Washington — U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone that flew towards a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command confirmed.
The military said the Shahed-139 drone “aggressively” approached the USS Abraham Lincoln as it was crossing through the Arabian Sea roughly 500 miles from the southern coast of Iran and “unnecessarily maneuvered” toward the ship. U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the drone continued to fly toward the carrier “despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.”
The drone was shot down by a F-35 fighter jet, and no American service members were harmed in the incident, Hawkins said in a statement.
U.S. Central Command also confirmed that hours later, forces with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps harassed a U.S.-flagged and crewed oil tanker, Stena Imperative, that was moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Hawkins said two Iranian military boats and an Iranian drone approached the vessel at “high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”
The USS McCaul, a guided-missile destroyer that was in the area, responded to the scene to escort the vessel with air support from the U.S. Air Force, according to Hawkins.
“CENTCOM forces are operating at the highest levels of professionalism and ensuring the safety of U.S. personnel, ships, and aircraft in the Middle East,” he said. “Continued Iranian harassment and threats in international waters and airspace will not be tolerated. Iran’s unnecessary aggression near U.S. forces, regional partners and commercial vessels increases risks of collision, miscalculation, and regional destabilization.”
The U.S. military has in recent days built up its presence near Iran with what President Trump called a “massive armada.” The president told reporters last month that the military was sending ships to the Middle East “just in case,” as his administration watches Iran’s response to massive protests that broke out late last year.
Thousands of protesters are believed to have been killed in response to a crackdown on demonstrations by Iranian authorities.
The president was briefed last month on an array of military options and covert tools that could be used against Iran, two Defense Department officials told CBS News at the time. But U.S. allies in the Middle East are urging the president not to strike Iran and are instead working to broker diplomatic talks, regional officials told CBS News.
Mr. Trump told reporters last week that he has had conversations with Iranian officials and plans to hold more discussions.
“I told them two things: No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters,” he said. “They’re going to have to do something.”
Feb 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. military shot down on Tuesday an Iranian drone that approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier and was shot down by a F-35 U.S. fighter jet.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
Dubai — British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said Tuesday that a U.S.-flagged tanker was approached by Iranian gunboats, which threatened to board the vessel, in the Strait of Hormuz, before continuing on its way under military escort. The incident comes amid a tense standoff between the U.S. and Iran, and just days ahead of expected negotiations.
The Stena Imperative was approached by three pairs of small armed boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, approximately 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast, the company said.
The gunboats hailed the tanker by radio, ordering the captain, “to stop the engines and prepare to be boarded,” but the ship increased speed and maintained course, the firm added, stressing that it never entered Iranian territorial waters.
“The vessel is now being escorted by a U.S. warship,” Vanguard Tech said.
The U.S.-flagged tanker was still on course for its destination in Bahrain on Tuesday afternoon, scheduled to arrive at the port Sitrah on Feb. 5, information from the MarineTraffic website showed.
The U.S. tanker Stena Imperative is seen in a Feb. 4, 2024 file photo.
MarineTraffic.com/V. Tonic
The British maritime security agency UKMTO had reported the incident earlier, without specifying the nationality of the ship nor of the boats that approached it, saying only that it had been “hailed on VHF by numerous small armed vessels,” but ignored the request to stop and “continued on its planned route.”
“Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said in its statement, warning all vessels in the Strait of Hormuz “to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”
The Strait of Hormuz is a key passage for global transport of oil and liquefied natural gas, and it has been the scene of several incidents in the past amid tension between Iran and the West.
Iran’s Fars news agency, which is closely linked to the Revolutionary Guards, cited unnamed government officials on Tuesday as denying the report by Vanguard Tech, claiming a vessel was intercepted after it entered Iran’s territorial waters without permission.
A map shows the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with Iran to the north and the UAE and Oman exclave Musandam to the south.
Getty/iStockphoto
Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Imperative remained within Oman’s maritime economic zone as it traversed the Strait.
A senior Iranian official from the Revolutionary Guards threatened last week to block passage of the Strait in the event of a U.S. attack, and the Guards also held military exercises over the weekend in the strategic waterway.
President Trump has threatened repeatedly that he could launch a new military strike on Iran over the country’s brutal suppression of recent protests, or if it declines to negotiate a new deal on its nuclear program.
Speaking to CBS News last week, Mr. Trump said “I have had” conversations with Iran in the last few days, and “I am planning” to have more.
Mr. Trump said that, in those conversations, he “told them two things. No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters. They’re killing them by the thousands.”
At least 10 U.S. warships — including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers — were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters as of last week, a deployment Mr. Trump has called an “armada,” which he said he hopes he doesn’t need to use.
U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks at the end of this week.
Iran’s president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.Video above: Iran warns of “regional war” if U.S. attacksTurkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region.But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.Iran’s president signals talks are possibleWriting on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issueLate Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.Video below: “HELP IS ON ITS WAY:” Trump weighs response to deadly protests in IranIran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.Witkoff traveling to IsraelWitkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. He will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.” Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.
