Iran says refugees can return home if they have not committed 'crimes'

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were arrested in January while traveling through Iran on an around-the-world motorcycle tour.

Iranian authorities accused them of espionage — charges their relatives have forefully denied.

The pair have been held for nine months, with Mrs. Foreman only recently moved from the infamous Qarchak women’s prison to Evin prison in Tehran, where her husband is also detained.

Qarchak, a converted cattle farm about south of Tehran, is one of the country's harshest prisons, and rights groups have said it is overcrowded and rife with disease.

Mrs. Foreman, the family told the Telegraph, was transferred to Evin after three women in Qarchak died in just ten days from lack of medical care.

Evin prison has held foreign nationals, journalists and political dissidents for decades.

Joe Bennett, Mrs. Foreman’s 31-year-old son from Kent, said the family was watching recent political developments closely — particularly President Trump’s remarks about Iran during his address to Israel’s parliament on Monday.

In his speech to the Knesset, President Trump appeared to extend an olive branch to Tehran, declaring: “We are ready when you (Iran) are, and it will be the best decision that Iran has ever made, and it’s going to happen. The hand of friendship and cooperation is open.”

Bennett said his family took hope from the statement, suggesting Trump’s renewed push for Middle East diplomacy could offer a path toward freeing the couple.

“What’s happened with the Hamas peace treaty and everything over there, Donald Trump is saying he wants to start the same course of action potentially with Iran, there might be scope for some sort of negotiation in that sense.”

Asked whether the family would reach out directly to Trump or his team, Bennett said: “I think as a family we would be open to exploring that to get the safe and urgent return of my mum and Craig home, we would be naive not to explore all opportunities, or at least listen to what’s possible. It may not be that it’s the US or Donald Trump that does it, it may be a third-party embassy.”

The family is scheduled to meet UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Thursday. Bennett said they are cautiously optimistic about his mother’s transfer to Evin, calling it “welcome news” given the slightly better conditions there and the possibility of more phone contact.

The only direct communication he has had with his mother in nine months was an eight-minute call in July. “She was placed on an intravenous drip while held in Qarchak but has learnt that she no longer needs one,” he said.

The case underscores the ongoing strain between Iran and Western governments over the detention of dual nationals and foreign travelers — a pattern human rights groups have decried as “hostage diplomacy.”

For the Foreman family, the hope now lies in a potential shift in US-Iran relations

“To be honest, we were surprised. But if our Iranian partners accepted this formulation - which, frankly, was a legal trap - we had no grounds to object,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

Last month, UN sanctions were reimposed on Iran after France, Germany, and the United Kingdom triggered the so-called snapback mechanism, accusing Tehran of spurning diplomacy and nuclear inspections.

The snapback mechanism was part of the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It allows any participant, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran in the event of alleged violations, without the possibility of a veto.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and calls the new sanctions aggressive and illegal.

Hardliners in Iran have long criticized Zarif for accepting the JCPOA’s snapback mechanism, viewing it as a concession that ultimately enabled the reimposition of sanctions.

“That provision was, in fact, agreed upon during the final stage of the direct negotiations" between Iran's then top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry, Lavrov added.

“The other participants were essentially observers at that point, watching the US and Iran reach an agreement."

“What happened instead is that Iran did not breach the deal, yet the United States withdrew from it, and the Europeans failed to meet their commitments,” Lavrov said.

Fate of the deal

The United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 during first President Donald Trump’s administration. In response, Iran gradually reduced its compliance with the JCPOA and in 2019 began enriching uranium at higher levels.

Zarif expressed frustration with Russia’s role in a leaked 2022 interview, saying, “When the JCPOA was signed, Russia made every possible effort in the final week to prevent the agreement from being concluded.”

Israel launched a surprise military offensive in June, striking Iran’s military and nuclear facilities and targeting top officials. Iran retaliated with waves of drone and ballistic missile attacks.

