Tehran MPs slam president for 'signaling weakness' in Carlson interview

A senior Israeli official told Reuters the stockpile — estimated at 400 kilograms enriched to 60 percent — “was not removed and has not been moved since,” suggesting Iran made no attempt to safeguard the material before or after the strikes.

The official, who was not named, added that Iran may still be able to access the stockpile at Isfahan, but moving it would be very difficult.

“The Iranians might still be able to gain access to Isfahan but it would be hard to remove any of the material there,” wrote Reuters, citing the official.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had assessed before the war that most of the 60 percent enriched uranium was being stored at the Isfahan site.

Satellite imagery taken before US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites showed “unusual” activity near the entrance to Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility.16 cargo trucks were seen Thursday on the access road to the tunnel entrance, but by Friday most had relocated to an area about one kilometer northwest, Maxar Technologies said.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have not publicly confirmed the condition of the stockpile since the strikes, and Iran has not allowed independent verification of the facilities since the war began.

The IAEA said on Friday that its team of inspectors had safely departed Iran to return to its headquarters in Vienna, after a new law barred cooperation with the UN body.

Tehran has accused the IAEA of sharing sensitive data with Israel and the US, and of failing to condemn last month’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

While Iran has denied ending cooperation entirely, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said coordination with the agency would now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Israel must prevent Iran from restoring its prewar capabilities, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

“We need to formulate an enforcement program to prevent Iran from reviving the capabilities it had before,” Katz said. “The Iranians will try in every possible way to learn their lessons and recover. The enemy is learning and preparing — and our challenge is to step up our abilities so that we are not taken by surprise.”

US President Donald Trump says the airstrikes obliterated the sites, but nuclear experts have expressed caution over the full extent of the damage, raising the possibility that some nuclear assets may have been hidden.

France’s top intelligence official, Nicolas Lerner, said Tuesday that the strikes had “very seriously affected” all stages of Iran’s nuclear program but acknowledged, a small part of Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stockpile had been destroyed, but the rest remained in the hands of the authorities.

"Today we have indications (on where it is), but we cannot say with certainty as long as the IAEA does not restart its work. It's very important. We won't have the capacity to trace it (the stocks)," Lerner said.

“Trump has done something so that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago," Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a former senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said in an interview with state TV that has recently gone viral on social media.

"As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple,” added Larijani, whose two brothers are among the Islamic Republic’s most powerful political figures.

Iranian clerics have called on Muslims to kill Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in retaliation for their threats on the life of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the conflict.

US forces attacked three Iranian nuclear sites in a bid to disable Tehran's disputed program days after Trump said Washington was well aware of where Khamenei was sheltering during the war.

Larijani's comments came after an online platform calling itself "blood pact" began raising funds for what it calls “retribution against those who mock and threaten the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.” The site says to have collected over $40 million to date.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the figure.

Bounty for Trump’s head

“We pledge to award the bounty to anyone who can bring the enemies of God and those who threaten the life of Ali Khamenei to justice,” a statement on the site said.

The campaign's stated aim is to raise $100 million for the killing of Donald Trump. It remains unclear who operates the site.

However, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported the launch of the Blood Pact initiative and called on religious groups in Iran and abroad to rally in front of Western embassies and central squares to express support for Khamenei.

The outlet also urged the application of “Islamic rulings on moharebeh” against both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the Iranian legal system, moharebeh—literally “waging war against God”—is punishable by death.

President Masoud Pezeshkian sought to distance his government from the campaign, telling US commentator Tucker Carlson on Monday that “the fatwa of warfare has nothing to do with the Iranian government or the Supreme Leader.”

But Kayhan newspaper, overseen by a representative of Khamenei, dismissed the president's remark.

“This is not an academic opinion. It is a clear religious ruling in defense of faith, sanctities and especially the guardianship of the jurist,” it wrote in a Tuesday editorial, referring to Iran's system of clerical rule.

Any future “fire-starter” would face retaliation, the newspaper added concluding that “The Islamic Republic will drown Israel in blood.”