DUBAI, Dubai —
Iran’s president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.
Video above: Iran warns of “regional war” if U.S. attacks
But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.
Iran’s president signals talks are possible
Writing on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”
“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.
The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.
Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issue
Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.
Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.
He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.
The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.
Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”
“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.
Video below: “HELP IS ON ITS WAY:” Trump weighs response to deadly protests in Iran
Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.
Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.
“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.
Witkoff traveling to Israel
Witkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. He will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.
“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.
“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.
MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russia is ready for the new reality of a world with no nuclear arms control limits after the New START treaty expires later this week, Russia’s point man for arms control said on Tuesday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that if the U.S. pumped lots of missile defence systems onto Greenland then Russia would have to take compensatory measures in its military sphere.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
One day before a planned naval drill by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, an explosion tore through an apartment building Saturday in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, which sits on the strait.
The blast killed a 4-year-old girl as local media footage purportedly showed a security force member being carried out by rescuers.
Iran is planning a naval drill Sunday and Monday in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The U.S. military has warned Iran not to threaten its warships or commercial traffic in the strait.
State television quoted a local fire official as blaming the blast on a gas leak. Media reported at least 14 others injured in the explosion.
An apartment building is seen after an explosion in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Jan. 31, 2026.
Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP
A local newspaper, Sobh-e Sahel, aired footage of a correspondent speaking in front of the building. The footage included a sequence that showed a man in a green security force uniform being carried out on a stretcher. He wore a neck brace and appeared to be in pain, his left hand covering the branch insignia on his uniform.
The newspaper did not acknowledge the security force member being carried out elsewhere in its reporting. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard did not discuss the blast, other than to deny that a Guard navy commander had been hurt.
Another explosion blamed on a gas explosion Saturday in the southwestern city of Ahvaz killed five people, state media reported.
Iran remains tense over a threat by President Trump to potentially launch a military strike on the country over the killing of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of those detained in a major crackdown over the demonstrations.
Speaking to CBS News Thursday night on the red carpet of the “Melania” premiere — the documentary that provides an inside look at the life of first lady Melania Trump in the days following her husband’s 2024 election victory — Mr. Trump said “I have had” conversations with Iran in the last few days, and “I am planning” to have more.
Mr. Trump said that, in those conversations, he “told them two things. No. 1, no nuclear. And No. 2, stop killing protesters. They’re killing them by the thousands.”
At least 10 U.S. warships — including an aircraft carrier and at least five destroyers — were heading toward Iran’s coastal waters on Friday.
“We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now,” Mr. Trump told CBS News Thursday. “And it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”
Ali Larijani, a top security official in Iran, wrote on X late Saturday that “structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.” CBS News on Friday sought clarification from the White House about any ongoing direct negotiations between the Trump administration and Tehran.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday called for de-escalation and said Egypt is working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table to achieve a “peaceful and comprehensive settlement to the Iranian nuclear file,” according to a statement on his phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Qatar in a statement said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited Tehran on Saturday and met with Larijani about “efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.”
ANKARA, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Turkey on Friday for talks with his counterpart Hakan Fidan on the recent developments in Iran and tensions with the United States, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to come to the table and make a deal on nuclear weapons or the next U.S. attack would be far worse. Trump has sent an “armada” to the Middle East and warned Tehran against killing anti-government protesters or restarting its nuclear programme.
Tehran, which brutally cracked down on large protests this month and killed or arrested thousands, responded with a threat to strike back against the United States, Israel and those who support them.
Iranian officials blame the unrest, the biggest since the 1979 revolution, on Iran’s foes, Israel and the United States.
Turkey, a NATO member that shares a border with Iran, has said it opposes any foreign intervention on its neighbour and urged Washington to resolve its issues with Iran “one by one”.
It has reached out to both sides, warning that destabilisation in Iran would exceed the region’s capacity to manage at this time.
The source said Fidan would tell Araqchi that Turkey closely followed developments in Iran, and that Iran’s security, peace, and stability were of “great importance” for Ankara.
Fidan will also repeat Turkey’s opposition to any military attack on Iran and warn that such a move will “create risks on a global scale”, the source said, adding that he would offer Turkey’s support in helping resolve tensions with Washington.
Fidan will “note that Turkey supports finding a solution on Iran’s nuclear programme as soon as possible, and that it stands ready to help on this issue if it is needed,” the source said.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Michael Perry)
BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) – The European Union will most likely include Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terrorist organisations, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday ahead of a foreign affairs ministers council.
“We are putting new sanctions on Iran and I also expect we will list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist list,” she said.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Inti Landauro)
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for taking part in what prosecutors called a failed Iran-backed murder-for-hire plot against Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian dissident living in the U.S., the Justice Department said.
Carlisle Rivera, also known as “Pop,” previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of conspiracy to commit stalking before U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman for the Southern District of New York, who imposed Wednesday’s sentence, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Alinejad, who fled Iran in 2009, is a longtime critic of Iran’s head-covering laws and a journalist. She has promoted videos of women violating those laws to her millions of social media followers. She was living in Brooklyn at the time of the alleged plot on her life.