The United States entered the conflict on June 22 with strikes on key nuclear sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, and later brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after 12 days of fighting on June 24.

Following the attacks, Iran halted cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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  Russia will meet Iran's military needs despite UN sanctions, Lavrov says

“We believe the decision by prison officials to deny him and his wife visitation on the pretext of hijab is a form of white torture against this prisoner and his family,” the inmates said in a joint letter signed by 12 detainees.

Khandan, who is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for opposing Iran’s compulsory hijab law, began a sit-in on September 30 to protest the visitation ban.

The inmates said prison officials continue to enforce hijab rules for visitors even as the government and other institutions have retreated from strict enforcement in public spaces.

They called the ban a violation of human rights and urged authorities to allow visits or grant Khandan temporary leave.

Last week, rights groups Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, PEN America, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights filed a petition and urgent action request with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, calling Khandan’s detention unlawful and “life-threatening.”

The groups said Khandan, 60, has been arbitrarily detained since December 2024 in reprisal for his peaceful activism against Iran’s hijab laws and warned of dire prison conditions following Israeli airstrikes that damaged Evin Prison in June.

“Reza Khandan is being punished simply for his peaceful advocacy and his unwavering commitment to women’s rights in Iran,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

While Iranians continue to defy hijab rules, the Islamic Republic's judiciary said on Tuesday that the country’s hijab laws “remain in force” and that penalties will continue to be applied under the Islamic Penal Code.

“Diplomatically, we must reject the dichotomy of war or surrender,” Rouhani said in remarks published on Tuesday.

“We should pursue win-win negotiations, accepting 70–80% gains instead of zero-sum failures that previously resulted in UN resolutions," the former president said.

A key architect of the now mostly lapsed 2015 international nuclear deal, Rouhani is out of favor with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and has stepped up calls for reform.

He made the remarks in a meeting on Sunday with his former cabinet members, on the eve of the Middle East Peace Summit in Egypt where US President Donald Trump invited Tehran to join in a new regional order.

The US state department told Iran International on Sunday Washington remains ready for “serious and direct dialogue” with Tehran, hours after Iranian leaders declined invitations to attend the Trump-led summit.

“We are ready to talk directly,” a state department spokesperson said. “Should the Iranians want to negotiate, the ball is in their court."

'Iran attacked when deterrence was gone'

Rouhani called for the Islamic Republic to boost its military and intelligence power while engaging in negotiations in order to avert a war.

“If we strengthen our military, intelligence, political, and diplomatic power—and above all, our national power—there will be no war,” Rouhani said.

"If deterrence exists, there will be no war. War will only happen when deterrence is called into question; otherwise, Israel has always wanted to fight us—it’s not as if it just decided to do so now."

Israel launched a surprise military offensive in June, striking Iran’s military and nuclear facilities as well as targeting top officials. Iran retaliated with salvos of drones and ballistic missiles.

The United States entered the conflict on June 22 with attacks on key nuclear sites in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, and later brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after 12 days of fighting on June 24.

Iranian authorities intensified crackdowns following the conflict, claiming to have disrupted espionage networks and detained alleged spies.

“If you arrest ten top Mossad agents in the country, and the enemy realizes their key operatives are captured, their plans will be disrupted, forcing a redesign that could take months,” Rouhani said.

“More than three and a half months have passed since the 12-day war. We had - and we still have - an opportunity to act to achieve results that delay or even prevent another war."

Since late September when UN sanctions were reimposed on Iran, many observers and Iranian officials have warned of a potential new military conflict with Israel or its allies.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Israel currently has no interest in going to war with Iran.

“We continue our trusted contacts with Israel and are receiving signals from the Israeli leadership asking us to convey to our Iranian friends that Israel is focused on achieving further stability and is not interested in any form of confrontation,” Putin said, according to the Tass news agency.

Erfan Qaneifard, a critic of Tehran's clerical establishment, has been in a US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) detention center in Texas for over six months.

