Iran says alleged Mossad spy arrested in Tehran metro

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has raised alarm over the fate of detainees moved from Tehran's Evin Prison after Israel's strike on the facility, saying many held in intelligence-run wards were transferred to unknown locations with no information about their condition.

“Men and women held in solitary confinement in Ward 209 were taken out of Evin in gray prison uniforms and loaded into vehicles,” Mohammadi said in a post on X. “Since then, there has been no information about the whereabouts or conditions of detainees held in Evin’s high-security wards.”

She said there has been no official word on the status of detainees from Wards 209 and 240 (run by the Ministry of Intelligence), Ward 2-A (controlled by the Revolutionary Guards), and Ward 241 (under Judiciary's Intelligence). Mohammadi warned that prisoners could have been taken to "secret or illegal detention sites, cut off from the outside world."

She added that inmates from Evin’s general wards have been relocated, with women sent to Qarchak Prison and men to Greater Tehran Prison — “both notorious for their harsh and inhumane conditions.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has named nine members killed in an Israeli strike on the Seyyed al-Shohada base in Tehran province, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

The strike occurred earlier in the week, with the IRGC releasing the names several days later. Those killed were identified as Hassan Khansari, Soheil Rostamian, Sirous Moradi, Saeed Aslani, Mohsen Barkan, Majid Zarei, Mohammad Javad Borhani, Ali Abbasi, and conscript Soheil Lotfizadeh.

A university student has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out tasks under the direction of Iranian intelligence, Israel’s police and Shin Bet said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Bashar Hassan Qassem Mousa, 22, a resident of Deir al-Asad and a student at Ben-Gurion University, was detained over alleged security offenses involving contact with an Iranian operative, the police said.

According to investigators, Mousa allegedly received instructions and payment to perform various acts, including attempting to harm a public figure, scattering nails on a main road in Be’er Sheva, and encouraging divisive public discourse. Authorities said he was motivated by events in Gaza.

Iran has objected to the US use of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter in relation to attacks on its nuclear facilities, according to a letter from its UN envoy to the Security Council on Wednesday.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, said in the letter that invoking self-defense under Article 51 does not apply to facilities under full IAEA oversight and confirmed as peaceful.

He said the US position reflects a unilateral interpretation of international law and warned that accepting it could weaken the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's absence from public view has given rise to factions in Tehran including one favoring outreach with the United States led by the president, the New York Times reported citing four senior Iranian officials.

Politicians and military chiefs are vying for influence as the status of veteran leader remains publicly unknown, the sources added, saying the groups differ about nuclear and foreign policy.

President Masoud Pezeshkian leads what the sources cited by the newspaper described as an ascendant faction of relative moderates favoring diplomacy over further confrontation.

The faction includes armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and judiciary head Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the New York Times reported.