The case was part of a crackdown by the Justice Department on what it calls transnational repression: the targeting by authoritarian governments of political opponents on foreign soil.
Prosecutors said Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and its intelligence officials have repeatedly tried to target Alinejad.
Iran has dismissed as baseless allegations that its intelligence officers sought to kidnap or kill her.
Other people have also been convicted in the U.S. and sentenced in relation to the alleged plot.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Edward Tobin)
After mass protests in Iran erupted in December and continued to escalate into the new year, the government shut down internet access throughout the country. But after weeks of trying, one man in Iran was able to get through the blackout and speak with CBS News on a video call, describing what sounds like a massacre of anti-government protesters in early January.
Jan. 8 and 9 are believed to be the bloodiest, most brutal days in the government’s crackdown on protesters since it was founded in 1979.
The man asked not to be identified and had his head wrapped in a black cloth and his eyes covered by goggles because he is afraid the government could find him and put him in prison or execute him. He described a crackdown on Jan. 9 in the city of Yazd, about 400 miles southeast of the capital Tehran.
He was in a crowd of about 1,500 people marching toward Imam Hossein Square when, he said, government forces started shooting at them from the front and the back in what he thinks was a plan to mow them down from both sides.
Two sources, including one inside Iran, previously told CBS News that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people have been killed throughout Iran in the protests.
“More than a thousand that night killed…because I hear a lot of shooting,” he said.
He said the only reason he survived was that he was in the middle of the crowd and was able to escape down a side street.
Now the streets across the country are quiet. The man told CBS News that people are sad and angry and that he lost a lot of his “brothers and sisters” — friends, comrades in arms — in the protests to oust the regime.
Asked what he hoped the protests would achieve, the man said, “All people that night come out and say, ‘Pahlavi,’” referencing Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, now living in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Just want Pahlavi, OK?” he said.
In an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell earlier this month, Pahlavi characterized himself as Iranians’ voice in the outside world, and has claimed that people chanting his name during the protests show he could play a role as a transitional leader, although it’s unclear how much support he actually has inside the country.
“Why is it that I offer my service to Iran? I’m answering their call,” he said. “I’m a bridge and not the destination at this point.”
Pahlavi’s father became shah in 1941 and consolidated power in a 1953 coup, backed by the United States and United Kingdom, that overthrew the Iranian prime minister. He ruled until 1979, when he was deposed by the Islamic Revolution.
Some now hope the U.S. will intervene again.
“On behalf of all Iranians, I ask President Trump to help us achieve freedom, because our freedom is the freedom of the whole world from terrorists,” the man said.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly warned Iranian leaders against killing peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people detained during the unrest. He has also threatened possible military action.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group recently arrived in the U.S. military’s Central Command area of operation, which covers much of the Middle East region, including Iran. The warships’ arrival came after the commander of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that his forces had their “finger on the trigger,” following Mr. Trump’s threats.
The video call with the Iranian man, which suffered from numerous issues due to the blackout, dropped soon after his plea for U.S. support, but in follow-up texts, he told CBS News he wants the U.S. to provide air support “to send the entire leadership of this regime to their own ideological paradise in a lightning strike.”
A man inside Iran spoke with CBS News foreign correspondent Ramy Inocencio after weeks of trying to get through the government’s internet blackout. He described surviving a protest crackdown in which he believes more than a thousand people were killed.
Iran’s Interim Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar summoned Tsafrir to make a dramatic request: assassinate Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at his exile residence near Paris.
Between the 1950s and the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran represented one of the most permissive and valuable intelligence environments for Israel’s Mossad.
While rumors that the Mossad helped the CIA establish Iran’s SAVAK (secret police) security apparatus appear to be exaggerated, the relations between the intelligence agencies were at phenomenal levels.
While CIA, Mossad, and SAVAK relations were strong, the agencies still had separate identities, did not share everything, and the US was still the major player compared to Jerusalem.
Their separate identities are expressed in a story that former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told The Jerusalem Post before he died.
Back when Shavit was stationed by the Mossad in Iran in 1966, US intelligence noted the presence of a new young couple – Shavit and his wife.
Illustrative Mossad agent. (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
But US intelligence never tied him to the Mossad or figured out that he was anything unusual – a fact he learned when a US intelligence document was leaked to him around 1980.
Mossad agents had access to Iranian officials
Top Mossad agents had easy access to top Iranian officials.
For example, after the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled Iran in 1979, Mossad station chief Eliezer Tsafrir was inside SAVAK headquarters.
A distraught general clung to Tsafrir, begging him to, “Take me with you!”
Iran’s interim prime minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, summoned Tsafrir to make a dramatic request: assassinate Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at his exile residence near Paris.
On January 28, Mossad director Yitzhak Hofi gathered senior officers, including Iran chief analyst Yossi Alpher, to debate the request.
Ultimately, they decided against the assassination, but the fact that Tsafrir had such easy access to SAVAK headquarters, was asked by a general to be brought to Israel, and was asked by the interim prime minister to assassinate an opposition figure speaks to the intimate level of intelligence relations with the Mossad at the time.
