Islamic Republic of Iran Archives

State-of-the-art Iranian surveillance ship enters naval service

January 15, 2025

Iran has unveiled its first signals intelligence vessel, the Zagros, designed for advanced electronic surveillance and cyber intelligence. The domestically constructed ship is equipped with state-of-the-art sensors to enhance intelligence gathering and maritime monitoring.

Admiral Shahram Irani says the Zagros will play a critical role in securing Iran’s maritime interests, calling it the navy’s “watchful eye” across global waters.

Iran unveils Zagros (313), its first domestically built advanced reconnaissance vessel pic.twitter.com/u9N4h0wW2R
— Iran Military (@IRIran_Military) January 15, 2025

The launch of Zagros coincides with heightened military activity in Iran. The country recently initiated two-month-long military exercises, including war games defending critical nuclear facilities, like Natanz, against simulated missile and drone attacks.

These drills involve both the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and are scheduled to run through mid-March. Mohammad Eslami, the director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced additional exercises focusing on passive defense and operational readiness.

Iran is also bolstering its arsenal, recently delivering 1,000 drones to its army. In October, officials announced plans to increase the military budget by 200%, citing escalating regional threats. The Zagros is part of Iran’s broader strategy to modernize its navy using domestically developed technologies. The country plans to establish its largest military hub in Jask, near the Gulf of Oman, equipped with advanced dock posts and facilities.

The Zagros enters service amid increased international scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran’s uranium enrichment levels have reached 60%, nearing weapons-grade. Tehran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful, a claim met with skepticism.

Relations with the United States remain strained following the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement, reimposed sanctions and regional disputes involving Iranian proxies and maritime security.
Iran and Ukraine offering US help to put out wildfires in Los Angeles

January 14, 2025
Offers of help are coming from unlikely nations as wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, California, which have scorched tens of thousands of acres. The latest assistance offers are coming from U.S. adversary Iran and war-torn ally Ukraine.

Both nations are offering to send firefighters to Los Angeles as crews continue to battle wildfires that have displaced thousands of people and killed at least two dozen individuals.

Kyiv said on Sunday, Jan. 12, it may send around 150 firefighters, while Tehran said it is ready to send an unspecified number of “rapid response teams” with the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

Nearly 1,500 members of the California National Guard are already fighting the fires, along with teams from other states, as well as Mexico and Canada.

The California National Guard called Ukraine’s offer “nothing short of extraordinary” but stayed mum on Iran’s offer.

Tehran and Kyiv’s offers come as tensions with Iran are expected to intensify under President-elect Donald Trump’s second term and funding for military aid to Ukraine remains in doubt.

Iranian state media has also floated inflammatory rhetoric toward the U.S. in the wake of the fires, saying that the Los Angeles fires are nature’s retribution for U.S. support of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

There is also speculation that Tehran is offering assistance because Los Angeles County is home to more than 100,000 Iranians, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, which is reportedly the largest Persian population outside of Iran.

Currently, it’s unclear if the United States is accepting help from either Kyiv or Tehran.
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Italian journalist jailed for nearly a month in Iran released

January 8, 2025
Iran released an Italian journalist on Wednesday, Jan. 8, after detaining her for nearly a month. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office confirmed journalist Cecilia Sala’s release and said she is returning home to Italy.

Iranian authorities arrested Sala, 29, on Dec. 19, shortly after she arrived in the country on a journalist visa. Officials accused her of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic without providing specifics.

Reports suggested the 29-year-old journalist’s detention was connected to an Iranian engineer facing charges from the U.S. Justice Department.

Some Italian commentators believed Tehran detained Sala as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Iranian engineer Mohammad Abedini.

Three days before Sala’s arrest, Italian authorities arrested Abedini on a U.S. warrant.

The U.S. Justice Department indicted Abedini and another Iranian on charges of supplying Tehran with drone technology used to kill three American troops in Jordan in January 2024.

Abedini remains in custody in Italy.

Iran denied any involvement in the 2024 strike on U.S. forces and contends Abedini’s arrest is essentially hostage-taking.

Meanwhile, Italian lawmakers celebrated successful negotiations to bring Sala home.

