Iran releases seized Marshall Islands-flagged tanker with crew safe

Tajzadeh said the constituent assembly is the only way to avert state collapse or violent chaos once Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is no longer in power.

“As of now there are the likely scenarios: Continuing the status quo (which will lead to gradual “state failure from above”), violent overthrow (likely producing anarchy, foreign intervention and possible territorial break-up), or fundamental structural reform while Khamenei remains alive,” Tajzadeh said in the letter published on his Telegram channel.

Tajzadeh said mass civil disobedience has already defeated the compulsory hijab and internet filtering, and the same strategy can force the government’s hard core, including the Revolutionary Guards and senior clerics, to accept a national referendum and the formation of a constituent assembly.

“The ceiling and floor of constitutional amendments will be determined by representatives elected by the nation in a constituent assembly, who will then submit the new charter to a referendum,” Tajzadeh said.

‘Constitutional revolution'

“The minimum national demand will be the removal of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) from the constitution and the end of clerical rule – a failed experiment that has revived the bitter experience of Church domination in the Middle Ages in the modern era,” he added.

Tajzadeh said the path forward would be the model of Iran’s 1905–1911 Constitutional Revolution.

“The only peaceful transition passes through the Constitutional Revolution model: forcing the hard core (including the IRGC and clergy) to accept change while the Leader is still alive,” Tajzadeh said.

“Both preserving the status quo and violent overthrow would lead to the same destination - state collapse, prolonged chaos, foreign intervention, and possible fragmentation of Iran.”

'Chalice of poison'

In the letter titled 'Iran After 12 Days', Tajzadeh said Khamenei "has neither the courage to drink the chalice of poison, nor the bravery to resign."

The phrase "chalice of poison” is one of the most famous metaphors in the political lexicon of the Islamic Republic. It was used by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988, when he accepted UN Resolution 598 that mandated a ceasefire to end the eight-year Iran–Iraq War.

Tajzadeh said “Khamenei no longer has the power to impose the compulsory hijab on women, nor the capacity to tolerate their freedom to choose. He can neither continue the militarization of the state and the barracks-style governance of society, nor hand over the management of the country to civilians.”

“Khamenei’s refusal to go along with unfolding transformations will not discourage the people from pursuing them; but his confrontation with the nation’s demands will carry unpredictable and extremely dangerous consequences — to the point where it may leave no path to repair the damage caused by his obstinacy.”

The letter, which was released just 13 days after Tajzadeh was rearrested and returned to Evin Prison after a brief furlough, is his clearest roadmap yet for a post-Khamenei Iran.

Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister under President Khatami, has been in and out of prison since 2009 for criticizing the Supreme Leader and calling for structural reform.

According to an email sent by the Attorney-General’s Department to Iran International, Press TV received a provisional transparency notice on 21 October 2025, which was finalized on Tuesday after the network failed to provide evidence rebutting the designation within the 28-day period.

Under the scheme, Press TV must now register on the public FITS portal and submit periodic reports on its activities in Australia. Failure to comply can result in prison terms of one to five years, heavy fines, or further prosecution under national security laws.

Press TV is only the third organization to be compulsorily registered under FITS. The two previous entities were Chinese. The Confucius Institute at the University of Sydney and the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China.

The scheme, in force since 2018, aims to increase public awareness of activities conducted in Australia on behalf of foreign governments.

Australia previously sanctioned Press TV in September 2023 over its role in broadcasting forced confessions and aiding the suppression of dissidents, one year after the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in morality police custody in 2022.

Despite the sanctions, the network continued filing reports from Sydney via its correspondent Shahane Batt until at least February 2025.

The registration comes as Australia’s Foreign Minister warned on Monday that Iran, Russia and North Korea continue to engage in sabotage and destabilization, while China seeks to reshape the region in its own interests.

Australia's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS), launched in 2018 amid concerns over Chinese interference, is a more targeted and strictly enforced version of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938.

While both require public registration and disclosure for activities on behalf of foreign principals to promote transparency, FITS focuses narrowly on political and governmental influence with clearer exemptions and criminal penalties up to five years in prison.

“The operation represents a notable technical advancement for the group, which introduced two previously undocumented custom backdoors: TWOSTROKE, a lightweight Windows implant written in C++ that supports command execution, file operations, screenshot capture and various persistence methods,” Google-owned firm said.