The relations between the Mossad and SAVAK included intelligence sharing, training, and regional security operations, including support for Kurdish forces in Iraq against the Ba’athist regime in Baghdad.
ISRAEL’S SPY AGENCY was especially helpful in training new SAVAK recruits when Iran established the agency in 1957.
Their partnership also involved joint technological efforts, intelligence sharing, and coordination against a variety of Sunni Arab regional adversaries.
Regarding Sunni Arab adversaries, Iran was a lynchpin in the Jewish state’s intelligence and diplomatic strategy to find as many allies as possible in the region where it was generally surrounded by hostile neighbors.
Iran provided the Mossad a significant reservoir of useful intelligence about many of these adversaries and a physical space to operate in much closer to them.
While there was a huge population of Israelis and Jews in Iran until 1979, there was no formal diplomatic recognition, so there was also a variety of messages passing between top political leaders through the Mossad.
There were extensive weapons deals, including for Uzi guns, mortars, radio equipment, and renovations of Iranian aircraft. Much of which was handled by IDF or the relevant business officials, but the Mossad was often an initiator or in the background to make sure new projects ran smoothly.
Just as Israeli and Iranian generals were frequently visiting each other’s countries, a high volume of senior intelligence officials were also.
All of this was against the backdrop of Israel relying on Iran for around 40% of its oil imports, while Jerusalem helped Iran with the above weapons and technology issues, but also with advanced agricultural techniques.
With the US having helped Iran found aspects of its nuclear program, some have also speculated that Israel and the Mossad may have assisted in some of this as well, though this has never been formally confirmed.
So if the ayatollahs fall and the next regime is not run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) but a regime that is not hostile to Israel or even eventually friendly, what would be the role of the Mossad?
The Mossad might not need to work as hard on the Iran issue if the regime no longer pursued nuclear weapons and no longer threatened Israel with ballistic missile attacks or terror.
It could be that the Mossad would work with the CIA and others to discover any sites they had not already explored and to defang those threats.
This would not require close relations, but just an absence of investing in hostility, given that the two countries are 1,500 kilometers apart and have no inherent reason to fight, such as over some kind of an adjacent land dispute.
In a more expansive scenario, the Mossad having access again to Iranian territory as intelligence allies would be a game-changer.
Having access to Iranian territory would make it infinitely easier to have access to Iraqi, Turkish, and Pakistani territory – all countries it borders on and which are of interest to Israel in the wider region.
It is unclear what implications a post-Islamic Revolution Iran would have for Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and other terror groups, which the Islamic Republic propped up.
But if the Mossad had access to Iranian cooperation, this could be a sea change in being able to better understand and combat these groups long-term.
The fall of the ayatollahs and the IRGC would not in any way guarantee they would not return.
After all, they came to power because of the shah’s authoritarian, corrupt, and incompetent rule.
While the Mossad was as utterly clueless as the CIA about the power of the ayatollahs to overthrow the shah in 1979, maybe this time that knowledge might also empower Israel’s spy agency to help hold down such a future potential returned threat.
In any case, all of this would be adding to, not starting, the Mossad’s presence in Iran.
As Mossad Director David Barnea said in June 2025, the agency was deeply involved in the Israel-Iran war that month and continues to have agents there.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group has crossed into Central Command, the Middle East region that includes Iran, a U.S. official told CBS News.
The strike group is comprised of the Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, and three guided missile destroyers: the USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr., the USS Spruance and the USS Michael Murphy. On board the Lincoln are squadrons of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, F-35C fighter jets and MH-60R/S helicopters.
The naval force was not necessarily “on station” as of Monday morning Eastern Time, meaning it was not in its intended ultimate position.
President Trump said on Thursday that the U.S. had a “massive fleet” heading toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action, although he added, “maybe we won’t have to use it.”
This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows Seaman Rafael Brito standing watch aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 22, 2026.
Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Angel Campbell/U.S. Navy via AP
Mr. Trump has repeatedly warned Iranian leaders against the killing of peaceful demonstrators — who started protesting in late December in the largest challenge to the country’s ruling regime in years — and the mass execution of people arrested in the protests.
Over the weekend, Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that Gen. Mohammad Pakpour warned the U.S. and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” Pakpour was quoted as saying, The Associated Press reported.
The president of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Majidreza Hariri, said Iranian merchants have only 20 minutes per day, according to a report by Iran International.
Iranian merchants have only 20 minutes of internet access per day to conduct their operations with other countries, Farsi-language news network Iran International reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the president of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Majidreza Hariri, said that the internet is available in Tehran and other provinces for registered people who need to continue operations with China.
“The time given is undesirable, only allowing to check a couple of emails in a short 20-minute span,” Hariri added.
According to another report by the Farsi-language network Manoto, Ali Hakim Javadi, head of the Computer Industry Organization, has announced that daily Internet outages cause economic damage of between two and three trillion tomans ($18 million to $27 million).