Sala’s return comes days after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump.

No details of the meeting were released, but the deputy Italian prime minister said the pair discussed Sala’s situation.

An Italian newspaper reported Trump blessed the deal to bring Sala home on the condition it happened before his inauguration on Monday, Jan. 20.
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Tehran’s top diplomat says Israel could spark ‘large-scale war’ with attack on Iran

January 7, 2025
Iran’s top diplomat warned Israel if it attacks Tehran it could lead to “a large-scale war,” and claimed Iran is ready for any Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic. The comments first surfaced when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s interview with China’s CCTV aired on Chinese state-run media on Saturday, Jan. 4.

The foreign minister told CCTV that he hopes “Israel will avoid such reckless actions, as they could escalate into a large-scale war.”

Tehran is reportedly concerned because it suspects Israel may strike the country in response to relentless missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, who are supplied with weapons from Iran.

Over the past few weeks, Houthis have ramped up attacks against Israel, including launching a ballistic missile toward Israel on Sunday, Jan. 5.

Israel’s counterattacks against the Houthis haven’t been particularly effective. So, some within Israel, such as Mossad Chief David Barnea have suggested that Israel launch another direct strike into Iran to take out the source of the Houthi’s weapons.

Israel already hit Iran with two direct attacks over the past year in retaliation for continual missile and drone strikes, including an Oct. 1, 2024, attack from Tehran that saw some 200 missiles fired at Israel.

Israel’s Iron Dome and other air defense systems intercepted most of the missiles but Israel still carried out a counterattack on Oct. 26, 2024, striking Iranian military sites and decimating the country’s air defenses.

Israel also launched a strike on an air defense battery in April 2024, in retaliation for another series of drone and missile attacks from Iran.

Despite the warning, Iran’s top diplomat said he believes “reason will ultimately prevail and prevent severe consequences.” He also said that Tehran is seeking a “diplomatic solution.”
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Iran executed over 900 people in 2024, most in nearly a decade: Report

January 7, 2025
Iran reportedly executed more than 900 people last year, including dozens of women and five juveniles. It’s the most people the country has killed in nearly a decade, according to numbers compiled by the United Nations Human Rights Office.

The country hung more than 30 women. Some of those women were reportedly convicted of killing their husbands after fending off rapes or being forced into marriage.

Human rights officials said one of the executed women strangled her husband after discovering him and his friends raping her young daughter.

Government-sanctioned killings

The U.N. report revealed Iran executed around 40 people in a single week in December 2024.

Most of the government-sanctioned killings were for drug-related offenses. Still, Iran also executed activists and people connected to the 2022 protests, which were sparked by a 22-year-old woman’s death in police custody.

Iran reportedly executed nearly 90 people in August 2024 after the presidential election, which included some individuals sentenced to death for political and security-related charges.

The U.N. Human Rights chief called the numbers “deeply disturbing” and urged Iran to stop all further executions with the ultimate goal of ending the death penalty.

Violating international law

A U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson said the office compiled the figures using data from several organizations, including Iran’s Human Rights Activists News Agency (IHRANA), Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Hengaw, a Kurdish human rights group.

IHR said this is the most women it has seen executed since it began tracking numbers 17 years ago.

IHRANA said it found Iran killed five juveniles. Capital punishment for juveniles is a violation of international law.

According to human rights organization Amnesty International, Iran accounted for nearly 75% of all executions globally in 2023.

The group said the numbers exclude China, which it believes executes thousands of people each year, but whose death penalty data is classified.
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Taliban sells emeralds, gold and minerals to revive struggling Afghanistan economy

January 6, 2025
Hoping to revive Afghanistan’s struggling economy, the Taliban is mining emeralds, gold and gemstones to get cash flowing. Without U.S. aid to the country, the Islamic fundamentalist group is turning to buyers and investors in China, Russia and Iran.

The World Bank estimated last April that Afghanistan’s economy lost more than a quarter of its value in the previous two years. The Taliban took over the country in August 2021, as U.S. troops departed after a 20-year war.

The decline comes from a range of factors, including not just the loss of U.S. aid but the Taliban banning opium production. The World Bank said it accounted for $1.3 billion and 8% of the country’s economy. The Taliban also implemented major limitations on the rights of women to work.

