Iran opposition group pledges Islamic Republic's overthrow at Rome rally

"In Tehran, if we cannot manage and people do not cooperate in controlling consumption, there won't be any water in reservoirs by September or October,” Pezeshkian said in a speech in the Western city of Zanjan.

The government had previously considered adding an extra day off during the week or introducing long weekends to reduce demand, but ultimately did not pursue those plans.

Iran is currently grappling with water shortages and widespread power outages amid high summer temperatures, while also dealing with recovery efforts following the 12-day war with Israel and its aftermath.

Officials in Tehran blame the country’s worst water crisis in living memory on drought and excessive public consumption.

The US State Department took aim at Tehran over the water crisis on its Persian language account on X on Tuesday, describing it as consequences of corruption and mismanagement.

Pezeshkian said his government would persevere in the face of adversity.

“Since we took over the government, troubles keep pouring in; one ends, another begins. Yet, we stand firm and will stay until the end,” Pezeshkian said.

“Despite these hardships, the enthusiasm sparked among the people is a great asset and must be preserved."

“These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials,” the US State Department said in a joint statement with European countries.

They included the United Kingdom, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

The governments called on Iranian authorities to immediately halt the activities and pledged to work together to prevent further threats.

On Monday, a Belgian lawmaker of Iranian descent, Darya Safai said the European country's police warned her of an Iranian plot to abduct her via Turkey after she backed labeling the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group.

Earlier this month, British counter terrorism police said Iran alongside Russia and China is behind a growing number of life-threatening operations on UK soil including assassination and kidnapping plots carried out by criminal proxies.

Additionally, the European Union sanctioned an Iran-linked network over their alleged role in assassination plots and enforced disappearances of dissidents abroad, including on European soil.

A new UK parliamentary report this week classed Iran is one of the most aggressive state actors targeting individuals in the United Kingdom.

Since January 2022, there have been at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap against British nationals or UK-based individuals, according to a report by UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) this month.

Iran has previously been accused of involvement in the kidnapping and killing of foreign nationals abroad.

In 2020, German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd was kidnapped by Iranian operatives from Dubai and forcibly taken to Iran via Oman. He was sentenced to death and executed in what Amnesty called a "grossly unfair trial" in 2023.

Iran also abducted dissident journalist Rouhollah Zam from Iraq after luring him to leave Paris for the Arab country in September 2019. He was later sentenced to death and executed in Iran in 2021.

"The geography of the response and the battlefield may change, and Iran's reactions will be more crushing than previously observed," state media outlet Mehr news cited the spokesman of the sprawling military organization as saying.

“If the Zionist regime launches a new attack on the powerful and resilient Iran, the initiative to end the conflict will be in our hands,’ Ali Mohammad Naeini said.

Israel's surprise 12-day military campaign against Iran last month killed hundreds of military personnel and civilians in air strikes and drone attacks. Missile salvos by Iran killed 28 Israeli civilians.

Iranian military leaders had made similar threats against Israel before the conflict, and official declarations of victory following the war have yet to substantively grapple with the lopsided toll and Tehran's intelligence lapses.

“We will not allow the sirens in the occupied territories to fall silent, and the enemy must not have the opportunity to leave its shelters,” Naeini said. “They will experience more fleeing and displacement than they did during the 12-day war.”

Iran's armed allies in the region have been degraded by nearly two years of Israeli attacks, but an Emirati news outlet reported on Wednesday that a top IRGC general traveled to Iraq to shore up support for Tehran-backed militias there.

Citing Iraqi political sources close to the Shi'ite-run political establishment, al-Ain al-Ekhbariya reported that the commander of the IRGC's elite Quds Force Esmail Qaani made an unannounced visit to Iran's neighbor.

The visit, the outlet said, involved meetings with senior Shi'ite political and militia leaders and aimed at shoring up unity and coordination as parliamentary elections loom.

Mysterious attacks hit Western-run oil facilities in Iraq's Kurdish region this month, in strikes blamed by local officials on Iran-backed militias. The sources cited by al-Ain al-Ekhbariya alleged Qaani described the events as not authorized by Tehran.

Meanwhile Iran-backed Houthi forces resumed attacks on maritime shipping without explanation following the Iran-Israel ceasefire.

Following a US-brokered ceasefire on June 25, Israel and Iran have repeatedly exchanged threats.

Israel 'wiped off the face of the earth'

Iran’s interim chief of staff, Habibollah Sayyari, praised the Islamic Republic’s wartime performance on Wednesday, saying the conflict extended beyond just Israel.

“People must understand that we did not fight just one regime, we fought the world. That means we fought NATO, Europe and the United States. This is very important, yet we emerged from it with our heads held high,” Sayyari said.

Former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezaei added to the uptick of official military rhetoric on Wednesday, threatening to eradicate Israel.

“A day will come when great revenge and severe punishment will be carried out, and Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth forever,” Rezaei said on Wednesday.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman were recently moved to the Gharchak Women’s Prison and the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, added the source familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.

The couple had been held by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence for the past seven months.

According to the source, the couple were subjected to torture including sleep depravation, beating and threats of execution by security agents seeking to extract confessions but have maintained their innocence.

The couple, both in their 50s, entered Iran from Armenia during a motorcycle world tour. After visiting Tabriz, Tehran and Isfahan, they planned to travel to Kerman.

On January 4, 2025, they were arrested on their way to city of Kerman and charged with spying. Britain has rejected the charges and demanded their release.

The UK foreign office said the couple was receiving consular assistance in response to a request for comment by Iran International.

“We are deeply concerned by reports that two British nationals have been charged with espionage in Iran. We continue to raise this case directly with the Iranian authorities," it said in a statement.

“We are providing them with consular assistance and remain in close contact with their family members.”

Iran has long detained and convicted foreign nationals in a bid for to gain financial or political concessions from foreign powers.

Tehran has consistently denied that the detentions are politically motivated.

On July 26, security forces raided Unit 4 of Ghezel Hesar prison in the town of Karaj, which houses political prisoners, to suppress detainees involved in a campaign against the death penalty.

Since the raid, families of about 20 prisoners have raised concerns about their whereabouts and filed petitions and requests for information.

A source familiar with the situation who declined to be named for security reasons told Iran International that the prisoners were beaten before being placed in solitary confinement. In protest, they launched a collective hunger strike.

The raid targeted approximately 25 prisoners who had participated in a campaign known as “No to Execution Tuesdays.”

The campaign began on January last year, when political prisoners in the women’s ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison started holding weekly hunger strikes every Tuesday to protest the rising number of executions.

Two men accused of belonging to the outlawed Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) opposition group were executed on July 26.

The executions of Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamlou and Mehdi Hassani were carried out in Evin Prison, where they had been held since their arrest. Both were convicted in September 2024 by a Tehran revolutionary court on a range of national security charges.