Former lawmaker Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imenabadi earlier condemned Kayhan’s position, saying: “I can’t believe Kayhan’s editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari is Iranian ... saying Trump should be assassinated will bring the cost down on the people.”

In response, Kayhan wrote: “Today, avenging Trump is nearly a national demand. It is Imenabadi’s words that are out of step with Iranian values."

Trump has been a target for assassination threats since he ordered the 2020 killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Last year, US law enforcement accused the IRGC of organizing a plot to kill Trump in retaliation for his order to assassinate Soleimani.

The ten state-appointed clerics issued an open letter on Monday referring to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister as "infidel combatants", an Islamic legal term for a non-believer at war with Muslims who deserves death.

In a speech delivered in Azeri, another state-appointed cleric in Iran's West Azarbaijan Province announced a reward of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million) for anyone who kills Trump.

“We will give 100 billion tomans to anyone who brings the head of Trump,” said Mansour Emami, the provincial director of the official Islamic Propagation Organization in West Azerbaijan.

An Iranian website, thaar.ir, alleged that it was running a public campaign to solicit money for the assassination of Trump. The site most recently displayed more than $20 million raised.

There was no immediate confirmation of the authenticity of the figure.

During an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson aired on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian distanced the Iranian government from the religious decrees, saying that they are not directed at any specific person.

“To the best of my knowledge, they have not issued decrees or fatwas against any individual or against Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the Iranian government or the Supreme Leader of Iran,” Pezeshkian said.

Last month, Alireza Panahian, a hardline Iranian cleric close to the Supreme Leader, called on Muslims to kill Trump and Netanyahu in retaliation for their threats on the life of Khamenei during a 12-day war.

Panahian cited fatwas labeling those who made such a threat a “mohareb,” or enemy of God.

Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani had previously issued separate fatwas against Trump and Netanyahu. In his statement, Shirazi declared:

“Any regime or individual threatening the leaders of the Islamic Ummah (nation) and acting on those threats qualifies as a mohareb.”

Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in Iran's Razavi Khorasan Province, on Monday expressed support for the two clerics' fatwa.

“Labeling those who insult or violate the sanctity of the Supreme Leader as apostates and enemies of God will strengthen the foundations of the Islamic Republic and the Revolution," Alamolhoda said.

In 1989, Iran’s former leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.

Despite living under heavy security for decades, Rushdie was stabbed and blinded in one eye by an assailant in New York in 2022—an attack widely linked to Khomeini’s fatwa.

UK foreign office minister Hamish Falconer told parliament on Monday that the British embassy has reopened and a chargé d'affaires is now in place.

“We will continue to play our full role to ensure the safety of British nationals in Iran,” he said.

The Swiss Embassy, which represents US interests in Iran, also reopened on Sunday after nearly two weeks of closure. Services remain limited to consular visits, with visa-related services still suspended, the embassy announced.

Swiss intelligence warns of growing Iranian espionage threat

The reopening comes as Swiss authorities raise security concerns over Iranian espionage. On Wednesday, Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) warned that Iran poses a growing intelligence threat to Swiss diplomats.

In its annual "Security Switzerland 2025" assessment, the agency said Switzerland’s role as Washington’s protecting power in Tehran increases the visibility of Swiss personnel to hostile intelligence services.

The warning followed a joint SRF and RTS investigation aired Tuesday, in which a former IRGC officer said Swiss diplomat Sylvie Brunner was pushed from her Tehran balcony in May 2021 after a failed surveillance operation. Iran ruled it a suicide but has not shared full case files with Swiss authorities.

Brunner’s brother believes she was murdered. A Swiss forensic report found key organs missing, making toxicology tests incomplete. It said suicide was plausible but could not rule out foul play.

Her death was the first of four suspicious cases involving Swiss nationals in Iran. Others include the 2023 death of a defense attaché, the stabbing of a local embassy employee, and the 2025 death of a Swiss tourist in prison.

