Average red meat intake in Iran drops by over half as millions go without

Their accounts document a sprawling overseas network operating under direct orders from the Supreme Leader’s office and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence arm well out of step with common diplomatic practice.

“Every embassy has a list. People to watch. People to engage. People to silence,” an Iranian former diplomatic employee told Iran International.

“It’s not foreign policy—it’s field execution,” another told Iran International. “The people sent abroad are on assignment, not appointment.”

Their account outlines a foreign service shaped not by diplomacy but by ideology, surveillance and illicit finance.

According to these individuals—whose names are withheld for their safety—Iran’s diplomatic missions double as intelligence gathering hubs tasked with tracking dissidents, surveilling student communities and delivering cash and equipment under the protection of diplomatic immunity.

UK authorities detained eight men in May, including three charged under the National Security Act for surveilling Iran International journalists on behalf of Tehran between August 2024 and February 2025.

It was not clear whether the charges related in any way to the Iranian embassy in London.

Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the charges as politically motivated, but former officials say such actions are core to the Islamic Republic’s overseas agenda.

Iran’s embassies maintain the outward structure of any diplomatic mission—ambassadors, attachés and advisers—but according to the sources, the roles often serve as cover.

“A person listed as a translator might actually coordinate funds for proxy groups,” said one of the former diplomats. “Titles are just for appearances.”

In one high-profile case, Iranian diplomat Asadollah Asadi used his status to transport explosives intended for an opposition rally in Paris. His 2021 conviction in Belgium exposed how far such dual roles can go.

Another ex-staffer recalled colleagues arriving in Istanbul and Baku with briefcases of undeclared dollars. “They know no one will search their bags,” he said.

Cultural attachés, especially those linked to the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization, are said to organize religious events abroad that double as screening grounds for potential recruits.

Germany shuttered the Islamic Center of Hamburg in July over its ties to Tehran and what the Interior Ministry called promotion of extremism and antisemitism.

The diplomatic corps itself, sources say, is dominated by the sons of clerics and system insiders.

“Your father is a Friday prayer leader? Your uncle is close to the Supreme Leader? You’re in,” said one.

Posts rarely align with professional background; language skills and experience are often secondary to loyalty.

Though often expelled or exposed, the structure endures. Loyal staff are rotated across continents with little interruption.

“Each post is a mission. If you complete it to the system’s satisfaction, you’re held in reserve for the next,” one former diplomat said.

The network’s reach is enhanced by front organizations. The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has been linked to Hezbollah financing. The Iranian Red Crescent has faced accusations of being used by Quds Force operatives for weapons transport. IRGC members have admitted posing as aid workers during the Bosnian war.

IRIB outlets—Press TV, Al-Alam, Hispan TV—have functioned as propaganda arms and intelligence fronts. France expelled one of their journalists in 2011 for spreading state messaging.

The Iranian Red Crescent and the IRGC officially denied these remarks, saying that any such actions were unauthorized and not representative of their organizations.

Despite the rhetoric of resistance, many live in luxury. One former ambassador’s Paris residence cost over €40,000 per month.

“They send their kids to secular schools while preaching Islamic values,” said another. Leaked records show senior envoys receiving up to $12,000 monthly, with generous stipends and ceremonial budgets.

“It’s both reward and insulation,” an ex-diplomatic employee said. “The system buys loyalty with luxury—and distances them from the reality of ordinary Iranians.”

What emerges is not a diplomatic corps, but a global extension of Iran’s security state—trained, titled, and deployed to safeguard the Islamic Republic, not represent it.

The explanatory note, released ahead of a key meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, criticized the agency’s latest report for relying on “unverified” and “politically influenced” sources, saying the findings reflect a “departure from the principles of impartiality and professionalism.”

“Enrichment to 60% is not banned by the NPT, and all related activities are declared and verifiable,” said the statement published on the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran's website.

Iran further said that traces of uranium found at certain undeclared sites may be the result of sabotage or hostile actions, citing findings by its own security investigations.

