Washington and Tehran to resume talks in Oman on Sunday – Nour News
Iran and the United States will hold a fourth round of indirect talks in Muscat on Sunday, focusing on "humanitarian and security issues", Iran’s semi-official Nour News reported.
“The talks, built upon three rounds of intensive consultations in recent months, are directly focused on humanitarian issues and certain security concerns of both sides,” Nour News quoted an informed source as saying.
The outlet, linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the discussions are not expected to directly address the nuclear file.
Ali Shamkhani, a political advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, praised the recent Houthi missile attack on Israel, saying that it "shook the psychological pillar of Israel's security."
In a post on the social media platform X, Shamkhani described the attack as a "strategic blow to the illusion of the decline of resistance."
Shamkhani's comments came a day after the Israeli military launched airstrikes against the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen, saying it was used for the transfer of Iranian weapons used to attack Israel.
The raid was carried out in response to repeated drone and ballistic missile attacks by the Houthi rebels against Israel, it said.
On Saturday the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that hit near Israel's main Ben Gurion Airport. Shortly after, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation.
The head of Iran’s judiciary said clerics and Basij paramilitary forces were deployed to detention centers during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests in what he said was a move to offer guidance to detainees, including schoolchildren and university students.
"The events of 2022 resulted in approximately 90,000 legal cases,” judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Tuesday. “The defendants and convicts in these cases came from various segments of society. Among them were, in some cases, teachers, school students, and university students.”
He said widespread prosecutions would have allowed "enemies" to exploit the unrest, so the judiciary sought assistance from non-judicial bodies.
“At that point, we sought help from seminaries, the Basij, academics, and teachers. With their presence in detention centers, the majority of those convicted in 2022 were admonished and guided,” Ejei said.
“Criminals who committed violent acts or engaged in organized operations were a separate matter,” he said. “They were dealt with legally and were not included in these measures,” he added.
The 2022 protests erupted after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody following her arrest by Iran’s morality police over alleged hijab violations.
Human rights groups say thousands were detained, including minors, and at least eight people have been executed in connection with the protests.
A senior Iranian official said a recent missile strike on Israel by Iran-backed Houthis had shaken Israel’s psychological security and demonstrated the growing strength of Tehran’s regional allies.
“The missiles from Sanaa targeting Ben Gurion [Airport] shook Israel’s psychological security,” Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote Tuesday on X.
He described the attack as “a strategic blow to the delusion of the Resistance’s collapse,” using the term Iran applies to a network of allied armed groups across the region, including in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, and Yemen. “The front now holds the initiative, with an ever-growing presence from Lebanon and Gaza to Iraq and Sanaa,” Shamkhani said.
The missile, fired from Yemen by the Iran-backed group, landed near the main terminal of Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning, according to Israeli authorities.
Iranian authorities have ordered the closure of the country's sole national Water Museum to accommodate the relocation of the Quran Museum, a move that has sparked strong criticism from museum experts and staff, according to an Iranian daily.
The report in Payam-e Ma said that the decision, approved by President Masoud Pezeshkian, directs the Water Museum in Tehran’s historic Sa’dabad Palace complex to vacate its building so that the National Quran Museum—currently located in central Tehran—can be moved in.
The order came without public notice and was issued after the Iranian New Year holidays in early April, according to the report.
Museum workers were caught off guard as government officials suddenly removed signage and sealed the building.
Shahrokh Karimi, head of the National Water Treasure Institute that manages the museum, told the paper: “We worked hard for 30 years. It is heartbreaking to see it dismantled overnight.”
He warned that the move would erase a rare cultural institution dedicated to Iran’s water engineering and environmental heritage.
The Water Museum, established in 1996 through a government partnership between Iran’s energy ministry and cultural heritage authorities, showcased ancient irrigation techniques, historical engineering documents, and educational displays.
It has been part of a broader effort to preserve the country’s “water memory” amid growing environmental concerns.
Ahmad Mohit-Tabatabai, head of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Iran, criticized the relocation.
“Closing or moving a national museum is among the worst things that can happen in museology,” he said, warning that the Quran Museum’s needs are not compatible with the Water Museum’s small facilities.
In recent years, Iran has been selling off ancient heritage sites amid the country's financial crisis with historians accusing the government of abandoning the country's rich history.
Last year there was public outcry when the government announced the construction of mosques in public parks, as the Islamic Republic's agenda is seen as eroding the country's environmental heritage.
A senior Iranian lawmaker said recent arrests of Iranian nationals in the UK are part of a coordinated effort by Western powers to pressure Tehran during sensitive nuclear negotiations.
Mohsen Salimi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, accused Britain and other European governments of using terrorism and human rights charges to extract political concessions. “This is part of a division of labor between the US and Europe to make things more difficult for the Islamic Republic as nuclear talks continue,” he said in comments published by the parliament-affiliated Khaneh Mellat news agency.
British counter-terrorism police said over the weekend they had arrested seven Iranian nationals in two separate, unconnected operations. Four men were detained under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of plotting an attack in England, while three others were arrested under new national security laws related to suspected foreign state activity. All remain in custody.
“These accusations are just tools for political blackmail,” Salimi said. “They aim to create consensus against Iran and increase pressure at the negotiating table.”
He added that European countries “are in no position to act as standard-bearers of human rights or counter-terrorism,” pointing to what he called their history of “destabilizing interventions.”
UK officials have accused Iran of sponsoring or planning threats on British soil. In October, MI5 said it had disrupted 20 plots linked to Tehran since early 2022.
