Zarif calls for a dignified US-Iran deal which flatters Trump

At the heart of the spat were comments by CNN commentator Van Jones on the Real Time with Bill Maher show in which he said public outrage over images of dead children in Gaza had been fueled by Iranian and Qatari disinformation campaigns.

Criticized online, he swiftly apologized for his “flat-out insensitive” remarks.

His detractors accused him of echoing Israeli narratives that deflect from the civilian toll of Israel’s war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of children have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities and UN estimates.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi then weighed in on X, citing Jones's apology and asserting that Israel, unlike Iran, pays people to spread lies online.

His comments reignited scrutiny of a government long accused of censorship, manipulation, and repression.

Araghchi’s response — portraying Iran as a truth-teller — drew swift criticism from dissidents. Iran routinely shuts down the internet during protests, censors independent media, and runs cyber units that promote state messaging and harass dissidents.

“Iran’s first target is its own citizens,” said Siamak Aram, president of the National Solidarity Group for Iran (NSGIran), in an interview with Iran International. “It doesn’t stop at propaganda or misinformation; it doesn’t just pay its cyber army — it coerces, threatens, and even kills those who refuse to echo its narrative.”

One of the most high-profile examples of this repression is rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was imprisoned and reportedly tortured after using his music and social media to denounce government violence and support the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.

A report by the Israel Internet Association (IIA) last week found that the majority of disinformation circulated across global digital platforms during the Israel-Iran war in June served Iran's narrative. It was not clear how much was directed by Tehran.

Political activist Iman Vaez told Iran International: “It’s always ironic when those who scream the loudest about ‘paid lies’ are the same ones running massive online propaganda networks pretending it’s all just patriotism, not payroll.”

Laurence Norman, Brussels correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, pilloried Araghchi's on X.

Sharing a New York Post report based on an Israeli government–commissioned study that alleged Iranian bots posted more than 240,000 times to block US strikes on nuclear sites, he wrote: “No never,” before adding, “How about allowing Iranians free access to social media, whilst we’re on it” — a pointed jab at Iran’s tight control over domestic access to information online.

While Tehran denies such operations, Western governments have repeatedly accused it of malign cyber activity.

In September, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism condemned Iran’s transnational repression and cyberattacks targeting journalists and diaspora activists.

Israel's role in digital manipulation is also well documented. In 2024, Global Affairs Canada said it had corroborated “elements” of an Israeli-linked misinformation campaign targeting Canadian politicians and citizens over Gaza.

The department confirmed it raised concerns directly with the Israeli government after its Rapid Response Mechanism detected a coordinated network of inauthentic accounts spreading divisive and Islamophobic content.

Reporting by Haaretz and The New York Times went further, revealing that Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs had funded a $2 million social-media operation to influence North American lawmakers and shape public opinion in favor of its war in Gaza.

Analyst Marcus Kolga, founder and director of DisinfoWatch and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told Iran International that covert influence networks have become a central weapon for authoritarian governments.

“Iran has a long and well-established record of conducting influence operations in Western countries,” he said. “Like Russia and China, Tehran exploits sympathetic or opportunistic foreign influencers to legitimize its narratives and shape public opinion," said Kolga.

Kolga emphasized that legitimate public diplomacy differs sharply from covert propaganda. “Registered influence campaigns are lawful when they comply with disclosure rules,” he said. “Covert operations using fake personas and hidden funding should be regarded as malign — regardless of who is behind them.”

From Tehran to Tel Aviv to Doha, governments are waging an information war that extends far beyond the battlefield.

Netanyahu said in an interview with right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro on Monday that Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of about 8,000 kilometers, warning that Tehran’s expanding weapons program could threaten major American cities.

The Iranian missiles could “put New York City, Boston, Washington or Miami under their atomic guns," the Israeli prime minister said.

“Israel ... finally managed to deceive the US into attacking the Iranian People," Araghchi said in response on X, referring to Israeli and US attacks on Iran in June. "With the failure of that action, Israel is now trying to make an imaginary threat out of our defense capabilities.”

"By now, Americans have had enough of fighting Israel's Forever Wars," he added.

Referring to ultimately incorrect US intelligence assessments about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Araghchi said the consequences were disastrous.

“There was never any ‘intelligence’ that Iraq was hiding WMDs. There was only unfathomable destruction, thousands of dead American soldiers, and seven trillion American taxpayer dollars down the drain,” Araghchi wrote on X.

Araghchi said that after several rounds of indirect talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, a deal with Iran was within reach in late May, as long as Tehran's demand that it be allowed to enrich uranium was heeded.

The Trump administration had set a 60-day deadline for reaching a new agreement with Iran. On day 61, June 13, Israel launched a surprise military campaign targeting Iran’s senior military and nuclear officials and facilities. The attacks also killed hundreds of civilians.

The United States joined the campaign on June 22 with strikes on nuclear sites in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

US President Donald Trump said Iran's nuclear program had been "obliterated", a view Araghchi contested.

“Buildings and machines can be destroyed, but our determination will never be shaken. Doubling down on that miscalculation does not resolve anything,” he said.

Araghchi urged Washington to return to diplomacy, saying, “Iran is a great country and Iranians are a great nation — the heirs of a great and ancient civilization ... There is NO solution but a negotiated outcome.”

