Hegseth says Iran flouted US ultimatum on helping Houthis, vows payback

"Dear Senator Ted Cruz, Yesterday, April 28, in your interview with Fox News, you called for my dismissal from Princeton University and made baseless accusations," Mousavian wrote on X.

"I invite you to a public debate so that, while hearing responses to these claims, we can leave the judgment to the American people," he added.

Short of a meeting, Mousavian recommended Cruz read his books, emphasized he supports President Donald Trump's push for an Iranian nuclear deal and said a prison sentence means he cannot return to Iran.

Cruz was unmoved by the invitation and torched Mousavian in a curt reply.

"I try not to be in the room with people linked to Iranian terrorists who have murdered dozens of dissidents."

"Your books are unreadable, and the only debate you should be having is with DHS agents, at the end of which you should be deported," the senator added, referring to the US Department of Homeland Security.

Mousavian was ambassador to Germany when Bonn-based Iranian exile Fereydoun Farrokhzad, an singer and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, was murdered in 1992 apparently by agents of the Islamic Republic.

A veteran Iranian commander in March detailed the state's role in his killing, in remarks Mousavian said left him "stunned, amazed, and shocked."

In 2023, several top Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and now-DOGE chairman Aaron Bean of Florida, wrote to Princeton with their concerns about Mousavian's tenure.

Several Republican lawmakers wrote an open letter to Princeton in 2023 expressing their concerns over Mousavian's employment.

"A German court found (the Iranian embassy in Germany) served as the headquarters for the planning of the 1992 assassination of four Iranian dissidents," the letter said, referring to the 1994 assassination of four Iranian-Kurdish dissidents in a Berlin restaurant.

"Did Princeton consult with US government officials regarding the hiring of Mousavian?"

The child, born on April 22, remains without official identification over a week later.

The parents from Parsabad, a city in Iran’s northwestern Ardabil province, were informed that the name Guntay was deemed unsuitable by the national registry on the grounds that it did not align with what authorities classify as “Iranian and Islamic naming conventions," according to HRANA, a US-based news outlet focused on human rights in Iran.

“This is not the first time the government has interfered in our choice of names,” a source told HRANA. The source said the parents have filed a formal complaint and are pursuing the matter through legal channels.

Without a birth certificate, the child is unable to access basic services including healthcare and legal identity, HRANA reported.

The outlet added that the experience has imposed psychological and administrative strain on the family.

Iran's civil registry system has a documented pattern of rejecting names perceived to originate from non-Persian ethnic traditions. A similar case last year in Tabriz saw authorities block issuance of birth certificates for triplets named Elshen, Elnur, and Sevgi, all Turkish names.

Although a court later ruled in favor of the parents, the registry appealed the decision, sending the case to a higher court.

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has signed, every child must be registered immediately after birth and has the right to a name and nationality. Article 7 of the convention specifically affirms these entitlements, while Article 2 prohibits discrimination based on language or ethnicity.

Iran’s civil registry defends its policies by citing cultural preservation. "The selection of names that insult Islamic sanctities, as well as titles, epithets, and obscene or gender-inappropriate names, is prohibited. Individuals bearing such names must take action to change them," it says on its website.

The agency maintains a name selection database and offers a name interaction system designed to guide parents toward what it calls Iranian and Islamic options.

Critics, including human rights groups and legal scholars, say the law reinforces state control over cultural expression and disproportionately affects the country's wide array of ethnic minorities in provinces with higher populations of them such as Kordestan, Khuzestan, and Sistan and Baluchestan.

Fatemeh Mohajerani, Iran's government spokeswoman, said the decision is aimed at “maintaining a single voice across state institutions.”

She described the directive not as a news blackout, but as a mechanism to “manage the issue properly.”

“The government is not interested in withholding information from the people,” she said, adding that provincial bodies have been instructed not to release information about the explosion’s cause until further notice.

Iran International reported earlier this week that journalists and outlets had received warnings about covering the incident, and described a heavy security presence in Bandar Abbas.

Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said on Wednesday that legal cases have been opened against several media figures for reporting on the blast, with warnings issued to individuals on social media.

Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency, reported that violators of the media ban would face prosecution for “spreading illegal news.”

“An incident of this scale, with such casualties, demands precise and documented investigation,” he said. “We are waiting for the results to be finalized and announced." Jahangir said.

On Tuesday, The Guardian quoted a Tehran-based reporter speaking on condition of anonymity, who said, “Not only were we warned against ground reporting, we were also banned effectively from sharing reports on social media.”

“In the face of a tragedy such as this, what is there to hide? Either the death toll is way more than 70, or they are suppressing the real cause of the explosion. Following the filing of charges, our newsrooms are also self-regulating in fear that they’ll be facing legal consequences.”

No official casualty figures have been released by the health ministry, which, along with its subsidiaries, was ordered on Sunday to withhold all related information.

Iran International has been contacted independently from a worker at the port citing 29 deaths in one office alone.

Mohsen Langarneshin had previously spoken of being coerced into confessing under the threat of torture and harm to his family.

Iran International reported on Monday that Langarneshin had been moved to solitary confinement, signaling the imminent execution.

Langarneshin had been arrested by security forces in Tehran on July 3, 2023 and was initially held at a Ministry of Intelligence safehouse.

