Nation insists on keeping nuclear program, Iranian official says

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday endorsed Vice President J.D. Vance’s warning on Iran’s nuclear case, calling for the dismantling of the Islamic Republic’s atomic program.

“If the Iran domino falls, you're going to see nuclear proliferation all over the Middle East. That's very bad for us. It's very bad for our friends,” Vance said in remarks cited by AIPAC.

“Put a deadline on talks. Increase the pressure. Demand Iran dismantle,” the group posted on X, urging a harder line on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

President Donald Trump signed an order banning travel to the US from 12 countries, including Iran.

The White House said Wednesday that the move aims to tighten security. Nations affected include Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen.

The White House said Iran is “a state sponsor of terrorism” that “fails to cooperate in identifying security risks” and “has historically failed to accept back its removable nationals.”

Trump said the most restricted countries harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” lack proper identity verification, and have poor visa compliance.

“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” he said.

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"The English draft of the US nuclear proposal contains language flaws," Iran's former nuclear chief said Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the text.

Speaking in a televised interview, Ali Akbar Salehi also described the proposal as "very confusing and contradictory."

Turkey, long a major customer, imported over 5 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States in the first quarter of 2025, according to Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA).

That’s nearly the same volume as in all of 2024—which itself marked a 38% jump from 2023. The United States is now Turkey’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia, displacing Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran is grappling with year-round gas deficits. Last winter, domestic shortages roughly equaled Turkey’s daily seasonal demand.

EMRA data shows that Iran’s winter deliveries to Turkey have halved over the past two years, failing to meet the agreed quota in every month of the cold season.

A 25-year agreement between Tehran and Ankara expires next year. Despite repeated offers to renew, Turkey has shown little interest, bolstering its energy ties with Russia, Azerbaijan, and the US.

In March, Ankara began importing gas from Turkmenistan through swap deals via Iran—further reducing direct reliance on Iranian supply.

Iraq and Syria: shrinking markets

Iraq, Iran’s only remaining major gas customer, has also reported a sharp drop in supply.

Reduced deliveries from Iran have cut electricity production by 3,000 megawatts, according to Iraqi officials, just as summer demand peaks. Iran now supplies only 3% of Iraq’s electricity needs, down from 10% just a few years ago.

Turkey has stepped into the void, doubling its electricity exports to Iraq in 2025 and now supplying more than twice the volume Iran provides.

Tehran earns an estimated $5.5 billion annually from electricity and gas exports. Yet the strategy of converting regional political leverage into economic gains appears to be unraveling.

For years, Iran spent tens of billions of dollars supporting armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, hoping to convert influence into energy contracts and infrastructure projects. But the hard-gained influence all but vaporised with Israeli strikes and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Syria, once a central partner in Tehran’s ambitions, has effectively cut ties. Iraq plans to end reliance on Iranian gas within two years.

Lost Ground

From 2012 to 2023, Iran sent more than 300 million barrels of free crude oil to Syria—worth $23 billion, according to energy analytics firm Kpler— in hopes of securing energy and industrial dominance in postwar reconstruction.

Last week, Syria’s interim government signed a $7 billion deal with Qatari, Turkish and US firms to build 6,000 megawatts of new generation capacity.

Turkey will supply 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually, while Qatar began gas shipments via Jordan in March, bypassing Iran entirely.

Even before Assad’s fall, Iran lagged behind. Turkey exported 15 times more goods to Syria than Iran. Today, Iran’s trade has all but stopped, while Turkish exports to Syria topped $1 billion in the first four months of 2025 — a 32% increase over the same period last year.

Khanoumi Shop, an online cosmetics and personal care retailer, had posted the promotional video as part of a new campaign to market its brand.

The video showcased young women performing a rap song — a move that violated the Islamic Republic’s ban on female public singing.

Following the video’s release, Khanoumi’s Instagram page — which had 1.5 million followers — was taken offline by judicial order.

This is not the first time the brand has used methods frowned upon by the clerical establishment to promote its products. Two years ago, it released another rap video featuring female animated puppets to advertise its wares.

The company has also engaged in sharp messaging which could be construed as an oblique critique of officialdom. It promoted a moisturizing cream by referencing the dryness of Isfahan's Zayandeh Rood river, which has suffered from mismanagement and water shortages.

Khanoumi is among a handful of Iranian brands that have tried to distinguish themselves through bold advertising, but such efforts have increasingly drawn the ire of the country's theocratic authorities.

In recent years, several similar campaigns have faced backlash from the judiciary. The feminine hygiene brand MyLady, whose Instagram page was blocked after it ran a campaign for International Women’s Day on March 8, raising awareness about the restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic against Iranian women.

In February, the Instagram page of Cenan, one of Iran's largest bakery companies, was shut down by the Islamic Republic's police after it released a promotional video featuring female employees without the mandatory hijab.

In March, Iranian authorities blocked the Instagram accounts belonging to multiple female artists under judiciary orders, ramping up an effort to limit the visibility of women vocalists, whose performances have been banned in public settings since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The restrictions on female artists have escalated since the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death in custody in 2022 over hijab, as many female performers supported the demonstrations. Several have been arrested or barred from professional activities.

Artistic defiance has become a hallmark of Iran’s protest movements, with musicians such as Shervin Hajipour, Mehdi Yarrahi, Saman Yasin and Toomaj Salehi facing arrest for their roles in encouraging dissent.