Iranian cleric warns Arbaeen pilgrims against criticizing pro-Tehran militias in Iraq

Sajjad Razavi, deputy health minister for treatment affairs, confirmed Sunday that the case will soon be submitted to the prosecutor’s office.

“The issue is under review, and the file is being completed,” Razavi told Tasnim News Agency. "Any violations are under investigation, and the final decision will be made by the judiciary."

The embryos have since been moved to a different medical center “in coordination with the owners,” he said.

The controversy surfaced after Shargh newspaper reported on July 29 that multiple frozen embryos stored at Aban Hospital in Tehran had disappeared or been wrongly transferred.

Four months earlier, the hospital had abruptly shut down its IVF unit without informing families who had stored embryos, sperm, or eggs.

Families discovered the issue by accident, and in some cases were told that their embryos were either missing or delivered to the wrong recipients during the relocation process.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is permitted in Iran under religious guidance. Demand for fertility services has surged in recent years as the country grapples with declining birth rates, rising infertility, and widespread economic uncertainty delaying marriage and childbearing.

Government policy has increasingly emphasized population growth, with officials urging couples to have more children. However, access to fertility care remains costly and largely urban-centered, driving some to entrust long-term embryo storage to major hospitals.

Aban Hospital is run by Iran University of Medical Sciences and falls under the Health Ministry.

However, health officials have denied any wrongdoing. “The embryos were being preserved under proper conditions,” Mohammadreza Foroughizad, head of public relations at the university, said on July 30.

University president Nader Tavakkoli dismissed the affair as a misunderstanding caused by temporary renovations and said no embryos had been harmed.

But Shargh reported that police visited the hospital on July 28 and formally registered family complaints. Many families still do not know where their frozen embryos are.

They are demanding accountability, judicial action, and compensation for damages, as well as the safe return of their biological material.

The Defense Council will focus on “defense strategies and strengthening the operational readiness of Iran’s military forces,” IRNA's report said citing SNSC's secretariat.

The secretariat said the Defense Council has been formed within the framework of Article 176 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, which allows the SNSC to establish “subsidiary councils such as the Defense Council and the National Security Council” in accordance with its responsibilities.

President Masoud Pezeshkian will chair the council, which will include the heads of the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches, as well as top military commanders and key cabinet ministers, the report added.

The Council already existed in the Islamic Republic's Constitution and is now being revived decades after it was active during the early years of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Mansour Haghighatpour, a politician close to Ali Khamenei's advisor Ali Larijani, told Eghtesad News on Saturday.

The Defense Council played a key role in Iran's military decisions during the 1980s.

Fars News, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guards, said Friday the Defense Council is part of a wider reconfiguration of Iran’s security apparatus.

Tasnim News, which is also close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said the body is intended to oversee national defense policies and streamline military decision-making.

"The Council's objectives appear to be supporting the comprehensive strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities, as well as accelerating and improving the efficiency of decision-making in the defense sector," the Tasnim report said.

The revival of the Defense Council is a positive development, Haghighatpour said on Saturday, adding that it would transform the General Staff of the Armed Forces into a coordinating body rather than a commanding one.

“If we face serious conflict and our forces are to enter the field—considering that the army and the Guards constitute a combined force, with two air forces, two ground forces, and two navies—all engaging together requires a central command,” he added.

“Command must have a designated deputy, ensuring we are not caught off guard at critical moments.”

The Tasnim report said that “given the new security challenges and the complexity of regional and global threats, the revival of the Defense Council could lead to greater agility and focus in the country’s defense decision-making.”

Iran International's senior analyst Morad Vaisi believes the formation of the Defense Council is not meant to defend the people or the country but "to defend the Islamic Republic and prevent its collapse.”

“The surprise in the 12-day war has shaken Khamenei’s confidence in the military commanders, and he is now seeking to build more institutions above the IRGC, army, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces," Vaisi said.

During the conflict with Iran in June, Israel's air force took control of Iranian airspace, delivering a significant blow to the country's air defenses, while Iran's armed forces responded with successive waves of missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory.

Israeli military officials say that 120 air defense systems were destroyed or disabled since the first wave of attacks—around a third of Iran’s pre-war total. Long-range systems, including Russian-supplied S-300s and Iran’s Bavar-373 batteries, were among those targeted.

“The pattern of fires this year in oil, gas, and petrochemical facilities is abnormal,” Mohammad Bahrami, a member of parliament’s energy committee, told the Iranian news outlet Didban Iran.

“Some of these incidents have occurred repeatedly and within short time intervals at sensitive complexes,” he added.

While Bahrami blamed aging equipment and lack of preventive maintenance as the key causes, he did not rule out possible sabotage operations by Israel.

“Around 50 percent of these incidents are caused by aging equipment, a lack of preventive maintenance, and outdated monitoring systems. About 30 percent stem from human error, insufficient training for operational staff, and failure to follow safety protocols," Bahrami said.

"The remaining 20 percent are a combination of managerial failures, delays in emergency response, weak HSE budgets, inadequate digital warning systems, and recent hostilities with the Zionist regime (of Israel),” he added.

A report by New York Times last month said Iranian officials increasingly suspect a coordinated campaign of sabotage may be behind the recent wave of unexplained fires and explosions across the country.

At least 12 major or mid-scale fires and explosions have occurred in oil and gas infrastructure during the first half of the current Iranian year which began in late March, according to estimates cited by Didban. The number exceeds 20 when minor fires and smoke-causing leaks are included.

