Khamenei adviser likens Trump to Hitler, warns of doomed path

In a letter to the White House dated September 4, the Republican members of the Congress urged the administration to restrict visas and limit the movement of Iranian delegates.

"We respectfully urge you to restrict the Iranian delegation’s freedom of movement, and, to the extent possible, refrain from issuing visas to key delegation members, including for its President, Masoud Pezeshkian," the Congresspeople said.

The letter highlighted a “brutal crackdown on ethnic minorities, women’s rights activists, and political dissidents,” noting that nearly 1,500 people had been executed in the past year alone.

"In solidarity with the Iranian people, who are calling for a multi-party, secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic of Iran, and in furtherance of US national security interests, we urge you to use the full force of the law to prevent the Iranian regime from exploiting the United Nations General Assembly meeting to present a deceptive image of moderation."

On Friday, the Associated Press reported the Trump administration is considering new restrictions on foreign delegations attending this month’s UN General Assembly, including measures that would further limit the movements of Iranian diplomats in New York.

One proposal would prevent Iranian officials from shopping at wholesale clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club without State Department permission, the report said, adding that such stores have long been favored by Iranian diplomats, who buy large quantities of goods unavailable in Iran and send them home.

Three years ago, footage of then-President Ebrahim Raisi’s delegation in New York drew wide attention on social media, showing aides loading piles of goods with US retail labels into a truck outside their hotel.

The congressional appeal comes as thousands of world leaders and diplomats prepare to converge on New York later this month for the annual high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly.

On August 31, the State Department said it would ensure that foreign visitors do not pose a threat to US national security when issuing visas, in response to a question from Iran International on whether the Iranian delegation would be allowed to attend the UN General Assembly.

While the United States is generally obligated under the UN Headquarters Agreement to issue visas to representatives of member states, the Trump administration "will not waver in upholding American law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process," a State Department spokesman said.

"Ensuring that foreign visitors to the United States do not pose a threat to US national security or public safety remains a paramount priority of the US government," the spokesperson added in response to Iran International's inquiry.

The Daily Express said men of Middle Eastern and Eastern European origin living in the UK have been approached to form informal networks of sleeper cells and lone-wolf actors.

“An arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has used the internet and social media to put in place an informal but complex mosaic of sleeper cells and lone-wolf operatives across the country, ready to act at the behest of the regime," the report added.

The Daily Express said their main roles involve spying, intimidation, and harassment, but claimed MI5 agents had uncovered at least one bomb plot that “could have been as devastating as the 7/7 London bombings," the suicide attacks in central London on 7 July 2005 that killed 56 people and injured 784 others.

On Thursday, the British government said it "has long recognized there is a persistent and growing physical threat to people posed by Iran to the UK."

"Direct action against UK targets has substantially increased over recent years," the government wrote, vowing to counter Iran's escalating attacks on the UK soil.

"We have taken significant steps to ensure the safety of UK citizens and ensure our
world-leading law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the tools they need to
disrupt and degrade the threats that we face from Iran," the government added.

The government report came in the form of point-by-point responses to a July 10 Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee on Iran which said Iran poses one of the gravest state-based threats to British national security, on par those from Russia and China.

The government confirmed parliament's findings that Iranian intelligence has developed close ties with criminal gangs "to expand the capability of its networks and obscure their involvement in malign activity."

The parliamentary report concluded Iran is increasingly willing to carry out assassinations, espionage and cyber attacks within the United Kingdom

Tehran's embassy in London at the time rejected the allegations as "baseless, politically motivated and hostile claims."

Grajewski told Iran International's Eye for Iran that only Washington can break the deadlock by re-engaging directly with Tehran and backing a short extension that ties International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections to credible security guarantees.

In June, Israel waged a 12-day air campaign against Iranian nuclear and military sites; the United States followed with bunker-buster attacks on fortified facilities at Natanz, Esfahan, and Fordow.

Tehran responded by restricting IAEA access. Soon after, Britain, France, and Germany — the E3 — formally invoked snapback under UN Security Council Resolution 2231. The mechanism automatically restores pre-2015 UN sanctions in 30 days unless the Council unanimously endorses continued relief.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Europe of “acquiescing” to Washington and Israel and warned any reinstated sanctions would be “null and void.” Iranian lawmakers have threatened to quit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)—the cornerstone pact that obliges Iran to cooperate with the IAEA — if UN sanctions return.

