Five arrested in northwest Iran for ‘disturbing public opinion’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said Monday that the ongoing military escalation between Israel and Iran is disrupting essential diplomatic efforts aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“This military escalation delays indispensable work towards a diplomatic solution for the long-term assurance that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” Grossi said, during an exceptional meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna.

Grossi confirmed that four buildings at Iran’s Isfahan site were damaged in Friday’s Israeli strikes, including a uranium conversion facility, a fuel manufacturing plant, a central chemical laboratory, and a UF4 to EU metal processing facility. However, he noted that no damage had been observed at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant or the Khondab heavy water reactor, which is still under construction.

The IAEA chief said the agency remains present in Iran and that inspections would resume “as soon as safety conditions allow,” in line with Tehran’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). “I am in touch with the inspectors on the ground; their safety remains our top priority,” he added.

Grossi also acknowledged ongoing cooperation and information sharing between the Iranian authorities and the IAEA.

Israel's military said on Monday its air force struck a building near Tehran used by Iran’s intelligence services, killing four senior officials, including the head of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence organization.

According to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement, the strike killed Mohammad Kazemi, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit, his deputy Mohammad Hassan Mohaqeq, as well as the head and deputy of the Quds Force intelligence directorate, Mohsen Bagheri and Abu al-Fadl Nikouei.

Earlier, IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported that Sarfaraz Hossein Nikouei, described as a “prominent and experienced intelligence officer” with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was killed in an Israeli strike on Sunday.

“These senior officials played a central role in shaping Iran’s threat assessments and planning terror operations against Israel, the West, and regional countries,” the IDF said.

The Israeli military added that the strike severely damaged Iran’s intelligence capabilities and follows the assassination of the Iranian military’s chief intelligence officer on Friday.

IDF's announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in an interview with Fox News that Israel killed Kazemi and Mohaqeq in a strike in Tehran.

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on Monday ordered rapid prosecution and punishment for anyone found cooperating with Israel, warning that wartime conditions require immediate legal action.

“If anyone is found to have collaborated with the Zionist regime, they must be swiftly tried and punished without delay,” Ejei said during a high-level judicial meeting in Tehran.

He warned that those attempting to exploit the current situation to destabilize the country—whether through physical or psychological means—would face “the most severe penalties under the law.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Israel’s attacks on residential areas and nuclear sites were carried out with US support, and dismissed any talk of nuclear negotiations as “meaningless” under current conditions.

“Israel, with the support of the United States, attacked us,” Baghaei said during a press conference, accusing both countries of violating international norms and threatening regional peace.

Baghaei also rejected what he described as “ambiguous statements calling for Iran’s restraint,” saying they amount to hypocrisy.

Israel is using mobile phone tracking technology to carry out assassinations inside Iran, including of nuclear scientists in the latest strikes, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency reported Monday.

"Israel uses mobile tracking to assassinate individuals in Iran. It previously killed Ismail Haniyeh the same way in Tehran,” the outlet said.

Fars added that even turning off mobile phones at meeting locations or residences can still reveal individuals’ whereabouts, and recommended using secure, anti-tracking phones.

The report follows a call by a Tehran lawmaker urging military and government officials to collect their own and their associates' mobile phones to prevent tracking.