Pentagon officials estimated Afghanistan has as much as $1 trillion worth of gemstones, minerals and metals available for underground mining.

Those include rare earth elements crucial to making technology, including smartphones and laptops.

The U.S. spent hundreds of millions of dollars helping Afghanistan’s previous government develop mining projects. However, the effort failed due to weak laws, a lack of infrastructure and corruption.

The Taliban may face the same issues but hopes to centralize the process, auctioning off emeralds weekly and requiring buyers to pay a tax on them.

One gemstone dealer who bought from the government told The New York Times that he didn’t mind paying the tax as long as the government used the money to help the country’s people.
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Why Macron fears Iran’s nuclear program is nearing ‘point of no return’

January 6, 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron warned the world on Monday, Jan. 6, that Iran is nearing “the point of no return” when it comes to procuring potential nuclear weapons. Macron said during his address to French ambassadors that Tehran has enough enriched uranium to power a handful of nuclear warheads, and called Iran the biggest strategic threat that Europe faces.

It’s not just Macron who said Iran is increasing its enriched uranium stockpile. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in December that Iran was “dramatically” accelerating enrichment, and roughly 90% of its uranium stockpile was at bomb-grade level.

France was part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which fell apart in 2018 when the first Trump administration withdrew the United States. Under that deal, Iran had agreed to pull back on its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted.

As a result of the U.S. backing out, Iran began enriching uranium at higher levels, which reportedly shortened the time needed to make a nuclear device from months to weeks.

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday, Jan. 20, is also reportedly raising fresh concerns after he drew a hardline with Tehran during his first term.

Trump reapplied sanctions against Iran and ordered the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, which some say nearly sparked a war between the U.S. and Iran.

Macron said he is still debating whether more sanctions may be the answering to deterring Tehran from further enhancing its nuclear program and will talk with the incoming Trump administration about the “Iranian question.”

Tehran repeatedly insisted it is not using the enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. However, the West has been skeptical of the denial, especially given Iran’s support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas have suffered heavy losses at the hands of Israel in recent months.
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Italian PM denies SpaceX talks with Trump as nation nears €1.5 billion deal

January 6, 2025
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denied talking with President-elect Donald Trump about SpaceX supplying the country with Starlink services over the weekend. The denial comes as reports indicate the nation is closing in on a €1.5 billion deal ($1.55 billion) for the private space company to provide secure telecommunications to the Italian government.

Meloni made an unannounced visit to the U.S. over the weekend, which resulted in a meeting on Saturday, Jan. 4, with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Bella serata con @realDonaldTrump che ringrazio per l’accoglienza.
Pronti a lavorare insieme 🇮🇹🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ohNSSq1vLg
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) January 5, 2025

Meloni, who has served as the Italian prime minister since 2022, posted on social media that she is “ready to work together” with Trump as he prepares to move back into the White House.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is nearing a €1.5 billion deal with Italy to provide encrypted telecom equipment to the government, according to a report from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation. Bloomberg’s report points out, “The negotiations appeared to move forward after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.”

Meloni and Musk have shared praise back and forth in recent weeks. The world’s wealthiest man became a close ally to the president-elect in the final months of the election and beyond.

Meloni’s office denied the topic of SpaceX came up during her discussions with Trump on Saturday.

“The prime minister’s office categorically denies, considering it ridiculous, that SpaceX was a topic during the meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump,” her office said, according to Reuters.

“Contacts with SpaceX are part of regular discussions that state departments have with companies, in this instance those that provide protected connections such as data encryption,” the statement continued.

Ready to provide Italy the most secure and advanced connectivity!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025

For his part, Musk posted on X that SpaceX is “ready to provide Italy the most secure and advanced connectivity!”

No official details of the meetings were released, but Italy’s deputy prime minister shed some light on what was discussed.

“Well done Giorgia Meloni for visiting Donald Trump to talk about peace, industrial and commercial cooperation, security, and the freeing of Cecilia Sala,” Matteo Salvini posted on X.

Sala, an Italian journalist, has been detained in Iran since December. Iran’s government has called on Italy to release businessman Mohammad Abedini, although it has not called for a direct prisoner swap.