The IAEA report, leaked to Western media late last month, concluded that Iran now possesses over 400 kg of 60%-enriched uranium—enough, if further enriched, to build approximately 10 nuclear weapons. The report also cited ongoing Iranian non-cooperation on safeguards and expressed “serious concern” over the country’s continued enrichment at levels with “no civilian justification.”

Iran pushes back against pressure

Iranian officials condemned the IAEA’s findings. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the report was based on “fabricated Israeli intelligence” and aimed at reopening matters previously closed under a 2015 resolution. He accused the agency of acting under political pressure from the United States and European powers.

In a phone call last week with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the agency to “reflect realities” and warned that any politically driven action by the IAEA Board would be met with a firm response. “Iran will react strongly to any violation of its rights,” Araghchi said in a separate post on X. “The responsibility lies solely with those misusing the agency to gain political leverage.”

Tensions rising ahead of IAEA board vote

The IAEA board is expected to convene next week, with diplomats telling Reuters the United States and the so-called E3 — Britain, France, and Germany — plan to table a resolution formally declaring Iran in violation of its safeguards obligations. If adopted, it would mark the first such finding since 2005, a move that could pave the way for a referral to the UN Security Council and further sanctions.

Israel has accused Iran of being “fully committed” to obtaining nuclear weapons, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying “there is no civilian explanation” for Iran’s current enrichment levels.

Iran, for its part, continues to insist that its nuclear program is strictly peaceful and has dismissed the possibility of negotiating over the principle of enrichment.

No deal without enrichment, Tehran says

In comments echoed by other senior Iranian officials, Parliament National Security Committee chair Ebrahim Azizi said enrichment is a “red line.” “There can be no negotiation over the principle of enrichment,” he said. “It is a matter of national sovereignty.”

Iran also criticized Western suggestions of a fuel consortium or a temporary freeze on enrichment. “Without recognition of our right to enrichment, no agreement will be possible,” said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, another senior MP.

Snapback and retaliation threats

The mounting tension comes as Western capitals also weigh triggering the so-called snapback mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal, which would restore UN sanctions. Iranian hardline media warned that such a move would be seen as “blackmail” and would provoke a fundamental shift in Iran’s nuclear doctrine.

The conservative daily Khorasan said Iran “could produce 10 atomic bombs” and that its missile program should not be underestimated. It warned that activating the snapback would mean “Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA has yielded nothing.”

The network—run by Iranian brothers Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam—relied on front companies in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates to evade sanctions and move funds through a parallel financial system, the US Treasury said.

“Iran’s shadow banking system is a critical lifeline for the government through which it accesses the proceeds from its oil sales, moves money, and funds its destabilizing activities,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

According to the Treasury, the Zarringhalam brothers used Iran-based exchange houses—GCM Exchange, Berelian Exchange and Zarrin Ghalam Exchange—alongside dozens of front companies to facilitate transactions for entities such as the National Iranian Oil Company, the Quds Force, and Iran’s Ministry of Defense.

The operations involved fictitious invoices and payments routed through jurisdictions with limited financial oversight, the department said.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce wrote on X that the network had “laundered billions of dollars for the Iranian government.”

“Under @POTUS’s maximum pressure campaign, we will starve Iran of the funds it uses to further its destabilizing activities.”

Friday’s sanctions were the first US measures targeting Iran’s shadow banking infrastructure since President Trump re-imposed “maximum pressure” on Tehran in February, the department said.

Last Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House had temporarily paused new sanctions in parallel with ongoing nuclear negotiations, citing a directive from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Following Treasury’s announcement, Wall Street Journal reporter Elliot Kaufman wrote on X that the sanctions-pause policy had ended after the newspaper’s coverage. “We can now confirm what we heard Monday and Tuesday: The sanctions‑pause policy has been killed after it was exposed in our WSJ editorial,” he said.

The detentions span several provinces, including Kurdistan, Gilan, Fars, Qazvin, and Kermanshah, and involve both striking drivers and citizens accused of promoting the protests online or documenting blockades.

The strike began on May 22 in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, triggered by mounting frustrations over rising costs, falling freight rates, fuel restrictions, and lack of state support. The movement quickly spread, and the Alliance of Iran Truckers and Truck Drivers’ Unions (AITTD) now says drivers in at least 155 cities and towns are participating.