He later recounted being threatened with torture on the first night of detention and said he was warned he would be subjected to severe torture unless he confessed.

“In the interrogations, they put me under so much pressure,” Langarneshin said in a voice message from prison. “They said they would arrest every member of my family and keep them until I no longer recognize them.”

He said that he was ultimately forced into making false confessions, including to buying a motorcycle equipped with a camera and transporting explosive materials.

A Revolutionary Court in Tehran accused Langarneshin of spying for Israel and sentenced him to death on charges of “waging war against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth”, according to the judiciary’s media outlet Mizan.

Mizan said Langarneshin had been recruited by Israel's Mossad. The judiciary accused him of “supporting the assassination of a person named Sayyad Khodaei, facilitating attacks on a Defense Ministry-linked industrial site in Isfahan, and handling logistics, equipment, safehouses, and money transfers for Mossad operatives.”

In the past four decades, numerous reports have documented the torture of political detainees in Iran, often leading to severe injury or death. The Islamic Republic has consistently denied responsibility.

Forced confessions have long tainted the Islamic Republic. In March, Iran Human Rights said: "The Islamic Republic has used televised confessions as a propaganda tool aimed at creating fear and justifying the heavy sentences handed down to its political opponents and activists since its inception in 1979."

"Such confessions are extracted after physical and/or psychological torture, lengthy solitary confinement, threats or promises of reduction in the gravity of sentences and threats against family members," according to the rights group.

After a stunning political comeback landed Trump back in the White House for a second term, the outcome of a typically Trumpian, bumpy dash for a deal is not yet known after 100 days.

Trump’s new term began with a reinstatement of his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign, this time aggressively targeting Iran’s energy and oil sectors, including Chinese importers and independent refineries processing Iranian crude.

Since Trump took office, the Iranian currency initially plummeted by 80,000 rials to the dollar. However, it has recently clawed back some value due to growing optimism around nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

This diplomatic track is being pursued alongside potential military contingency plans, with Trump repeatedly warning that if a deal is not reached, "there will be bombing."

"It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before," the president said during an NBC news interview in March.

Signs of military posturing are evident: strategic bombers positioned near Iran in Diego Garcia, a surge of US aircraft in Doha, and intensified strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen—all serving as a backdrop to the ongoing negotiations.

'Rushed, inconsistent'

Trump’s Iran policy so far appears muscular but inconsistent, said retired Major General Andrew Fox in an interview with Iran International.

“Trump is showing military flex but he’s not using all the leverage America has,” Fox argued. “In terms of timing, the Iranian economy was already struggling. That could have been leveraged further. We saw the rial jump 20% as soon as the talks were announced—so potentially a negotiating lever was given away too easily."

Fox described Trump's approach so far as "mixed, rushed, and inconsistent."

“We know Trump values a deal above all else. He’s super anti-war. He doesn't like using the military lever of governance,” said Fox, now a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.

One reason for the haste may be Trump’s self-imposed 60-day deadline for reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Trump issued this timeline in a letter delivered shortly after taking office, news outlet Axios reported.

Speed versus Substance

Holly Dagres, creator of the newsletter The Iranist and a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, warned that Trump's fast-track approach risks overlooking critical issues like human rights.

“This hurry might meet the 60-day deadline Trump wants,” Dagres said. “But it risks rushing past key issues that deserve deeper negotiation.”

Dagres suggested human rights benchmarks could be tied to sanctions relief—crediting Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi and other activists inside Iran for pushing to include human rights in the nuclear discussions.

Mixed Messaging from Trump's Team

Adding to the confusion, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff recently issued conflicting public statements on the goal of the negotiations.

On April 14, Witkoff told Fox News the US might accept Iran maintaining uranium enrichment at those permitted by a 2015 nuclear deal (3.67%) under stringent verification.

Yet a day later he insisted on social media that a "Trump deal" must require Iran to "stop and eliminate" its enrichment program entirely.

The apparent contradiction could be strategic, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

“The president actually likes to cultivate uncertainty,” Taleblu said, arguing it is too early to fully grade Trump’s Iran policy—or even predict where it is headed.

Ironically, Taleblu added, Trump’s biggest success so far has gone largely unrecognized.

“The most successful element of the Iran policy has not been celebrated even by die-hard politicos who believe in the president, and that is getting the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ali Khamenei to engage, be it directly or indirectly, with the Trump administration."

Early Days, Uncertain Outcomes

For Iranian-American policy director Cameron Khansarinia of the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), it’s simply too soon to judge.

Trump’s unpredictable style, Khansarinia said, makes it difficult to forecast his next move. But he praised Trump’s first-term Iran policy as the most effective against Iran's theocratic rulers —and sees similar themes emerging now.

“I think he does have a strategy. It just hasn't had time yet to bear fruit," Khansarinia said. "For a successful Iran strategy, all he has to do is go back to his first term and implement those policies.”

President Trump’s unpredictable style arguably may have forced Tehran into negotiations—an achievement or a mishap depending on where one sits on the political spectrum.

His current Iran policy reflects a strategic shift from his first term, combining diplomatic overtures with overt threats of attack, the wisdom of which remains unclear.