Iran denies sending message to Israel via Cyprus

Phone access for political prisoners in Tehran’s Evin prison was cut off Sunday afternoon, sources told Iran International, amid intensified Israeli airstrikes on targets inside Iran.

Both male and female inmates in various wards lost all phone contact starting at midday on Sunday.

Prison authorities have also sharply restricted outdoor time and daily routines for male political prisoners.

The measures appear to reflect broader security clampdowns as Iranian authorities brace for further attacks and public unrest.

Targets were hit in the Garmdareh area of Karaj, west of Tehran, as air defense systems opened sustained fire across the city’s hills, a citizen told Iran International.

Residents in Karaj shared videos showing continuous anti-aircraft activity, while others in Tehran captured scenes of smoke rising after explosions in Chitgar.

Gunfire from air defense systems was still audible across multiple districts of the capital on Sunday.

Explosions and anti-aircraft fire were reported Sunday around Tehran’s Pasteur Square where Supreme Leader's Ali Khamenei's compound is located.

Blasts were also heard near the Espinas Palace Hotel in the north of the city, according to eyewitnesses and local sources.

A viewer told Iran International TV that air defense systems were active in Pasteur, a heavily guarded area housing government institutions.

The semi-official Daneshjoo news agency, linked to the Basij, denied any attack on Baharestan district and said a fire broke out at a warehouse instead.

Iran’s nuclear program poses a military threat to Israel, regional countries, and France, and urged renewed negotiations to avert escalation, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said.

“The Iranian nuclear program has a military purpose. It is an existential threat to Israel, to the countries of the region, and to us as well,” Barrot said in an interview with RTL radio.

“The only way to get rid of [this threat] is through negotiation,” he added, warning that “no one has an interest in a regional conflagration.”

Barrot called on all parties to act with restraint.

Sociologist Mostafa Mehraeen warned Ali Khamenei in an open letter that Iran is on the verge of collapse and urged a swift return to negotiations with the United States.

“Do not make people’s lives and the state of the country even darker than they already are,” Mehraeen wrote.