S. involvement would put American forces in the Middle East in the crosshairs.
Two people are reported to have been killed during growing unrest in Iran on the fifth day of protests over the soaring cost of living.
Both the semi-official Fars news agency and human rights group, Hengaw, said people had died during clashes between protesters and security forces in the city of Lordegan, in south-western Iran.
On Thursday videos posted on social media showed cars set on fire during running battles between protesters and security forces.
Many protesters have called for ending the rule of the country’s supreme leader. Some have also called for a return to the monarchy.
Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic’s rural provinces, with at least six people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said.
The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, one on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in three cities predominantly home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
A U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Rafael Gross, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has claimed that the U.S. bombing run on Iran’s nuclear program failed to significantly deplete the nation’s stockpile of “near-weapons-grade” uranium.
The bombings still set Iran’s nuclear program back, as they are just now beginning to tunnel into the sites, which are still largely collapsed and destroyed. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security claimed that while the sites are still powered, “… the visible activity does not indicate a dash to remove possible centrifuge or enriched uranium stocks inside the tunnel complex; rather it points more towards preparing controlled and secure access to two of the three tunnel entrances, and hardening the entrances and utilities against future strikes,”
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday that his agency believes “the majority” of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium survived bombing runs from Israel and the United States in June.
Grossi said during an interview with a Swiss newspaper that the IAEA believes most of the uranium is still stored in Iran’s three primary nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz. All three facilities were hit by devastating airstrikes from the United States in June.
The latest IAEA report estimated Iran has about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, which is far beyond any conceivable civilian use, but just shy of weapons-grade material. The IAEA has been asking Iran to account for the uranium ever since the June airstrikes, but the Iranians have not been very cooperative.
Iran executes man for alleged spying for Israel, activists say he was tortured into false confession– abcnews.go.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iran says it executed a man accused of spying for Israel, but activists dispute the claim, saying he was tortured into a false confession
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran said Wednesday it executed a man it alleges spied for Israel, something disputed by activists who say he was tortured into a false confession.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the executed man as Babak Shahbazi, who it claimed had gathered and sold sensitive information about Iranian data centers and security installations to Israeli handlers.
Activists however said Shahbazi was detained over writing a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offering his help.
Iran has supplied Russia with drones that Moscow has used to attack Ukraine.
The group Iran Human Rights had warned Shahbazi could be executed.
“Babak’s message to President Zelenskyy offering to help in the war against Russia was used as an example of espionage for Israel who they claim taught Babak to use Microsoft Word,” the group said. Iran did not acknowledge that claim.
The comments from the German Foreign Ministry and the European Union came after a call Iran had Wednesday with representatives of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.
“The window for finding a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear issue is closing really fast,” Kallas warned in a statement. “Iran must show credible steps towards addressing the demands of France, (the) U.K. and Germany, and this means demonstrating full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and allowing inspections of all nuclear sites without delay.”
The German Foreign Ministry separately wrote on the social platform X that “Iran has yet to take the reasonable and precise actions necessary to” stop the reimposition of U.N. sanctions.
Iran had no immediate comment on the call, though it had acknowledged earlier that the call would take place. Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier reached a deal mediated by Egypt to grant the U.N. watchdog access to all Iranian nuclear sites and for Tehran to report on the whereabouts of all its nuclear material. It remained unclear when Iran will make that report.
BERLIN — The top diplomats of Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The three countries, known as the E3, wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions, if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom.
Britain, France, and Germany are prepared to reimpose sanction on Iran if it doesn’t let in UN inspectors by the deadline coming up at the end of this month, July. After an initial meeting with the IAEA, Iran has signaled it won’t let inspectors back into its country. Internally, it appears it is bracing for the reiteration of sanctions and is developing a strategy to offset the sanctions, mainly by relying on countries like China and Russia to offset the loss.