His strident rebukes of the Islamic Republic in books and editorials for Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper may lead to a death sentence if US law enforcement carries through on plans to deport him, sponsors of a petition seeking his freedom told Iran International.

For them, Qaneifard’s case is a test of America’s moral commitment to protect those who speak out against tyranny.

Negar Karamati said Qaneifard told her in a phone call this week he is hopeful but exhausted.

“It’s not a pleasant place to be, especially when you haven’t done anything wrong,” she told Iran International. “He’s been there for over 200 days now — it’s an immigration issue, nothing more.”

Qaneifard has been held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, since March 28, when he was detained after reporting to an ICE office in Dallas to update his address, according to his attorney, Masoud Peyma.

The center, which houses more than 700 detainees, has faced complaints of overcrowding and harsh conditions according to US media.

Peyma said Qaneifard, who was preparing to start a teaching position at a Dallas college, was instead detained and transferred to a facility for undocumented migrants.

"The risk is real. If he is sent back, his life will be in danger,” Peyma told Iran International. “There is no reason for him to remain in detention after six months.”

Karamati described Qaneifard as a demanding but deeply caring mentor who inspired her and other young Iranians to engage critically with politics and the media.

“He teaches in a way that you could sit for hours and learn,” she said. “Even in conversation, it feels like a lecture — he’s that informative and passionate.”

She said Qaneifard’s detention has devastated his friends and family. "Every voice counts in stopping this serious injustice,” she added.

Petition gains momentum

From California, grassroots activist Mojgan Mehdizadeh launched an online petition titled Free Erfan Qaneifard — Stop His Deportation to Danger that has gathered nearly 3,000 signatures, including Keramati's.

“I’ve followed his books and interviews for years,” Mehdizadeh said. “He’s an expert on Iran’s modern history and a critic of the regime. Sending him back would be a death sentence.”

The petition calls on the US President, Department of Homeland Security and State Department to release Qaneifard and halt any removal order.

It cites US and UN reports documenting torture, arbitrary detention and executions of political dissidents in Iran, urging Washington to uphold its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and the principle of non-refoulement.

'A test of America’s promise'

Qaneifard’s attorney, Masoud Peyma, told Iran International that ICE has contacted Iran’s Interests Section in Washington seeking travel documents, but Tehran has not responded.

He has filed motions in federal and immigration courts to secure his client’s release and reopen his asylum claim with new evidence of his political work.

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

Qaneifard’s earlier asylum request, filed in 2013, was rejected in 2018 for lack of evidence.

He reentered the United States in 2017 through the Mexico border, applied for asylum, and was previously detained at ICE facility in El Paso until 2020, during which time the US attempted to deport him through Azerbaijan, but he refused to board a Tehran-bound flight.

The case comes as the United States faces scrutiny for a series of deportations to Iran. A US-chartered flight recently carried dozens of Iranians to Tehran after stopping in Puerto Rico and Qatar, following months of talks between Washington and Tehran.

Immigration attorney Ali Herischi told Iran International that flight included political dissidents and Christian converts, some of whom were shackled and separated from their families before being handed over to Iranian authorities.

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

For Qaneifard’s supporters, that makes his situation even more urgent. “This man hasn’t done anything criminal,” one wrote in the petition. “If he is sent back to Iran, they will kill or torture him for speaking the truth.”

Between 2017 and 2024, Qaneifard wrote extensively about Iran’s security apparatus and regional militias, contributing commentary to Persian- and English-language outlets.

In one of his columns with the Jerusalem Post he wrote: “No one believes anymore that a bloodthirsty madman like Khamenei represents Allah or The Lord … The deceit of malicious and vile mullahs no longer finds buyers in Iranian society.”

For his friends, those words emblematize both his courage and the danger he faces. “America’s promise is to protect people who speak out against tyranny," Mehdizadeh's told Iran International. “Erfan’s case is a test of that promise.”