Bahrami said the fires had led to deaths in incidents such as those at the Kharg petrochemical facility and Abadan refinery.

“Gas units have been taken offline for days, and both production and exports have been affected. Our international insurance and energy market reputation has suffered,” he said.

Bahrami warned that without structural reform and investments in digital safety infrastructure, Iran’s energy sector could suffer deeper reputational, financial, and operational damage.

In a video published by the IRGC’s political affairs office, Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, the deputy for political affairs at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), addressed recent public criticism about the limited support shown by Beijing and Moscow during the conflict, which saw multiple Israeli and US strikes against Iranian military and nuclear sites.

“Some people in society asked during the war why China and Russia, with whom we have 25-year and 20-year cooperation agreements, did not assist us,” Javani said. “The answer is that the nature of these agreements does not include mutual defense or obligations for either country to enter a war on the other’s behalf.”

Javani emphasized that Iran did not seek outside military support during the conflict. “The Islamic Republic did not request help from any country—not even from members of the Axis of Resistance,” he said, referring to Tehran-backed militia forces across the region.

Responding to suggestions that the long-term agreements with Beijing and Moscow implied mutual military backing, Javani said: “These are cooperation agreements that involve military collaboration, arms sales, and other areas. But unlike formal security pacts, they do not obligate the parties to come to each other’s defense in times of war.”

He offered an analogy: “For example, we have a military cooperation agreement with Moscow, but when Russia entered into a war with Ukraine, we were not obligated to support them, and likewise, they are not obligated to join us in any conflict.”

The comments come amid debate within Iranian media and political circles over what some perceive as tepid responses from Iran’s strategic partners.

During the conflict, Russia condemned USairstrikes on Iranian targets as “unjustifiable” and “aggressive,” while China called for restraint and dialogue. Both stopped short of offering any material or military assistance.

Iranian state media and officials have described the conflict, which lasted nearly two weeks, as a significant test of Iran’s defensive capabilities as well as its diplomatic alliances.

The Jomhouri-e Eslami daily recently criticized the Kremlin over the long-promised but undelivered S-400 air defense systems.

The same editorial questioned whether China would take concrete steps to address Iran’s defense vulnerabilities—or whether the 20-year strategic cooperation agreement would remain, in their words, “just a piece of paper.”

Despite this, Javani defended Russia’s role during the war. “President Vladimir Putin made notable diplomatic and political efforts in support of the Islamic Republic in international forums,” he said. “These are the types of actions we expect on the political level, and he delivered.”

“The Islamic Republic… is in a serious pickle,” The Economist wrote in its Friday report.

Flooding the Persian Gulf with fruit and veg is one of its ways to pay for foreign goods it so desperately needs, added the outlet, saying “Iran now supplies nine out of ten cauliflowers, tomatoes and watermelons imported by the UAE.”

The trade relies on large state subsidies that make water, fertilizers and energy almost free.

Iran’s greenhouse cultivation has more than tripled in area since the early 2010s, supported by imported technology from countries including China and the Netherlands. Much of the equipment, The Economist wrote, originates from Israel—“a leader in the field”—though routed indirectly.

But this export boom is exacerbating water scarcity across Iran. With agriculture consuming over 90% of available water, and government support concentrated on export-focused farms, residents in cities like Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, and many others endure hours-long daily shutoffs. Officials have warned of a collapse of groundwater resources and irreversible environmental damage.

Across Iran, families are enduring days without running water. Many are stockpiling bottles, installing rooftop storage tanks, or relying on tanker deliveries—some of which provide unsafe supplies.

Satellite images obtained by Iran International show that Tehran’s main reservoirs—Amir Kabir, Lar, and Latyan—are at historic lows, holding less than 10% of their usable volume.

At the same time, the capital is physically sinking. Excessive extraction from depleted groundwater resources has caused sections of Tehran to subside by more than 25 centimeters per year.

Iran's produce in Sharjah port

The report by the Economist details how Iran’s produce reaches the UAE’s Sharjah port via small ships from Bandar Lengeh, south of the country.

From there, trailers carry shipments to Dubai’s Al Aweer market, the region’s largest wholesale food hub, where wholesalers blend Iranian goods with other imports or repackage them entirely.

Labels are swapped to hide origin—“We just put a sticker on the carton with a new origin: Azerbaijan, Turkey—anything but Iran,” one trader said.

The export trade operates through a parallel financial system. Formal banking channels are avoided due to US sanctions, so traders use the informal system to settle payments.

UAE-based middlemen collect dirhams from food buyers and channel them to Iranian exporters—often in exchange for vital machinery and appliances Tehran cannot otherwise import.

The Economist estimated the value of this clandestine export trade at $4bn to $5bn in 2024 alone.

Iran’s fruits often reach Persian Gulf supermarkets disguised and mispriced. Wholesalers inflate margins by mixing cheap Iranian tomatoes with Dutch imports and reselling the lot as premium goods.

“Instead of 4–5 dirhams, they sell the lot for 20–25 dirhams per kg,” said one insider. Some retail chains fly their staff business class and house them in luxury hotels—funded by “blended” produce profits, according to The Economist.

Despite occasional anti-dumping probes, Persian Gulf states appear to tolerate the flow. The report suggests some governments may see cheap Iranian food as a way to control inflation—or even preserve their own scarce groundwater by outsourcing farming to Iran.

But as water crisis deepens across Iran and key basins dry beyond recovery, Tehran’s strategy of exporting fruit may prove unsustainable. “However tempting,” The Economist warned, “bingeing on Iranian produce looks like a recipe for trouble.”