Grajewski warned that such a step could be a trigger for war.

“Iran could withdraw from the NPT. And this is where you might see another conflict between Iran and Israel, more Israeli strikes on Iran’s program,” she said. “They’ll use the excuse that now we can’t see Iran’s nuclear program. We no longer have inspectors.”

She also cautioned against overreliance on force. “It’s unclear what we could have achieved with diplomacy. And it’s also clear that military action alone can’t solve the Iranian nuclear issue,” she said. President Donald Trump, for his part, has defended the June strikes as necessary.

What can Washington do now?

Grajewski urged the United States to resume direct or indirect talks, press for restored IAEA access, and offer a narrow, conditional assurance: no new strikes on nuclear facilities during a brief extension, so long as Iran meets inspection and transparency benchmarks. That package, she argued, could unlock a six-month snapback extension and lower the odds of escalation.

Moscow has floated a counter-resolution at the UN and, as Grajewski noted, is adept at using UN procedures to delay investigations and enforcement.

Grajewski tied today’s impasse back to the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“Had the JCPOA remained in force, we probably wouldn’t have seen the 12-day war,” she said. But she added that Tehran overplayed its hand: “Iran has made so many terrible decisions… showing off their capabilities” exposed weaknesses and hardened adversaries’ resolve.

For now, the file sits on a knife-edge. “A crisis is not inevitable,” Grajewski concluded. “It’s possible and it’s somewhat likely — either a diplomatic crisis with NPT withdrawal or potentially something kinetic. But it’s not a foregone conclusion.”

Watch the full Eye for Iran episode on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, or Castbox.

The formal start of the UN “snapback” process to restore sanctions, the latest critical report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s high-visibility diplomacy at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit together mark a decisive moment for Tehran.

The most immediate challenge is the likely restoration of UN snapback sanctions before 28 September.

European governments argue the trigger is Iran’s sustained non-compliance with key limits in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) over the past six years. Tehran rejects that position, insisting the E3 forfeited standing by failing to deliver promised economic normalization after Washington’s 2018 withdrawal.

Whatever the legal briefs, reinstated measures would effectively return Iran to a Chapter VII-related sanctions framework, with all the familiar consequences: renewed constraints on arms transfers, reinforced financial isolation, and fresh layers of economic restrictions that have already strained household incomes and the broader investment climate.

Scrutiny intensifies

New IAEA findings have sharpened scrutiny of Iran’s program.

The agency signaled fresh shortfalls in cooperation, pointing to unexplained inventories of enriched uranium at levels exceeding JCPOA caps.

A confidential tally circulated to member states indicated Iran holds about 441 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20% or higher – enough, by the agency’s rule of thumb, to yield material for around ten nuclear devices if further refined.

Director General Rafael Grossi has said there is no sign of diversion, but emphasized the need for verification and timely documentation – something Iranian officials have yet to provide.

Rather than escalate immediately, the Secretariat has kept contacts open in hopes of restoring routine access. Two reports to the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors underline the urgency: inspections must resume “without delay,” and the buildup of highly enriched stocks remains a “serious concern.”

Eastward turn accelerates

It is against this tightening sanctions and verification backdrop that President Pezeshkian’s China tour looms large.

Over a week of meetings – most prominently with Xi Jinping in Beijing and Vladimir Putin in Tianjin – Tehran sought to translate a long-advertised “Look East” doctrine into concrete political and economic ballast.

Iranian officials pressed for more than sympathetic rhetoric: Moscow and Beijing are backing Iran’s claim that snapback is legally void but, crucially, Tehran hopes they avoid implementing any reimposed UN measures.

For China and Russia, the ask is non-trivial. Skirting U.S. and European unilateral sanctions is one thing; openly discounting UN obligations is another, with implications for their global positioning.

Still, Pezeshkian delivered a message calibrated for both audiences at once.

He reaffirmed Iran as a “reliable friend” to China, echoing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s priority on eastern partnerships. He also stressed Tehran’s readiness to operationalize the 25-year agreement with Beijing across energy, infrastructure, and technology.

The session with Putin amplified the signal: in Tehran’s view, China and Russia are no longer transactional partners of convenience, but strategic anchors to confront Western pressures.

Roadblocks remain

The SCO summit in Tianjin provided the showcase for this reorientation. Now a full member, Iran leaned into the organization’s language of sovereignty, non-interference, and resistance to unilateralism.