Iran has been cut off from the Internet since January 8, resulting in the longest Internet blackout in the country’s history. The Islamic Republic has used this as part of its repression mechanism to crack down on the nationwide protests reported in the country since late December.
Fires are lit as protesters rally on January 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (credit: GETTY IMAGES)
Iran’s Internet blackout continues as regime targets protests
The Islamic Regime had assured last week that the Internet would return to the country by Friday, and reports indicated that some services linked to the regime had been restored.
According to a report by privately owned NetBlocks, the Iranian Internet blackout hit 400 hours on Sunday, with minimal activity recorded on Friday.
Meanwhile, crackdowns on protests continue to target civilians, with reports of thousands of people killed by the regime since late December.
A report by TIMEMagazine said that as many as 30,000 people may have been killed across Iran during a two-day crackdown on January 8 and 9.
The number, if true, would massively increase the death toll from previously believed estimates. Days after the alleged massacre, Iran International reported that approximately 12,000 died within the two-day period.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander said Saturday, as U.S. warships headed toward the Middle East.
Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” Nournews quoted Pakpour as saying.
Tension remains high between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of a bloody crackdown on protests that began on Dec. 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks.
President Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran, setting two red lines for the use of military force: the killing of peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people arrested in the protests.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim — which Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, strongly denied Friday in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said aboard Air Force One that the U.S. was moving warships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action.
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Mr. Trump said.
A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships traveling with it were in the Indian Ocean.
Mr. Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks American officials had with Iran over its nuclear program before Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which also saw U.S. warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. He threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier U.S. strikes against Iranian uranium enrichment sites “look like peanuts.”
“They should have made a deal before we hit them,” Mr. Trump said.
The tension has led at least two European airlines to suspend some flights to the wider region.
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego Bay.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Air France canceled two return flights from Paris to Dubai over the weekend. The airline said it was “closely following developments in the Middle East in real time and continuously monitors the geopolitical situation in the territories served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security.” It said it would resume its service to Dubai later Saturday.
Luxair said it had postponed its Saturday flight from Luxembourg to Dubai by 24 hours “in light of ongoing tensions and insecurity affecting the region’s airspace, and in line with measures taken by several other airlines.”
It told the AP it was closely monitoring the situation “and a decision on whether the flight will operate tomorrow will be taken based on the ongoing assessment.”
Arrivals information at Dubai’s international airport also showed the cancellation of Saturday flights from Amsterdam by Dutch carriers KLM and Transavia. The airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some KLM flights to Tel Aviv in Israel were also canceled on Friday and Saturday, according to online flight trackers.
Although there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, the death toll reported by activists has continued to rise as information trickles out despite the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history, which has now lasted more than two weeks.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Saturday put the death toll at 5,137, with the number expected to increase. More than 27,700 people have been arrested, it said.
The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s government offered its first death toll on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It said 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest as “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.
Right now, as you read this, Iranian protesters are facing live ammunition in Tehran’s streets. Women risk execution for removing their hijabs. Some 12,000 to 20,000 people are feared dead from the protest crackdown. The regime is vulnerable, weakened by strikes on its nuclear program, facing economic collapse, confronting a population that has repeatedly chosen death over submission. The window to support regime change is open. But it’s closing fast.
The Trump administration made commitments to the Iranian people. Now, facing the moment of decision, there’s troubling hesitation. This isn’t just another foreign policy challenge: It’s a binary test of whether American leadership still possesses the will to act on its stated principles. Fail here, and we confirm that international relations have lost their moral compass entirely.
Harvard’s Joseph Nye taught that foreign policy morality requires integrating intentions, means and consequences. Good intentions without adequate implementation produce catastrophic outcomes. We’ve stated our intentions. The question is whether we’ll employ the means — or allow bureaucratic caution and geopolitical calculation to paralyze us until the opportunity passes.
The Iranian regime is a 47-year totalitarian theocracy that has terrorized its population, sponsored terrorism from Hezbollah to Hamas to the Houthis, supplied drones to Russia for killing Ukrainian civilians and pursued nuclear weapons while declaring itself America’s mortal enemy. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered protesters “put in their place.” The judiciary announced all participants will be tried for moharebeh — “enmity against God” — a capital offense.
Yet the international left remains conspicuously silent, frozen in power analysis and identity politics. In too many minds around the world, Iranian protesters fail to generate solidarity because their oppressors — the mullahs — are classified as victims of Western imperialism.
This pattern repeats globally. In Nigeria, 32 Christians are reportedly killed daily — 7,087 killed in the first 220 days of 2025 alone. More than 50,000 in five years. In Sudan, 3,384 civilian deaths in just the first half of 2025. Genocide Watch declares it stage nine: extermination. Only a small fraction of needed humanitarian funding has been committed. Some suffering by Palestinians sometimes generates international outrage. The selective morality is devastating and deliberate.
Consider the Tudeh Party — Iran’s communist left. As protesters face bullets, they condemn the demonstrations while warning against American imperialism. Some progressive Iranian American academics have dismissed calls for change as Westernized and illegitimate. They use anti-imperialism to silence Iranians demanding their God-given rights. When ideology replaces principle, you get moral blindness masquerading as sophistication.