Iran Refusing Inspections of Nuclear Sites as Senior IAEA Official Concludes Visit to Tehran – Foundation for Defense of Democracies<
First Meeting With IAEA Since June War: The Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Massimo Aparo, has departed from Tehran after conducting the agency’s first meeting with Iranian officials since the war between Israel and Iran in June. Ahead of the visit, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that renewed talks between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA would be “complicated” and “technical,” with Iran refusing to allow the agency to inspect its nuclear sites in the wake of the Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign. In June, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called on Iran to allow inspectors access after the Iranian parliament voted to halt cooperation with the agency.
Iran Preparing for Snap Back Sanctions: Simultaneously, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry has reportedly advised Iranian companies to prepare for a “snap back” of UN sanctions on Iran that were suspended under the 2015 nuclear deal or have since lapsed. The ministry urged the companies to “[i]dentify alternative suppliers in countries like China, Russia, Iraq, etc., which will be less affected by sanctions.” France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, known collectively as the E3, have threatened, in coordination with the United States, to trigger snapback at the end of August — meaning that multilateral sanctions would be reapplied before their expiration in October, when Russia also assumes the UN Security Council presidency. They plan to trigger snapback unless Iran provides a “firm, tangible, and verifiable commitment” to fully cooperate with the IAEA and agree to other measures to curb its nuclear activities.
BERLIN — The top diplomats of Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran as an end-of-the-month deadline nears for the country to resume negotiations with the West over its nuclear program and cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The three countries, known as the E3, wrote in a letter to the United Nations dated Friday that they were willing to trigger a process known as the “snapback” mechanism, which allows one of the Western parties to reimpose U.N. sanctions, if Tehran doesn’t comply with its requirements.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nöel Barrot posted the letter Wednesday to X. He co-signed it along with top diplomats from Germany and the United Kingdom.
President Donald Trump warned Iran that any efforts to restart the damaged nuclear weapons program will be met with another round of bombings. Trump told reporters “We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. For a country that just got wiped out, they’ve been sending very nasty signals.”
Trump Says US Will Obliterate Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Again If Tehran Tries Restarting Program– freebeacon.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iranian officials have been sending ‘very nasty signals,’ Trump tells reporters Monday
Ali Khamenei (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images), Donald Trump (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump warned Monday that the United States would destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment sites again if Tehran tries to restart its nuclear program.
“We wiped out [Iran’s] nuclear possibilities,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it.”
After the recent Israeli war against the Iranian regime and the American attack on the Fordo nuclear site, the mullahs in Tehran are feeling the heat. This is the most fragile the regime has been over the past 46 years, and talk of regime change is spreading. For the past year and a half, some in the regime have been preparing for a plan B, in case they need to flee urgently. While that does not mean that the regime is about to fall, it is still a valid indicator of the nervousness of the leadership.
After Hamas, one of Iran’s proxies, attacked Israel by surprise on October 7, 2023, the Iranian regime and its allies have sustained major military and strategic losses at the hands of Israel. For instance, Hezbollah, from far its most powerful proxy, is just a shadow of itself after the elimination of most of its leadership, including its long-time ruthless chief Hassan Nasrallah. Therefore, apparatchiks of the regime started panicking, deciding that it was time to either turn against the regime by defecting and/or working for the Israelis or the Americans to build a life abroad.
President Donald Trump warned Iran that any efforts to restart the damaged nuclear weapons program will be met with another round of bombings. Trump told reporters “We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. For a country that just got wiped out, they’ve been sending very nasty signals.”
Trump Says US Will Obliterate Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Again If Tehran Tries Restarting Program– freebeacon.com Source Link Excerpt:
Iranian officials have been sending ‘very nasty signals,’ Trump tells reporters Monday
Ali Khamenei (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images), Donald Trump (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump warned Monday that the United States would destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment sites again if Tehran tries to restart its nuclear program.
“We wiped out [Iran’s] nuclear possibilities,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it.”
Iran vows to press on with nuke enrichment despite Trump’s threats and ‘serious damage’ done by stealth bombings– www.thesun.co.uk Source Link Excerpt:
IRAN has vowed to push on with nuclear enrichment – in a stark warning to the west following Donald Trump’s stealth blitz on Tehran’s nuke plants.
The pariah state pledged to enrich uranium, despite the 12-day war which started over fears the mullahs were dangerously close to getting a nuclear warhead.
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