Those arrested include named individuals such as Farzad Rezaei, Zanko Rostami, Rezgar Moradi, Sediq Mohammadi, Ata Aziri, Alireza Faghfoori, and Shahab Darabi—who has reportedly been released. Authorities in Qazvin said nine people were detained for allegedly disrupting traffic and posting videos on social media. In some cases, state media aired what appeared to be forced confessions.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has called the strike “the largest labor protest in recent years,” citing it as evidence of growing discontent over the country’s deepening economic crisis.

The phenomenon is steeped in contradiction, with many platforms operating in plain sight despite the Islamic prohibition of gambling.

While supreme leader Ali Khamenei recently ruled that predicting sports outcomes for prizes is not inherently forbidden (haram), Iran’s judiciary continues to treat gambling as a criminal offense—punishable by lashes and imprisonment.

Still, with the national currency, the rial, in free fall and opportunities dwindling, many see gambling as one of the few remaining ways to beat inflation—or to reclaim a fleeting sense of freedom.

Bet to breathe

For Maryam, 49, a former schoolteacher, online poker began as a form of relief from daily suffocation.

"In Iran, we are prisoners—not just of the regime, but of our own despair," she says from her Tehran apartment. "The leaders want to drag us back to rules from 1,400 years ago, while the world moves forward. These games … they let me breathe."

She’s lost several months’ wages in a single night but insists the emotional release is worth it. "When I win, I feel like I’ve beaten the system. When I lose, at least I was free for a moment."

Mohammad, 35, a software engineer, sees gambling less as a thrill than as a necessity. "Look at our currency," he says. "You save 100 million rials today, and in six months, it buys half as much."

Using VPNs to access offshore sportsbooks, he trades in dollars or cryptocurrency to hedge against both inflation and sanctions. "Gambling isn’t a game here—it’s a financial tactic."

Loopholes, laundering, and lashes

The rise in betting has exposed a divide at the highest levels of authority.

While Khamenei’s office has carved out a religious loophole for prize-based predictions, senior Shi’a jurists like Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi maintain that all forms of monetary betting are haram.

Due to this inconsistency, perhaps, enforcement remains patchy and ineffective.

Although Iran’s Cyber Police (FATA) have shuttered over 1,500 gambling websites since 2021 and frozen 72 billion tomans in suspected gambling funds, many platforms operate freely, using registered banking gateways that suggest official indifference—or even complicity.

Tehran MP Mojtaba Tavangar recently called on Iran’s Central Bank to impose tighter controls on the country’s 3.8 million unregistered point-of-sale (POS) systems, which he says are conduits for illicit cash flows.

He blamed anonymous banking transactions for fueling the online gambling surge, asserting that $1 billion in gambling profits exited the country last year.

The warning was echoed by senior FATA official Ali Niknafs, who accused payment processors of enabling a “black-market economy” and faulted the Central Bank for what he called lax oversight.

A symptom, not a vice

Gambling is a rising concern in many societies, but in Iran, it thrives in the shadows—fueled by economic despair, filtered through VPNs, and punished with lashes.

What elsewhere may be a regulated vice has here become an act of defiance and desperation, shaped by repression and the absence of lawful outlets for risk or relief.

Experts say Iran’s gambling boom reflects a deeper breakdown.

"When people lose faith in banks and jobs, they turn to risky alternatives," says Stockholm-based economist Ahmad Alavi. "The regime blames Western decadence, but the real problem is their own mismanagement."

The growing habit is now affecting workplaces too.

"Employees gamble during work hours—some even stealing to cover losses," says an IT supervisor at a Tehran bank who asked not to be named. "We fire them, but new ones do the same thing."

Saman, another IT manager, says he has deployed firewalls and screen monitoring systems, only to see workers bypass them using secret Telegram channels and disguised apps.

With VPN usage at record highs and underground betting networks expanding, crackdowns—by officials or employers—appear increasingly futile. More and more people chase the dream in desperation, many aware it’s an illusion but not seeing any alternative.

"We’re trapped in a broken system," Maryam says. "So we roll the dice."