The stakes transcend Iran. Since the modern nation-state system was organized by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1688, state sovereignty has been the bedrock of international law. But it’s become a shield for regimes that brutalize their populations. The post-1945 American-led international order assumed sovereign states would protect citizens’ basic rights and that the international community would act when they did not. We face a choice: sovereignty conditional on protecting citizens, or cynical realism where might makes right.
What’s required is clear. First, an unambiguous statement that the U.S. supports the Iranian people’s right to choose their government and will not accept continued mullah rule. Second, escalating sanctions targeting the regime’s economic foundations while ensuring humanitarian aid reaches Iranians. Third, robust communications infrastructure support so protesters can coordinate despite attempts at censorship. Fourth, diplomatic isolation and coalition-building. Fifth, material support for opposition forces sufficient to tilt the balance.
The question is whether the Trump administration recognizes this as a defining test — whether it understands that failure here signals to every authoritarian regime that the West lacks resolve, to every oppressed population that American principles are empty rhetoric, to every ally that American commitments are negotiable.
If we allow the window to close — if bureaucratic hesitation or fear of opposition paralyzes us — the regime will reconsolidate. It will crush the protests with even greater brutality. It will execute thousands more. And it will emerge convinced that the West lacks the will to oppose it meaningfully. Every adversary will be emboldened. Every ally will question our word.
But if we act — if we follow through with real support for removing the mullahs — we affirm that moral principles still matter in international affairs. We demonstrate that the Judeo-Christian foundations of American order remain vital and actionable. We show that universal human dignity still commands our allegiance, that freedom is still worth defending at cost and risk.
The American founders understood rights as flowing from the Creator, not the state. They established a republic acknowledging transcendent moral law as the foundation of human law. Thomas Jefferson recognized that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. The Iranian people are asking us to honor these principles — not abstractly, but concretely.
Protesters have risen despite knowing the cost. They’ve demanded freedom despite facing torture and execution. They’ve trusted that America stands for something beyond geopolitical calculation. The time for decision is now. Not next month, not after more studies, not when conditions are perfect. Now. And on that decision hangs not only Iran’s fate but also the moral credibility of the entire international order we claim to defend.
We can support the Iranian people’s efforts to remove the mullahs, or we can watch another opportunity for freedom slip away while we hesitate. History will record which we chose.
Daniel J. Arbess is founder of Xerion Investments, a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a co-founder of No Labels, a political group promoting bipartisan collaboration.
Some protesters, like M., have broken through the digital shutdown using Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service, which is banned in Iran. Security agents have been going door to door, raiding homes to confiscate satellite dishes and arresting anyone who is using the service. Authorities have warned that citizens caught using Starlink could be sent to prison for up to two years. Iran’s attorney general has said that all “rioters” will be considered “enemies of God,” a charge that could lead to their execution. “Let them find me,” M. told me. “I could have been killed a hundred times during these past few days. There are too many dead. The world should know what has happened here.”
Several months ago, M. was sitting in a prison cell while security forces searched his home after the government alleged that he was a foreign spy. It was days after Israel started attacking Iran, in June, and the Iranian authorities had ordered a manhunt for suspected infiltrators. At least twenty-one thousand were arrested, including M., who believes he was targeted for publishing anti-government posts on social media. He was released, but the experience hardened his rage for the regime. “They only know how to govern with fear,” he said.
His resentment carried him into the streets of Mashhad to join the protests, which reached a fever pitch, days later, after Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the former Shah, posted a video that urged Iranians to join anti-government demonstrations in cities across the country on Thursday and Friday. They were emboldened further by President Donald Trump, who wrote on Truth Social that the United States would come to their “rescue” if protesters were killed. “People lost their fear,” M. told me. “They all left their homes to fight for a new future—and they were slaughtered for it.”
M. and his friends provided me with videos, which have been verified and support key parts of the narrative put forward by witnesses. The clips have been altered to protect the identities of those depicted. The interview with M. has been edited for length and clarity.
Part 1
I will try my best to tell you what happened. My wife is scared every hour at night. She goes and checks the windows to make sure no one is there. She doesn’t want me to talk to you, but they have killed so many people, and I need to do this.
It all started because of crazy inflation. The craziest inflation in our life. First we saw online that people in the biggest bazaar in Tehran had started protesting. I saw Trump talking about Iran, and he said that if the government shoots the protesters the U.S. is going to shoot back. We believed him. Trump is a man of his word. Also, online, everyone was sharing a video post from Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, encouraging us to protest.
Suddenly, everyone lost their fear. Before that day, no one had the courage to post Instagram Stories about the protests, because they knew that they would go to jail. But, this time, it was like everyone was supporting Pahlavi. They reposted his video, putting him in their stories. There was this feeling: “We’re gonna make it this time.” That was how we felt that day. Everyone was writing on social media—“just get to a street. Walking is not a crime.” Then many other people across the country started filling the streets in every big city.
