Iran condemns US airstrikes in Caribbean, warns of consequences

“I’m not able to confirm that the Secretary-General would ever have said that,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York. He said Aref appeared to be referring to an August meeting in Turkmenistan and pointed to the UN readout from August 5 as the accurate record.

Aref told Iranian state media that Guterres had said “the file of overthrowing the establishment was closed after the 12-day war.” He did not say when or where the conversation took place.

Guterres has made no such remark publicly. During the June conflict, he said on X that he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States against Iran, calling it a dangerous escalation and a threat to international peace.

The 12-day war began with Israeli strikes that killed Iranian nuclear scientists and ended with US bombings of three key nuclear sites.

Aref spoke days after US President Donald Trump warned Washington would strike Iran again if it restarted its nuclear program. Speaking at a Navy anniversary event in Virginia, Trump called the June 22 airstrikes “perfectly executed” and said Tehran had been weeks from building a nuclear weapon.

Iran says it does not seek confrontation but will respond if attacked. Aref said the conflict showed US forces “could not achieve their objectives.”

The remarks came as Britain, France and Germany moved to reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Commerce Department included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc. on its so-called entity list for allegedly facilitating purchases of American technology by Iran-linked groups. It is unusual for units of a US-listed company to appear on the blacklist.

Arrow spokesperson John Hourigan said the subsidiaries in China and Hong Kong “have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations” and the company was discussing the matter with the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

In all, BIS added 26 entities and three addresses to the list of firms that US vendors cannot sell to without government approval. US suppliers should presume requests will be denied on national security grounds, the agency said.

Some of the new listings stemmed from wreckage of drones recovered by Persian Gulf states and Israel, which investigators found contained US-origin components routed through the sanctioned firms. BIS said parts recovered from Hamas drones used in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel also traced back to some of the companies.

Part of wider campaign

The action is the latest in a series of measures aimed at constraining Iran’s weapons programs and its use of front companies abroad. Earlier this month, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 people and entities from Iran and China accused of advancing Tehran’s procurement of surface-to-air missiles and US-made helicopter parts. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would “deny the regime weapons it would use to further its malign objectives.”

Those sanctions were also tied to the reimposition of United Nations measures on Iran under the “snapback” mechanism triggered by Britain, France and Germany in late September. The restored restrictions cover Iran’s nuclear, missile and arms programs, along with embargoes, travel bans and asset freezes.

Targeting financial networks

The US has also sought to cut off the flow of money to Iran’s armed forces and aligned groups. In September, the Treasury sanctioned four Iranian nationals and more than a dozen companies in the UAE and Hong Kong accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars through oil sales and cryptocurrency transactions. Officials said the networks helped finance ballistic missile and drone programs, as well as groups such as Hezbollah.

The same week, the State Department revoked a sanctions waiver for Iran’s Chabahar Port that had been in place since 2018 to support reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, warning that firms operating there could face penalties.

“The Secretary-General said the file of overthrowing the establishment was closed after the 12-day war,” Aref said, according to state media. He did not say when or where the meeting with António Guterres took place.

Aref’s comments appeared to refer to a meeting he held with Guterres in Turkmenistan in August.

When asked about Aref’s account on Thursday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said he could not confirm that the Secretary-General had ever made such remarks. “I’m not able to confirm that the Secretary-General would ever have said that,” Dujarric told reporters. He referred journalists to the official readout issued on 5 August as an accurate description of what was said during the meeting.

During the 12-day war in June, Guterres wrote on X that he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States against Iran, calling it a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to international peace and security. The conflict began with Israeli strikes that killed Iranian nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians, and ended with US bombings of three key nuclear sites.

Aref’s remarks came days after US President Donald Trump warned Washington would bomb Iran again if it restarted its nuclear program. Speaking on Sunday at a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of the US Navy in Virginia, Trump praised the June 22 airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites as “perfectly executed” and said Tehran had been within a month of producing a nuclear weapon.

“You want to do that, it’s fine, but we’re going to take care of that and we’re not going to wait so long,” Trump said. The operation, codenamed Midnight Hammer, hit facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan after an Israeli air campaign that began on June 13.

Iran says it does not seek confrontation but will respond if attacked. Aref said the 12-day conflict showed US forces could not achieve their objectives. “If they attack, they will be forced to beg for a ceasefire,” he said.

The comments follow the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran under the snapback mechanism after Britain, France and Germany moved to reimpose measures lifted by the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump, whose administration is pressing Tehran to halt uranium enrichment and curb its missile program, warned Washington would strike again if Iran resumes nuclear activity. “You want to do that, it’s fine, but we’re going to take care of that and we’re not going to wait so long,” he said on Sunday.

“If we can design a dignified deal that protects Iran’s interests and satisfies Trump’s sense of self-importance, that could mark the end of the hostilities—and such a thing is possible,” Zarif told foreign-policy experts and reporters at a Tehran seminar on Wednesday.

The former foreign minister, who negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement, suggested both Tehran and Washington sought to avoid a full-scale conflict in the June war with Israel, and defused it through back-channel communication.

“In the end, one side called at four in the morning and said, ‘We’re not going to strike,’ and the other replied, ‘We won’t strike either,’” Zarif recalled. “Wars end through dialogue, but it’s better if that dialogue happens when we still have leverage.”

His comments appear to counter hardliners’ calls to abandon diplomacy following US attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and the Europeans’ snapback of UN sanctions last month.

Israel, not the US, wants Iran 'collapse'

Zarif argued that while Israel and the United States share interests, their strategic goals differ.

