US targets Iran technology, finance networks with new sanctions

“They are seeking to disarm the resistance in Lebanon, but they will take that wish to the grave,” said Iraj Masjedi, deputy coordinator of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, according to Iranian media.

“Resistance forces remain fully prepared and equipped, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely ready for any scenario,” he added.

Masjedi's remarks followed Beirut’s announcement Tuesday that the Lebanese army would be tasked with collecting weapons from groups operating outside the state’s command.

Lebanon's cabinet instructed the army to develop a plan by the end of the year aimed at creating a state monopoly on weapons—an implicit challenge to Hezbollah, which has resisted disarmament since last year’s war with Israel.

Hezbollah decried the move as a "grave sin" and vowed to ignore it.

The Lebanese government has long been under international pressure to assert monopoly over arms, particularly from Western states who view Iran-backed Hezbollah’s military structure as a parallel force within the state.

Israel, Armed Forces General Staff spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi said on Thursday, aimed to undermine the Iran-backed network of armed groups in the region.

“The Zionist regime is attempting to alter regional equations, but the resistance front stands firm,” Shekarchi said, naming Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi and other groups as active components of what he called a growing axis.

“Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This will ensure PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.”

The Abraham Accords, launched in 2020, are a series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, brokered by the United States.

‘A very evil place’

The post followed remarks on Wednesday in which Trump described Iran as “a very evil place” and predicted major changes in the region over the coming years, citing US efforts to halt Tehran’s nuclear program and prevent regional war.

“Iran was the perpetrator of hate, a very evil place. And I think it’s going to be a lot different in the coming years,” Trump said at a press conference. “We have stopped wars in the Middle East by stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon.”

“They can say they’re going to start all over again. But that’s a very dangerous thing for them to do, because we’ll be back as soon as they start. And I think they understand that,” he added.

Nuclear sites targeted in June strikes

Trump’s remarks come after a 12-day conflict in June between Iran and Israel that ended with US airstrikes on nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow. The strikes destroyed critical infrastructure and killed senior military and scientific figures, as well as hundreds of civilians. Iran responded with missile attacks that killed at least 27 Israeli civilians.

Trump has repeatedly said the US “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has denied pursuing weapons but acknowledged serious damage to several sites.

Iran restricts nuclear access

Following the attacks, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors left Iran, and Iranian authorities announced they would no longer permit visits to the affected facilities. On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized the UN watchdog for failing to condemn the strikes.

“If the agency wants to visit our sites, they’ve been bombed,” Araghchi said in an interview with state TV. “Tell us—how do you expect to inspect a bombed nuclear facility?”

He said a senior IAEA official had been invited to Tehran for talks but added, “He’s not coming for inspections—we have not allowed and will not allow that.”

A law passed by Iran’s parliament now requires all nuclear cooperation to be approved by the Supreme National Security Council, effectively limiting UN oversight.

No timetable for diplomacy

“There is no confirmed time or place for any negotiations with the US,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a radio interview on Thursday, dismissing reports of scheduled talks as “fake” and designed to stoke tension.

Baghaei acknowledged that messages continue to be exchanged through indirect channels, including the Swiss and Pakistani embassies in Tehran and Washington, which represent US and Iranian interests, respectively.

Trump said last month that Iran wants to talk but added, “The United States is in no rush.”

With the appointment, Larijani replaces Ali Akbar Ahmadian both as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and as one of Khamenei’s two designated representatives to the body. Saeed Jalili, who served as SNSC secretary from 2007 to 2013, is the other representative currently serving in that capacity.

“Given Dr. Ahmadian’s assignment to important executive responsibilities, I appoint Dr. Ali Larijani as my representative in the Supreme National Security Council, in accordance with Article 176 of the Constitution,” Khamenei wrote in a formal decree.

Khamenei appoints Shamkhani and Ahmadian to Defense Council

In a separate decree, Khamenei named both Ahmadian and former SNSC secretary Ali Shamkhani as his personal representatives to the Supreme Defense Council, a newly revived body expected to oversee national defense policy and coordinate military planning.

The council is part of a broader institutional overhaul announced after a 12-day war with Israel in June, during which Iranian military and nuclear facilities were hit by Israeli and US strikes.

The Defense Council will include the heads of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, top military commanders, and key cabinet ministers. It will be chaired by President Pezeshkian, according to Iranian media.

Larijani returns to powerful role

Larijani, 67, is one of the most experienced figures in Iran’s political system. He previously served as SNSC secretary from 2005 to 2007, and has held positions including speaker of parliament, Minister of Culture, head of state broadcasting (IRIB), and advisor to the Supreme Leader.