Yet the question of deliverables hangs over the pageantry.

Iran’s earlier eastward experiments, notably under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yielded less than the rhetoric promised. Banking bottlenecks, compliance risks for major companies, and the gravitational pull of Western markets on Chinese firms limited follow-through.

Whether today’s geopolitical alignment—and the higher stakes of great-power competition—change those cost-benefit calculations is the live test.

For Tehran, success will be measured not in communiqués but in sustained energy sales, credible financing channels, technology transfers, and visible progress on infrastructure that can withstand sanctions headwinds.

Future hangs in balance

Inside Iran, the “Look East” pivot has sparked an energetic debate.

Hardline outlets herald the emergence of an “Eastern front” that validates decades of resistance to Western dominance. But reformist and moderate voices warn that the country risks swapping one form of dependence for another.

Their critique is less civilizational and more structural: if Iran becomes overly reliant on Moscow and Beijing for markets, capital, and diplomatic cover, it could re-create the asymmetries of influence that the 1979 Revolution sought to overturn.

In this reading, the pivot is a pragmatic hedge, but also a bargain that may constrain policy autonomy over time.

The central uncertainty is whether the “Look East” approach can move beyond symbolism and episodic deals to furnish the durable economic and technological lifelines Iran needs.

If it can, Tehran may blunt the effect of renewed UN measures and stabilize growth on an alternative platform. If it cannot, the pivot risks devolving into a slogan that masks deepening isolation and narrowing options.

As September advances toward the snapback deadline, Tehran stands at a genuine crossroads.

Choices made now – on access for inspectors, on the pace and level of enrichment, on the specificity of commitments with China and Russia – will shape not only Iran’s nuclear trajectory and economic survival, but also the character of its grand strategy for the remainder of Khamenei’s tenure.

Reza Najafi said the negotiations continue consultations on defining cooperation “within the framework of parliament’s law under new conditions.” He added the talks will determine “a new form of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.”

Following Israeli and US military strikes on Iran in June, parliament passed a bill suspending cooperation with the IAEA and imposing new restrictions on inspections. Any arrangement for renewed access must now be approved by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and no agreement for inspections or resumption of the IAEA’s broader work has yet been reached.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in Doha. Araghchi said the European move to restore UN sanctions was “illegal and unjustifiable” and stressed that Tehran expects the EU “to play its role in fulfilling its responsibilities to neutralize moves against diplomacy.”

The two sides agreed to continue consultations in the coming days and weeks.

IAEA warns on uranium stockpile

The International Atomic Energy Agency said this week that Iran’s inventory of uranium enriched to 60% remains “a matter of serious concern” because inspectors lost visibility after the June war.

In a confidential report seen by reporters, the agency said Iran had 440.9 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium as of June 13, an increase of more than 30 kilograms since May. That material is only a short step from weapons-grade levels. The total stockpile stood at nearly 9,875 kilograms.

The report also confirmed that two inspectors mistakenly took documents from the Fordow site back to Vienna, which the agency called an “error” but not a security breach. Tehran subsequently barred them from returning.

Grossi urges quick progress

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters that another round of talks with Iran would take place in Vienna this week and said the issue “cannot drag on for months.”

“It would be ideal to reach an agreement before next week,” Grossi said, stressing the need to verify that Iran’s highly enriched uranium remains under control. “I believe there is a general understanding that the material is likely still there, but it must be verified.”

Grossi added: “We have reminded our Iranian counterparts that domestic laws create obligations for Iran, not the IAEA.”

Limited access after war

Since the June conflict, inspectors have only been allowed into the Bushehr nuclear power plant, where they observed a fuel replacement in late August. Bushehr operates with Russian assistance and was not struck during the war.

Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami confirmed that inspectors entered the country with authorization from the Supreme National Security Council. He accused the IAEA leadership of acting under Western pressure, saying, “Our enemies always find excuses to pressure the Iranian nation.”

Snapback sanctions in play

The European powers Britain, France and Germany triggered the UN “snapback” mechanism on August 28, seeking to restore sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. They demanded that Iran return to talks, grant inspectors wider access, and account for its uranium stockpile.

The snapback mechanism, created under Resolution 2231, automatically restores sanctions after 30 days unless the UN Security Council votes otherwise. The provision expires in October.

Tehran has rejected the step, with officials warning that Iran could even withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if pressure mounts further.