“America’s policy is not to bring about Iran’s collapse, but Israel —even during the Pahlavi era—believed that Iran was too big and must be broken apart,” he said.

The veteran diplomat said the continuation of the conflict could have led to Iran's collapse, in rare wording for a prominent former official.

“Continuing would either expand the war or lead to Iran’s collapse,” he said. “Both outcomes would have trapped America further in the region, which contradicts its policy.”

'People more important than missiles'

Zarif is President Masoud Pezeshkian’s closest aide and the moderates’ most prominent voice on foreign policy. Still, he holds no official position after he resigned as vice-president in March and is loathed by Iran's ascendant hardliners.

Yet he, like many others, avoided mentioning the role of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who on the eve of Pezeshkian’s trip to New York ruled out any talks with the Trump administration.

He only alluded to Khamenei’s control when saying he was not authorized to negotiate beyond the nuclear issue during his tenure.

“Trying to solve the nuclear problem purely through the nuclear file is no longer possible. Back then it was, and that opportunity was wasted,” Zarif added, calling for “a broader framework” for other discussions, without elaborating.

Those “other discussions” may refer to Iran’s missile program—an issue Tehran has repeatedly said is off the table in any future talks.

“Missiles are important,” he said, “but people are more important. It’s the people who have kept Iran alive through the centuries.”

“Lawful permanent residence was always considered secure — almost unassailable,” Nia said. “To see people who have lived and worked here for years suddenly detained or deported with little to no process is alarming. ICE appears to be acting unlawfully in many of these cases, without proper judicial oversight."

US media reported this week that two Iranian green card holders were arrested in recent months by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cases apparently involving minor crimes.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has stepped up efforts to detain and deport some green card holders citing past crimes or political activity at odds with its values. Most of the cases are being contested in courts.

Under US immigration law, green-card holders can only be deported in limited circumstances, such as when they commit certain crimes, falsify immigration documents, or remain outside the country for extended periods.

Nia said what is happening now goes far exceeds those bounds.

“Deporting Iranians who fled repression — or sending them to third countries like Sudan, Rwanda or Somalia — violates both international law and America’s own treaty obligations,” she said.

“This normalization of lawlessness should concern every American.”

In Los Angeles, NBC News reported that Sharareh Moghaddam, a small-business owner who had already passed her citizenship exam, was detained after attending what she thought was a routine immigration appointment. Her husband, Hooshang Aghdassi, said she had entered the country legally and had no record of wrongdoing.

“She had green card and passed exam for citizenship and was waiting for the ceremony,” Aghdassi told NBC. “She is not a bank robber or thief or criminal.”

ICE rejected that account, telling NBC Los Angeles in a written statement that reports claiming Moghaddam had no criminal history were “completely FALSE.” The agency described her as “an Iranian native and citizen with a documented criminal history dating back to 2015,” citing two theft convictions between 2015 and 2019, and concluded that she was “subject to removal under US immigration law.”

Newseek reported last month Reza Zavvar, a 52-year-old green card holder in Maryland who has lived in the United States for four decades, was detained for seventy-seven days by ICE in a case related to a marijuana charge in the nineties.

Zavvar, who first came to the country as a child, described his treatment as “unnecessary, inhumane, corrupt.”

“Saying that you can stay here as long as you don’t get in trouble, that you stay clean and just stay here, work, pay taxes — and that’s what I was doing,” Zavvar told the news outlet.

Iranians sent back from US without consent, lawyer says

More recently, 120 Iranians — including political dissidents and Christian converts — were deported to Tehran.

This comes after The New York Times reported that the operation followed “months of negotiations” between Washington and Iranian officials, and that the deportees were flown aboard US-chartered aircraft that left from a military airport in Louisiana, stopped in Puerto Rico to collect more passengers, and continued to Doha before their transfer to Iran.

Immigration attorney Ali Herischi, of Herischi & Associates in Maryland, told Iran International that two of his clients were among those deported against their will. “Their belongings — including their files, evidence and cell phones — have been handed to Iranian authorities. That’s very dangerous,” Herischi said.

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  Deported in shackles: Iranians sent back from US without consent, lawyer says

He added that some detainees were given a stark choice: “ICE would say, ‘either you consent to deportation to Iran, or we send you to Somalia or Sudan.’ It was, ‘pick your poison.’ In the case of my clients, they didn’t even get that. They just said, ‘you’re done, let’s go.’”

Another Iranian national, Erfan Qaneifard, a political activist and writer, has been held for six months at the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas.

His lawyer, Masoud Peyma, told Iran International that ICE contacted Iran’s Interests Section in Washington seeking travel papers to deport him. “The risk is real. If he is sent back, his life will be in danger,” Peyma said. “There is no reason for him to remain in detention after six months.”

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  Iranian political activist held in Texas faces risk of deportation, lawyer says

For Nia, these cases expose a broader collapse of process and accountability within the immigration system.

“It’s the normalization of a lack of process — the idea that even a green card, or eventually citizenship, could become conditional on political speech,” she said. “That’s authoritarianism creeping into the system.”

Civil-rights groups echoed those concerns, warning that forced returns could endanger vulnerable Iranians.

“Asylum seekers now face the possibility of being returned to a country where they have a well-founded fear of persecution,” the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, Pars Equality Center, and the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans said in a joint statement.

“This runs against core American values as a nation based on hope, freedom, and liberty that has long welcomed people facing oppression who, in turn, have contributed mightily to America," the statement read.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Iran International requests for comment on these cases.