Abedini was arrested in Milan in December on behalf of the U.S., which accused him of supplying technology for drones used to kill U.S. soldiers.
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US sanctions Russian and Iranian groups over 2024 election interference

January 2, 2025
The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting two foreign organizations accused of attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The sanctions focus on a Russian group, the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, linked to Moscow’s foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU, and an Iranian group, the Cognitive Design Production Center, tied to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to the Treasury Department, both organizations are behind efforts to spread disinformation and create division among U.S. voters. The Russian-linked group is accused of using artificial intelligence to generate fake news stories and manipulate videos.

The group allegedly created online videos designed to smear the reputation of Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, and ran a network of more than 100 fake websites spreading false claims about the 2024 election.

The Iranian group is accused of planning similar influence operations since at least 2023, aimed at inciting socio-political unrest in the U.S., according to the Treasury Department’s press release.

Treasury officials said the sanctions are part of a broader effort to protect U.S. elections from foreign interference. The sanctions freeze all assets of the targeted organizations in the U.S. and prevent American individuals and entities from engaging with or investing in them.

This move follows multiple warnings from the FBI about the growing threat of foreign influence in U.S. elections.

“Today’s sanctions build on numerous previous U.S. government actions that have disrupted Iran’s attempts to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, and Russia’s global malign influence campaigns and illicit cyber activities,” The Treasury Department said in a statement.

It added, “The United States continues to closely monitor efforts by malicious actors to influence or interfere in the integrity of our elections. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior.”
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Iran hiring kids to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe: Report

December 23, 2024
Intelligence officials said Iran is paying teens as young as 13-years-old to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe, and there are concerns Tehran’s efforts may spread, according to a report from Bloomberg on Saturday, Dec. 21. Investigators said that several attacks in 2024 across Sweden, involving the Israeli Embassy and an Israeli defense firm, are linked to Iran-backed networks recruiting local criminals, including teenagers.

Authorities are concerned that the recruitment is part of a larger effort to attack Jewish and Israeli targets throughout Europe. In fall 2024, both Swedish and Norwegian authorities warned of Tehran-funded operations and, in October 2024, Norway raised its terror alert from medium to high.

Earlier this year, law enforcement agencies in Brussels found kids as young as 14 plotting an attack on the Israeli Embassy. European intelligence said Iranian proxies are reaching out to mercenaries on social media platforms like Telegram, TikTok and WhatsApp.

The proxy groups are offering nearly $1,600 for a murder and 120 euros for a “petrol attack,” according to what a person familiar with the illegal trade told Bloomberg.

Authorities believe that while some young immigrants may be lured to join Iran-backed proxies over frustration with Israel’s war in Gaza, other young migrants are driven by the need for money, not knowing what they are signing up for, and unaware they’re “acting on behalf of a foreign power,” according to Swedish authorities.

A recent study shows that 40% of migrants in Swedish society don’t feel integrated. The study also said immigrants in the country experience higher rates of poverty, making recruitment for gangs and Iranian proxies easier.

While it remains to be seen if Iran’s recruitment efforts will spread to other countries in Europe, in March 2024, government officials from Sweden, Norway and Denmark met to talk about the recruitment of young people into criminal networks, and how to minimize the threat.

The Swedish minister for justice noted that cooperation among Nordic neighbors would be key.

“We must do all we can to break the trend of children and young people being recruited into gangs,” Swedish Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer said in a statement.
Related Stories

State-of-the-art Iranian surveillance ship enters naval service

Iran and Ukraine offering US help to put out wildfires in Los Angeles

Italian journalist jailed for nearly a month in Iran released

Tehran’s top diplomat says Israel could spark ‘large-scale war’ with attack on Iran

Iran executed over 900 people in 2024, most in nearly a decade: Report

Government-sanctioned killings

Violating international law

Taliban sells emeralds, gold and minerals to revive struggling Afghanistan economy

Why Macron fears Iran’s nuclear program is nearing ‘point of no return’

Italian PM denies SpaceX talks with Trump as nation nears €1.5 billion deal

US sanctions Russian and Iranian groups over 2024 election interference

Iran hiring kids to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe: Report

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