UN rapporteur on torture decries Iran's seizure of 66 'hostages' since 2010

The upgrading of Iran to the highest tier of the United Kingdom's Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) due to be rolled out in the summer ratchets up tension between the nuclear-armed security council member state and the Islamic Republic.

Under the designation, Iran and anybody acting on its behalf would be deemed a potential security threat and compelled to register their activities in the UK. Not doing so would potentially incur a five-year prison sentence.

"We will place the whole of the Iranian state, including Iran's intelligence services, the IRGC and MOIS (Ministry of Intelligence), on to the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme," Jarvis told parliament.

Jarvis was referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization at the heart of the Iranian establishment which oversees foreign operations including aid to militant groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Pointing to threats from Iran, he mentioned that in December 2023, a Chechnya-born individual was sentenced to three and a half years in jail by a British court for collecting information for terrorist purposes. He had been arrested earlier that year in a Starbucks near Iran International’s premises after being spotted filming the broadcaster’s building in West London.

"The national protective security authority and counter-terrorism police will continue to provide protective security advice and support to individuals and organizations threatened by the Iranian regime and its criminal proxies, including Persian-language media organizations and their employees," Jarvis told the parliament.

The UK and European states have so far stopped short of following the United States in designating the IRGC a terrorist organization.

According to an announcement by UK counter-terrorism police in 2023, UK security forces foiled 15 kidnapping and murder plots against British or UK-based targets deemed Tehran's enemies.

Jarvis said that since 2022, 20 Iranian-backed plots putting the lives of British citizens or UK residents at risk had been foiled, adding that the number of state-level investigations run by MI5 had jumped by 48% in the past year.

"It's clear that these plots are a conscious strategy of the Iranian regime to stifle criticism through intimidation and fear," he noted.

Journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders said last year that Tehran was carrying out "systematic targeting of journalists reporting on Iran from abroad, in an effort to silence them."

"London, home to major Persian-language broadcasters, has been a hotspot for such attacks because of the large number of Iranian journalists based there," the group added.

The British government last month denied funding an Iranian influence network in Western countries, rejecting remarks by a Swedish-Iranian scholar who said his involvement in the initiative was backed by the UK government.

Trump conveyed his administration’s interest in engaging Iran to President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in February, according to a report by Bloomberg earlier, adding that the talks would also cover Tehran's support for armed militant groups.

"Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.”

Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Iran was among the issues discussed at recent Russia-US negotiations in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Both sides had agreed to meet separately to discuss the issue, he added.

Asked about potential Russian mediation between Tehran and Washington, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said offers of assistance from various nations were natural.

"Given the importance of these matters, it is expected that numerous parties will express goodwill and a willingness to assist with various issues," spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said during a televised press conference in Tehran on Monday. "Therefore, it is natural for countries to offer aid when deemed necessary."

Talks, not war

British newspaper the Daily Telegraph cited an Iranian official in Tehran saying Trump's blowout with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week had made Iran wary of engagement with the volatile US leader.

“Officials from the Kremlin contacted the supreme national security council and said Putin wants to mediate and he’s ready to facilitate direct talks between Iran and America,” the official was quoted as saying.

“They said Trump wants to talk and is preferring it over war but, here, there is a big uncertainty around it after what happened in the White House last week.”

The Trump administration last week stepped up pressure on Ukraine into accepting a deal to end the war. The proposal broadly seeks peace in exchange for Ukraine ceding captured territory to Russia.

According to sources familiar with the discussions who spoke with Bloomberg, US and Russian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussed Washington's interest in Russian assistance with Iranian issues during a February 18 meeting in Riyadh.

Subsequently, Russia's Lavrov shared details of the US meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, during a meeting in Tehran, as Araghchi confirmed in a televised press conference.

However, Araghchi later claimed that Lavrov had not conveyed a message from the United States during his Tehran visit, and that no such message was anticipated.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced the revitalization of sanctions under his “maximum pressure” policy. He underlined that his main demand is for Iran never to acquire nuclear weapons.

Last month, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Trump cannot be trusted—pointing to his withdrawal from the Obama-era nuclear deal during his first term—and added that Iran would not be pressured into negotiations.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said last week that despite his own belief in the value of engaging with the US, he would align with Khamenei’s stance as long as Washington maintains economic sanctions on Iran.

Following the summons, Chamanmah said that while no official charges have been mentioned, she would appear before the judiciary with her lawyer.

She said she has been subjected her to repeated interrogations without a judicial order since her return to the country out of what she called love for her homeland.

The young actress was stopped at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport upon arrival, where her passport was confiscated and she was given an instant travel ban.

Since then, she said, "I have been repeatedly interrogated and questioned by various security agencies without a judicial order and, in some cases, faced mistreatment and insulting behavior.

"While government officials constantly talk about the return of Iranians abroad, from the moment I returned to my homeland, I have not been allowed even a single day to live in peace."

Chamanmah's summons comes just days after the directors and lead actors of My Favorite Cake, an Iranian film that premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, went on trial in a court in Tehran, alongside other members of the production team.

Iran's entertainment stars have been among scores placed under such punishments as travel bans alongside the likes of sports figures in the wake of the 2022 uprising, many of whom having supported the Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

Other punishments included pay freezes, fines and sackings, causing a surge of stars fleeing the country.

The incident took place in eastern Tehran's Damavand Street last Thursday, according to a report by Tehran-based Didban News website.

Although the report referenced other incidents involving malfunctioning and poorly maintained escalators, it noted that the direct cause of this woman's death was her hijab getting caught.

The case is not the first time Iran’s compulsory hijab rules have been linked to fatal accidents involving women.

On November 7, 2021, Iranian media reported that 21-year-old Marzieh Taherian died at a spinning workshop in Semnan, northern Iran, after her headscarf became caught in a machine, pulling her head inside.

On June 5, 2023, a 26-year-old female worker at a plastic injection molding workshop in the northeastern Iranian city of Neyshabur, lost her life when her veil became entangled in a machine, dragging her into it.

The incidents highlight the potential safety risks associated with mandatory hijab in workplaces and public spaces.

On Monday, UN rights chief Volker Turk urged Iran to permanently repeal its hijab laws and end along with all other laws and practices that discriminate against women and girls.

However, despite multiple fatalities in recent years, and repeated calls from rights groups and UN officials, Iranian authorities continue to enforce mandatory hijab laws on women and girls.

"The Minister of Defense and the Secretary of Defense agreed that Iran is the main threat to the region, and that close cooperation between Israel and the United States should continue with the aim of preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons," a statement from Katz's office said.

Katz thanked Hassett for the support of President Donald Trump and the administration to accelerate the delivery of weapons and security equipment to Israel.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement to say that he has signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

"The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump," he said.

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has approved nearly $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel.

"This important decision coincides with President Trump’s repeal of a Biden-era memorandum which had imposed baseless and politicized conditions on military assistance to Israel at a time when our close ally was fighting a war of survival on multiple fronts against Iran and terror proxies," he said.

Last year, Iran launched two aerial strikes on Israel amid attacks from its military allies around the region as the two enemies' shadow war came to the fore, with Israel retaliating with strikes deep into Iran.