Part 2
I couldn’t believe what I saw on Thursday. It started as a normal day. The government shut down the internet at 7 P.M., one hour before the Thursday protests began. I decided to go out, but I didn’t bring my phone, because the government can follow people.
KABUL, Jan 20 (Reuters) – In the dull glow of a single bulb lighting their tent on the outskirts of Kabul, Samiullah and his wife Bibi Rehana sit down to dry bread and tea, their only meal of the day, accompanied by their five children and three-month-old grandchild.
“We have reached a point where we are content with death,” said 55-year-old Samiullah, whose family, including two older sons aged 18 and 20 and their wives, is among the millions deported by neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in the past year.
“Day by day, things are getting worse,” he added, after their return to a war-torn nation where the United Nations’ World Food Programme estimates 17 million battle acute hunger after massive cuts in international aid.
“Whatever happens to us has happened, but at least our children’s lives should be better.”
He was one of the returned Afghans speaking before protests in Iran sparked a massive crackdown by the clerical establishment, killing more than 2,000 in ensuing violence.
Samiullah said his family went virtually overnight from its modest home in Iran to their makeshift tent, partially propped up by rocks and rubble, after a raid by Iranian authorities led to their arrests and then deportation.
They salvaged a few belongings but were not able to carry out all their savings, which would have carried them through the winter, Samiullah added.
Reuters was unable to reach authorities in Iran for comment.
“Migrants who are newly returning to the country receive assistance as much as possible,” said Afghan administration spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, in areas from transport to housing, healthcare and food.
It was impossible to eradicate poverty quickly in a country that suffered 40 years of conflict and the loss of all its revenue and resources, he added in a statement, despite an extensive rebuilding effort.
“Economic programmes take time and do not have an immediate impact on people’s lives.”
The WFP says Iran and Pakistan have expelled more than 2.5 million Afghans in massive repatriation programs.
Tehran ramped up deportations last year amid a flurry of accusations that they were spying for Israel. Authorities blamed the expulsions on concerns about security and resources.
Islamabad accelerated deportations amid accusations that the Taliban was harbouring militants responsible for cross-border attacks on Pakistani soil, allegations Afghanistan has denied.
As winter spreads across Afghanistan’s arid landscape, work opportunities have dried up, while the wave of returning Afghans has swelled the population by a tenth, said John Aylieff, the WFP’s country director.
“Many of these Afghans were working in Iran and Pakistan and they were sending back remittances,” he told Reuters, adding that 3 million more people now face acute hunger. “Those remittances were a lifeline for Afghanistan.”
Cuts to global programmes since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House have sapped the resources of organisations such as the WFP, while other donor countries have also scaled back, putting millions at risk worldwide.
“Last year was the biggest malnutrition surge ever recorded in Afghanistan and sadly the prediction is that it’s going to get worse,” added Aylieff, estimating that 200,000 more children would suffer acute malnourishment in 2026.
At the WFP’s aid distribution site in Bamiyan, about 180 km (111 miles) from Kabul, the capital, are stacks of rice bags and jugs of palm oil, while wheelbarrows trundle in more food, but it is still too little for the long queues of people.
“I am forced to manage the winter with these supplies; sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t,” said Zahra Ahmadi, 50, a widowed mother of eight daughters, as she received aid for the first time.
‘LIFE NEVER REMAINS THE SAME’
At the Qasaba Clinic in the capital, mothers soothed their children during the wait for medicine and supplements.
“Compared to the time when there were no migrants, the number of our patients has now doubled,” said Dr. Rabia Rahimi Yadgari.
The clinic treats about 30 cases of malnutrition each day but the supplements are not sufficient to sustain the families, who previously relied on WFP aid and hospital support, she said.
Laila, 30, said her son, Abdul Rahman, showed signs of recovery after taking the supplements.
“But after some time, he loses the weight again,” she said.
After the Taliban takeover, she said, “My husband lost his (government) job, and gradually our economic situation collapsed. Life never remains the same.”
The United States led a hasty withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan in July 2021, after 20 years of war against the Taliban, opening the doors for the Islamists to take control of Kabul.
As dusk gathers and the temperature falls, Samiullah brings in firewood and Bibi Rehama lights a stove for warmth.
“At night, when it gets very cold, my children say, ‘Father, I’m cold, I’m freezing.’ I hold them in my arms and say, ‘It’s OK.’ What choice do we have?” Samiullah said.
“(When) I worked in Iran, at least I could provide a full meal. Here, there is neither work nor livelihood.”
(Reporting by Mohammad Ynunus Yawar and Sayed Hassib; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis indicates there has been a massive increase in Bitcoin adoption in Iran over the past month, as the country deals with nationwide unrest and protests. The report specifically looks at the increase in withdrawals from crypto exchanges to unknown Bitcoin addresses, which indicates the local population is avoiding centralized financial infrastructure in the country in favor of the decentralized, peer-to-peer digital cash system.
