Iran Watch

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Tuesday that regional countries would no longer be shields for US bases, in a written statement carried by state television.

“What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” said Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he took office in March, in a message marking the Eid al-Adha holiday.

He said the US was losing influence in the region, “moving further and further away from its former status with each passing day”.

Fresh strikes on southern Iran were launched by U.S. military forces early Tuesday morning targeting Iranian missile sites and vessels attempting to lay anti-shipping mines in the contested Strait of Hormuz.

The targeted strikes were done “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” but the military was “using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command, said in a statement as reported by AP.

Following the strikes, the BBC reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal was still possible and pointed to talks on Tuesday between Iran’s top negotiator and foreign minister and Qatar’s prime minister.

President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile will either be transferred to the United States or destroyed inside Iran under international supervision.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the uranium would either be “immediately turned over” to the United States to be destroyed or eliminated inside Iran or another approved location.

“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” Trump wrote.

Even before the war, Iran’s economy had been spiralling for years under international sanctions tied to the regime’s nuclear activities, alongside deep corruption and chronic mismanagement, making daily life increasingly difficult for millions.

Over the past decade, Iranians have staged several large local and nationwide protests triggered by economic grievances, including in 2019 and January 2026, leaving tens of thousands of protesters dead, arrested or injured.

Since April 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran and the Iranian regime shut down the internet, the economy has worsened sharply.

Middle-class Iranians we spoke to said the situation was becoming unsustainable, and that they feared they may no longer be able to afford food in the coming months if the situation continues.

The government of Bahrain announced Saturday that security authorities arrested 41 individuals allegedly tied to a network linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), marking one of the kingdom’s largest recent crackdowns on suspected Iranian influence operations.

According to a statement from Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, the detainees were identified as central members of the organization’s “main structure” operating inside the country.

Authorities said the arrests followed intelligence operations and investigations conducted alongside public prosecutors into alleged espionage activities involving foreign entities and support for Iranian aggression.

Iran has hanged an alleged US spy who Tehran accused of collaborating with the CIA. Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was hanged after being accused of espionage and collaboration with the US and Israel, according to Iranian state news.

It comes as Iran rejected the US plan to end the war, with Iranian media describing the deal as equivalent to “Tehran’s submission to Trump’s excessive demands”. A 29‑year‑old student from Tehran’s Iran University of Science and Technology, was executed after Iran’s judiciary accused him of assisting the CIA and Mossad—charges he firmly denied in a final message shared by human rights groups.

Arrested in February 2025 and accused of collaborating with hostile governments, he was reportedly subjected to nine months of severe physical and psychological torture in solitary confinement as authorities sought forced confessions. Please confirm details with a trusted news source.

US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz that fanned fears Friday that the truce was faltering. The US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets in response, although Tehran charged that it was Washington that had initiated the exchange of fire.

The latest violence threatens to unravel a fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic, which has retaliated with strikes across the Middle East and by blocking the strait, a vital route for oil and gas shipments.

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that its air defences were “engaging missile and drone attacks originating from Iran”.

The government of Bahrain announced Saturday that security authorities arrested 41 individuals allegedly tied to a network linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), marking one of the kingdom’s largest recent crackdowns on suspected Iranian influence operations.

According to a statement from Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, the detainees were identified as central members of the organization’s “main structure” operating inside the country.

Authorities said the arrests followed intelligence operations and investigations conducted alongside public prosecutors into alleged espionage activities involving foreign entities and support for Iranian aggression.