Though considered a conservative close to the Supreme Leader, Larijani has occasionally clashed with hardliners. He registered for presidential elections on three occasions but was twice disqualified by Iran’s Guardian Council. His political tone on diplomacy and domestic issues has softened in recent years.

“Some security agencies, through official letters, have prohibited government institutions from cooperating with the country’s major startups. This trend has continued with the sealing of central offices of certain companies, revocation of licenses, arrest of investors and executives, forced exit of shareholders and investors, and prevention of platforms from entering the stock market,” the letter said.

In the letter signed by the founders of Iran's largest e-commerce platform Digikala, travel agency Alibaba, streaming service Filimo, Android App Store Cafe Bazaar, and classifieds platform Divar, the group accused security bodies of executing a systematic effort to subdue and dominate the startup ecosystem and warned of the sector's imminent collapse.

They wrote that increasing political pressure has extinguished motivation among young professionals and forced a shift toward mass organizational migration.

“Now, today, we witness an unprecedented move: the same forces have issued an order to halt the operations and remove the founder of one of the major local platforms. The result of this process is the shutdown of one of the most exceptional innovation ecosystems in Iran’s history…. We are losing our human capital, financial investments, and the motivation of the new generation.”

The letter was referring to the removal of Divar’s founder, which the authors called an “extraordinary sign of security institutions asserting full control over the private sector.” They said the process had moved from interference to outright takeover.

IRGC officials informed regulators that the company’s IPO could proceed only if founder and CEO Hessam Mir Armandehi was removed—an instruction Armandehi later published in full.

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Corp (IRGC) intelligence wing intervened this spring to block Divar’s stock market listing.

The move came after the company’s refusal to hand over user data or sell shares to firms tied to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s economic network, according to the report.

“This leads to lower investment, of course, and it leads to capital flight not only from investors in Divar but also in many other digital companies,” Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told The Washington Post.

“If they continue these kinds of policies, they are helping the collapse of the Islamic Republic.”

In their letter, the tech founders warned that countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are actively recruiting Iran’s skilled workers and positioning themselves as regional centers of innovation. Iran, they wrote, is forfeiting its greatest asset: its people.

They urged Pezeshkian to end the securitization of the sector and restore trust before the remaining foundations of Iran’s innovation economy fall away.

According to the report published Thursday, the list includes names, passport numbers, birth dates and other identifying information for people who would not ordinarily qualify for Venezuelan citizenship. The document covers passports issued between 2010 and 2019 and was compiled by a former Venezuelan official whose identity was not disclosed.

The Daily Mail said the source worked in Venezuela’s internal investigations branch and that his position was confirmed by former US ambassador to Venezuela James Story. The official gave the list to US authorities earlier this year. The Department of Homeland Security did not confirm whether it had received the document and declined to say if it was tracking individuals listed.

Report points to Iran-Venezuela links

The Daily Mail report suggests the alleged scheme may have operated with help from Venezuelan government officials during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. It also highlights long-standing ties between Tehran and Caracas, including political and security cooperation.

Former US officials cited in the report expressed concern that Iranian-linked individuals may have used the documents to enter South America legally, and later crossed into the United States illegally. The report ties the passport operation to past US findings that Venezuelan travel documents were vulnerable to misuse.

Former officials cite terrorism risk

Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI agent and counterterrorism analyst, told the Daily Mail that the risk of attacks inside the United States is high following the US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June. “They get people here, get them in place, and get them supplied and ready to go,” he said.

Thor Halvorssen, a former Venezuelan ambassador for anti-narcotic affairs, said some of the passport recipients may already be inside the United States and integrated into daily life. He said that some might hold jobs in sensitive sectors, but that their identities are difficult to verify. “They are everywhere,” he said.

The document reportedly includes more than 10,000 names, with about two-thirds listed as male.

Diplomatic missions under scrutiny

Halvorssen and others said many of the passports were signed or approved by Ghazi Nasr Al-Din, a former Venezuelan diplomat who served in Syria and was later placed on the FBI’s terror watchlist. In a 2015 notice, the FBI accused him of supporting Hezbollah travel and fundraising efforts.

The Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus denied wrongdoing in a statement to the Daily Mail. “These accusations are false,” the statement said. “Venezuela is a country and a territory of peace and love.”

A 2006 US State Department report warned that Venezuelan travel and identification documents were easy to obtain by individuals not entitled to them, during Hugo Chávez’s presidency.

US Customs and Border Protection reported that more than 380,000 Venezuelan nationals crossed the US-Mexico border between January 2021 and October 2023. In the same period, authorities recorded 382 encounters with individuals on the FBI terror watchlist and 1,504 Iranian nationals, according to the report.