In terms of specifics, the report shows a 262% increase in the amount of withdrawals valued at more than $10,000 into what are thought to be self-custodial bitcoin wallets since the nationwide protests began. According to the report, reasons for the increased interest in self-custodial bitcoin include the collapse in value in the Iranian rial and the potential increased need for citizens to operate outside of government-controlled financial channels.
The report also indicates spikes in Iranian crypto activity were seen during other major domestic and geopolitical events such as the Kerman bombings in January 2024, Iran’s missile strikes against Israel in October 2024, and the 12-day war. Nobitex, which is by far Iran’s largest and most popular exchange, was also hacked for $90 million during the 12-day war.
“This pattern of increased BTC withdrawals during times of heightened instability reflects a global trend we’ve observed in other regions experiencing war, economic turmoil, or government crackdowns,” says the report.
Unrest has persisted in Iran since late December, as protesters are fed up with the devaluation of the Iranian rial and other economic hardships. These grievances are compounded by longer-term issues such as corruption, repression, and general government mismanagement. In this way, the use of Bitcoin itself can also be seen as a form of protest where people are simply opting out of the traditional financial system.
Ironically, the Iranian regime has also been found to have used crypto for avoiding sanctions and laundering funds. In fact, the same Chainalysis report just released also indicates the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accounts for roughly half of all crypto activity taking place in Iran, which is estimated at $7.78 billion. A recent report from TRM Labs also indicated two crypto exchanges in the United Kingdom were effectively fronts for the Iranian regime, and another past report from Elliptic shows Iran has been involved in bitcoin mining for purposes of monetizing their energy resources.
This situation illustrates the conundrum for authoritarian regimes around the world when it comes to Bitcoin, as the features that make it useful for the regime to avoid restrictions in the US-controlled global banking system also enable it to be used for the local population to gain greater financial freedom.
Dozens of Iranian-Americans turned out Friday to hold a vigil for the thousands killed in Iran amid a crackdown on political protests.
D.C.’s Iranian American community held a candlelight vigil in honor of protestors killed in Iran, on Jan. 16, 2025. (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)
D.C.’s Iranian American community held a candlelight vigil in honor of protestors killed in Iran, on Jan. 16, 2025. (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)
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DC holds candlelight vigil for slain Iranian protesters
Lafayette Square was packed late Friday afternoon with Iranian Americans honoring the more than 3,000 demonstrators killed in the wake of Iran’s crackdown on political protests.
People carried flags, pictures of protesters who were killed and signs with messages, all while chanting political messages, including, “Regime change in Iran by the people of Iran.”
Before the march, the group stood behind a giant red sign that read, “Honoring over 3,000 victims of Iran’s 2026 uprising.” Participants displayed more than 70 pictures of the fallen protesters that served as a barricade.
WTOP spoke to several of the organizers of the protest, including Majid Sadeghpour, political director of the Organization of Iranian-American Communities.
“Iran is at the precipice of change,” Sadeghpour said. “The Iranian people have an organized resistance already. They are already in the street fighting this regime tooth and nail. There is a hand-to-hand combat going on between the people of Iran.”
Sadeghpour understands the battle the people of his home country are fighting, telling WTOP that shortly after he moved to the U.S. to attend school in 1988, his brother was executed when the country was led by Ayatollah Khomeini under Islamic rule.
“My family essentially became refugees here and applied for refugee asylum and ended up staying here,” he said.
Another organizer from the OIAC was Shirin Nariman, who, at the age of 16, was arrested in Iran and spent the next two years in prison.
“I was severely tortured. You know, anytime that they call you for interrogation, they have cables that they lash you (with), your back, your feet, anywhere,” she said.
After escaping, Nariman came to the U.S. as a refugee at the end of 1986.
The physical pain is something she said you forget, but “what remains with you always is that the minute that they call your friends for executions or your cellmates,” she said. “Every afternoon, they would call out a list, they would take people and right behind the walls there was a firing squad, so you would hear a horrendous noise.”
When asked how she found the strength to keep going, Nariman said she made a promise to her friends.
“I will continue the fight. I will never forget them, and the cause is right. It was for freedom, for democracy, for having liberty and dignity in Iran,” she said. “We kicked out the throne, now we are kicking out the turban.”
Shah’s son never fought for Iran’s freedom
When Nariman and protesters marching at the candlelight vigil mentioned the throne, they were referring to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran who ruled the country from 1941 until he was forced into exile in 1979.
The former Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has been speaking out in support of the protesters, but Nariman has little interest in having the country ruled again by a Shah’s descendent.
“This person has not worked one day in his life. He’s a trust fund child,” she said. “He never condemned what his father did before, you know, torture. We had all the prisons in Iran, and those were all built by his father.”
Sadeghpour told WTOP that Pahlavi has never fought for the liberty of Iran.
“Up to the sixth day of this very uprising, he was on a beach in South America. The Iranian people were bleeding in the streets of Iran while he was vacationing,” he said.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran also had members at the vigil, including Ramesh Sepehrrad.
“The Iranian regime has massacred more than 3,000 people,” she said. “Today, there was news that the regime has arrested 50,000 people. So, the least we can do is to stand here in their support and make sure the world community understands.”
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