Swiss officials say they are pressing for full transparency in each case but have no jurisdiction to conduct investigations on Iranian soil. Without access to evidence or cooperation from Iranian authorities, their ability to determine what happened remains limited.

“Netanyahu, as I said, has his own agenda. He wants to drag the US into forever wars… and to bring more insecurity and unrest to the whole region," Pezeshkian told Carlson in the virtual discussion, referring to the Israeli Prime Minister.

Carlson is an outspoken critic of US military action against Iran and a top dissenter from among President Donald Trump's populist base. The US President dismissed his views as "kooky".

Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, has advocated for greater engagement with Washington but hardline Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ultimately decides policy.

Responding to a question on whether two senior clerics had issued a fatwa to kill Trump, Pezeshkian said, “To the best of my knowledge, they have not issued decrees or fatwas against any individual or against Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the Iranian government or the Supreme Leader of Iran."

"What they actually meant by the fatwa was the condemnation of an insult to a religion or religious personalities … It should not be construed or considered as a threat against an individual.”

Last month, Alireza Panahian, a hardline Iranian cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader called on Muslims to kill Trump and Netanyahu in response to their threats against Khamenei, citing fatwas that declare him a mohareb, or “enemy of God.”

Najmuddin Tabasi, a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, said Trump “must be executed” and warned that “the same hand that fired a shot past his ear can put a bullet through his throat.”

Referring to recent fatwas by Ayatollahs Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hossein Nouri Hamedani, Tabasi said he was confident that “brave youth will deprive Trump of security.”

Pezeshkian also denied Iran had sought to kill Trump in an alleged plot detailed by US law enforcement last year.

'No problem' with reviving talks

Iran has never pursued nuclear weapons, Pezeshkian said, citing religious prohibitions and cooperation with international inspectors.

“We have never been after developing a nuclear bomb—not in the past, not presently or in the future—because this is wrong. And this is in contrast to the religious decree or the fatwa which has been issued by the Supreme Leader … so it is religiously forbidden for us to go after a nuclear bomb.”

Ongoing conflict with Israel had sabotaged nuclear negotiations, he said, adding that talks with the US had been progressing when Israel launched attacks on Iran.

“We were sitting at the negotiating table when it happened. And by doing this, they totally ruined and destroyed diplomacy.”

“We see no problem in reentering the negotiations. But how are we going to trust the United States again? We reentered the negotiations. Then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”

White House envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo next week to relaunch nuclear talks, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the preparations.

The meeting would mark the first direct engagement since President Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month. Neither side has publicly acknowledged the planned talks.

Alleged Israeli assassination attempt

Pezeshkian said Israel had attempted to assassinate him, describing a strike on a meeting he attended. There was no immediate Israeli or independent corroboration of his claim.

“They did try, yes, and they acted accordingly, but they failed. I am not afraid of sacrificing myself in defense of my country."

Israeli escalation would only deepen regional instability, he warned.

“Will it bring peace and tranquility and stability to the region? It was not the US that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. But as I told you before, it is God who wills when a person will die.”

Pezeshkian framed the conflict as a product of Israeli ambitions and urged Washington to avoid becoming entangled.

“My proposal is that the US administration should refrain from getting involved in a war that is not America’s war. It is Netanyahu’s war that is having its own agenda … an inhuman agenda, and that is having forever wars, wars that go on and on.”

'Death to America' misunderstood

The Iranian president said that “Death to America” slogans were misunderstood. “They don’t mean death to the people of the United States, or even to the officials. They mean death to crime, death to killing and carnage, death to supporting killing others.”

Pezeshkian also said Ali Khamenei has no objection to the operation of US businesses in Iran even under the currency circumstances, and there has never been any limitation from Tehran’s side, attributing barriers to American sanctions.

"The Supreme Leader told me American investors are welcome in Iran. There is no limitation and there's nothing preventing the US investors from coming to Iran to make investments, even presently," he said.

“It is not to be in the interest of the United States to be involved in any kind of war in my region,” he said. “It is up to the United States president to choose … whether to replace war mongering and bloodshed with peace and tranquility.”