Iran executes political prisoner accused of spying for Israel

Asked whether Israel should carry out a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, even without American backing, 45% of Israelis believe Israel should do so and 41.5% do not.

Within the Jewish population, support for potential attacks reached 52% among proponents, with 34.5% expressing opposition. A significantly different perspective prevails among Arabs, where 76% are against the attacks and only 9% are supportive.

The data came from the April 2025 Israeli Voice Index, conducted by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.

Additionally, against the backdrop of talks between the United States and Iran on the Iranian nuclear program, 45.5% of Israelis think that Israel's security will be among President Trump's main considerations, while 44% think it will not.

Last month, US President Donald Trump openly threatened to bomb Iran if it did not agree to a new nuclear deal. It has since emboldened Israel to step up its rhetoric.

Earlier this week, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu said, “A real deal that works is one that removes Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons... Dismantle all the infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear program. That is a deal we can live with.”

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the remarks on Tuesday. “Netanyahu, in a desperate attempt to avoid political extinction, has resorted to threats. These worthless tirades are not taken seriously,” he said.

The incident occurred at the Ava Nar Parsian Chemical Industries warehouse in the Meymeh district of Isfahan province, according to the provincial crisis management office.

Emergency services and firefighters were dispatched to the site. No official cause has been announced.

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The blast comes amid a wave of explosions across Iran, including a deadly fire at a fuel depot in Zahedan on Monday that killed one person and critically injured two others, according to the local rights group Hal Vash.

Over the past four days, at least 73 people have been reported killed in similar incidents nationwide, including 70 killed in Saturday’s massive explosion at Rajaei port in the southern city of Bandar Abbas.

The site of Tuesday’s blast, Ava Nar Parsian, according to its website, manufactures fireworks and gunpowder and operates under the supervision of Iran’s National Security Council—the country’s highest decision-making body on security matters.

However, investigations by Iran International suggest the company may also be linked to Iran's security and military apparatus.

One of Ava Nar Parsian’s top executives, Damoun Beheshtnejad, previously held a managerial position at Nargostar Sepahan, another chemical facility in Isfahan that was the site of a major explosion in June 2021.

At the time, British newspaper The Guardian reported that the complex housed the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), a key player in the Islamic Republic’s drone program.

According to official company filings, certain decisions at Ava Nar Parsian fall under the authority of the "Intelligence Protection Organization for Weapons and Ammunition Management of Isfahan Province." The company is licensed to produce, trade, import, and export commercial, industrial, and chemical explosives.

"We believe that the rights of the people of Azerbaijan must be respected, and Karabakh must belong to the country of Azerbaijan. Karabakh is an inseparable part of the soil of Azerbaijan, and we respect that," Masoud Pezeshkian said during a meeting with Azerbaijani officials in Baku on Monday.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev officially welcomed Pezeshkian at the Zagulba Presidential Palace on Monday afternoon, followed by a private meeting between the two leaders and a joint session of their high-ranking delegations.

Tensions between Tehran and Baku have run high for years, largely due to Baku's close ties with Iran's nemesis Israel and a January 2023 attack on Azerbaijan's embassy in Tehran.

Last week, Pezeshkian expressed hopes for a rapid improvement in relations and cooperation between the two countries as part of a broader effort to mend ties.

Iran and Azerbaijan held two-day joint naval exercises in the Caspian Sea in November, in moves towards rapprochement.

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Pezeshkian’s remarks come a month after Iran welcomed a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a decades-long dispute rooted in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's dissolution, saw a significant development in March when both Azerbaijan and Armenia announced an agreement on the text of a peace treaty.

Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but historically with a majority ethnic Armenian population, had long been a flashpoint between the two South Caucasus nations. 

Iran, sharing a northern border with both countries, has consistently underscored its interest in regional stability, particularly along its 44-kilometer frontier with Azerbaijan.

"One of the most widespread and complex cyber attacks against the country's infrastructure was identified and preventive measures were taken," IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News quoted Behzad Akbari, CEO of Iran’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Company and Deputy ICT Minister as saying on Monday.

Akbari did not provide further details on the origins of the hack.

Only in September, Iran's Cybersecurity Strategic Management Center announced a state of cyber-readiness, issuing a red alert for financial, monetary, and communication sectors, and an orange alert for other sectors, according to Iranian media reports.

"Organizations are advised to maintain round-the-clock availability of technical teams and rapid response units due to the potential for cyber attacks," it said.

In the past Iran has blamed Israel for cyber attacks. A cyberattack that 70% of Iran's petrol stations in December 2023 was claimed by Gonjeshk-e-Darande or Predatory Sparrow, a hacking group that Iran has previously accused of having links to Israel.

In October 2021, Iran experienced a cyberattack that disrupted its fuel distribution system, affecting approximately 4,300 gas stations. Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civil defense organization, attributed the attack to foreign actors, specifically accusing the United States and Israel.

The cyberattack came just one day after Tehran and Washington concluded a third round of nuclear talks on Saturday in Oman.

Meanwhile, emergency services were fighting the fallout of a deadly explosion in Iran’s Rajaei Port in Bandar Abbas, with authorities yet to disclose the cause.

Emergency support was sent from Tehran's allies in Moscow to fight the disaster which saw at least 40 killed and hundreds more injured, according to Iran's official figures.

However, one worker at the port contacted Iran International saying that at least 23 women were killed in their office alone.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik told state media, "There were no imported or exported shipments related to military use or rocket fuel at the site of the incident," dismissing foreign media reports as psychological operations.

“Investigations and evidence confirm that no imported or exported cargo for fuel or military applications was present within the fire-stricken area or Shahid Rajaei port. Certain foreign media outlets are engaging in targeted sensationalism aligned with enemy psychological operations,” he said.

The remarks come following reports that the massive blast -- which killed at least 28 people and injured more than 1,000 -- was linked to the storage of sodium perchlorate, a chemical used in the production of solid rocket fuel.

While the exact cause remains undetermined, a source close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told the New York Times that sodium perchlorate -- a precursor chemical used to make ammonium perchlorate, an important component in solid rocket fuel -- was the likely cause of the explosion.

Investigations into the cause of the blast are ongoing, Iranian officials said, adding that the Ministry of Interior and disaster management authorities are leading the probe. Authorities pledged to publicly disclose findings once the investigation concludes.

Earlier this year, shipping data tracked by The Maritime Executive indicated that two vessels owned by the US-sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) — the MV Golbon and MV Jairan — transported sodium perchlorate from China to Bandar Abbas in February and March.

The chemical is later processed at facilities such as Parchin and Khojir in Iran’s solid-fueled ballistic missile programs.

It remains unclear whether the containers from the shipments were still stored at the Sina container terminal at the time of the blast or if they played a role in the explosion.