Progress on resolving the lingering impasse has stalled after the June combat.

Iranian officials have said US peace demands, including that Tehran end enrichment and curb its missile program, are non-starters.

His initiative appeared to be a thinly-veiled rebuke to the relatively moderate president as Iran's ruling classes resort to traditional infighting as diplomatic isolation and sanctions mount.

“The livelihoods of various social groups are under duress. Once again I stress the urgent need for officials to implement the electronic coupon scheme,” Ghalibaf told lawmakers on Sunday.

“This is not the first time I have raised this point from this podium,” he added, in an implicit jab at President Masoud Pezeshkian — who defeated him in the 2024 election.

Ghalibaf’s call highlighted the depth of hardship and the absence of a coherent strategy from the cabinet, but also the continued factional attempts to score points.

The president has indeed acknowledged the severity of the crisis, but his responses remain vague and reactive, prompting critics to see him as resigned rather than decisive.

Blame game

Recent measures such as removing four zeros from banknotes are widely dismissed as superficial attempts to patch a sinking economy.

Several economists have warned in recent weeks that while such steps may cosmetically reduce exchange rate figures, they do little to address underlying problems of inflation, unemployment or a growing budget deficit.

But Iran’s crisis is not only economic. Its roots are political as well, shaped by fundamental foreign-policy choices that fall far outside Pezeshkian’s remit.

Both Ghalibaf and the Supreme Leader he invokes know this, yet they continue the blame game rather than confront the structural causes.

Khamenei’s intervention at last month’s cabinet meeting served mainly to bolster his image as a defender of the poor.

Television bulletins and newspaper front pages were saturated with his concern over rising prices, portraying him as attentive to ordinary people’s plight even as implementation of solutions lags.

For the Supreme Leader, the messaging is as much about maintaining legitimacy as it is about practical policy.

Priorities lost

The Pezeshkian administration does not help itself, offering almost daily reminders it is out of touch.

Last week, Beheshti University of Medical Sciences announced it was renaming its “Office of Vice Chancellor for Student and Cultural Affairs” to “Office of Vice Chancellor for Cultural and Student Affairs,” a cosmetic change that amused and angered many Iranians on social media.

In Manjil, northern Iran, local officials staged a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new staircase at the regional power authority headquarters, just ten meters from an existing one.

A photo of the local Friday Imam inaugurating the stairs ran in conservative outlet Ghatreh News, sparking public frustration and ridicule, with many questioning priorities and the government’s will to address real problems.

The expletive-laden jibes on social media point to a deeper truth that neither Ghalibaf nor Pezeshkian are willing to admit: inefficiency in Iran’s theocratic system is not incidental, but systemic.

“The measures contain restrictions in the financial sector, but provide exceptions, thresholds or authorizations to enable certain transactions, for example money transfers with Iranian persons in limited amounts as well as certain private transactions,” the ministry said in a written response to a query on Tuesday.

It added that EU sanctions regulations are directly applicable in Germany and that Berlin has not introduced additional national restrictions. “Possible further measures taken by banks or other private actors on their own responsibility are not necessarily based on sanctions law,” the ministry said.

The EU sanctions were restored last month after Britain, France and Germany triggered the United Nations “snapback” mechanism over what they called Iran’s repeated breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal. Six previous Security Council resolutions on Iran’s nuclear and missile activities were reinstated, along with autonomous EU measures.

Last week, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the return of sanctions was unavoidable because of Tehran’s actions, adding that “Iran must never come into possession of a nuclear weapon.”

Iran has rejected the sanctions as illegal and said it will not recognize any attempt to revive measures that expired under Resolution 2231.

“According to the foreign minister, such conditions have not been formally presented to Iran, and until that happens they cannot be seriously reviewed,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters in Tehran.

The Washington Post reported last week that the Trump administration wants Tehran to agree to direct and meaningful talks, end uranium enrichment, impose curbs on its missile program, and stop funding regional armed groups as the basis for any renewed diplomacy.

US officials cited in the report said the reimposition of United Nations snapback sanctions last month was meant to create the environment for a diplomatic solution.

The measures, triggered by Britain, France and Germany, restored pre-2015 sanctions covering arms transfers, financial restrictions, and missile-related activities.

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  US puts stiff peace conditions on Iran - Washington Post

Iran has dismissed the new sanctions as “illegal and politically motivated,” saying they violate its right to peaceful nuclear development.

The sanctions followed a June conflict in which Israeli and US strikes targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites, killing hundreds of personnel and civilians. The 12-day war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24.

Tehran has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons, insisting its program is civilian in nature.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly last month that Iran remains open to dialogue but that “the wall of distrust with Washington is quite thick and quite tall.”

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  Calls for Larijani to lead nuclear talks may signal push for rethink

Earlier, Iran’s Security Chief Ali Larijani said US efforts to dictate Tehran’s military and foreign policy predetermine any negotiation outcome, calling them incompatible with Iran’s sovereignty.

The two countries held indirect talks earlier this year aimed at reducing tensions over Iran’s nuclear activities, but progress stalled after the June escalation.

Analysts say the US conditions -- particularly ending enrichment and curbing missile development -- mirror past sticking points that have derailed previous rounds of diplomacy.