“The other is DEEPROOT, a cross-platform backdoor developed in ‘Go’ language crossed platform that works on both Linux and Windows systems, enabling shell commands and file transfers,” the report added.

Attackers gained initial access primarily through spear-phishing emails containing tailored job recruitment lures aimed at defense and aviation professionals, as well as through supply-chain compromises involving trusted third-party software vendors and virtual desktop infrastructure providers, Mandiant reported.

“Once inside victim networks, UNC1549 (aka Nimbus Manticore/Tropical Scorpius) deployed additional tools including SIGHTGRAB for screenshots and CRASHPAD for credential harvesting and data staging,” Mandiant said. “Command-and-control traffic was routed through compromised Microsoft Azure tenant accounts to blend with legitimate cloud activity and avoid detection.”

Mandiant said with high confidence that the activity supports Iranian state interests focused on strategic intelligence collection.

Sensitive data was exfiltrated from compromised networks, though the specific content and affected countries have not been disclosed.

“The resolution and its mechanisms must not be interpreted or implemented in a way that violates or undermines the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Amir Saeid Iravani said.

“Gaza is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory ... The area must be administered by a Palestinian transitional committee,” he added.

Iravani’s comments follow Monday's UN Security Council’s approval of a US-drafted resolution backing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war and establishing an international stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave.

The resolution passed with 13 votes in favor and abstentions from Russia and China.

Last month, Israel and Hamas agreed to the initial phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point proposal for Gaza, which includes a ceasefire in their two-year war and an exchange of captives.

The UN resolution is viewed as an important step toward giving international legitimacy to a temporary governing structure for Gaza and providing assurances to states weighing the possibility of contributing troops.

Under the text, member states may participate in the Trump-led Board of Peace, a transitional body envisioned to oversee reconstruction and economic recovery in Gaza.

The body which aims to supervise rebuilding in the shattered enclave of two million Palestinians does not currently have any formal Palestinian participation.

The measure also authorizes an international stabilization force tasked with advancing the enclave’s demilitarization, including the removal of weapons and dismantling of military sites.

Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas rejected the move, saying the resolution does not meet Palestinian rights and demands and amounts to an attempt to impose an international trusteeship on Gaza which it said Palestinians reject.

"Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," Hamas said in a statement on Monday after the resolution was adopted.

But the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which opposes Hamas and exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli occupied West Bank, welcomed the resolution and said it stands ready to help implement it.

The resolution has proven controversial in Israel, whose right-wing government opposes Palestinian statehood.

"Conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” the resolution said, citing reforms by the Palestinian Authority and further progress toward redevelopment in Gaza as a prerequisite.

CNN Arabic and Lebanese news website Naharnet quoted the interview by ASAS Media in which Aoun, 60, the ex-commander of the US-backed Lebanese army who became president this year describes an August meeting with Ali Larijani.

“Larijani… heard very harsh words from me. He seemed extremely tense: 'The Shi'ites of Lebanon are my responsibility, not yours.'" Lebanese outlet ASAS Media quoted Aoun as saying in the interview according to the news reports.

The link to the original article on the ASAS Media website was down, as was a report on the interview that appeared on pan-Arab news outlet Al Arabiya.

Lebanon's presidency and ASAS Media did not immediately respond to Iran International requests for comment.

"Hezbollah, in its military wing, is finished," the withdrawn report quoted Aoun as saying. "(Iran) come to me aware of this reality and this outcome, but they are keen on an honorable end and a decent exit, and this is exactly what we are striving to achieve."

"(My) positions of this caliber and higher made him suppress his tension until his legs shook. He left the palace in a state of shock. Then he returned and asked for an appointment, but I did not receive him."

Aoun has broken with decades of precedent by publicly advocating for the disarmament of Hezbollah, long a policy priority for Israel and Western countries, after it suffered painful blows from Israeli attacks last year.

Founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah has grown into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force. It has fought multiple wars with Israel and is a key member of Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” alliance.

The group, which fought a nearly twenty-year insurgency which ultimately ejected Israel from occupied South Lebanon in 2000, is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and several Western countries.

Larijani meeting

According to a statement from the Lebanese presidency posted on X following their meeting in August, Aoun told Larijani that no group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing after the cabinet approved the goals of a US-backed roadmap to disarm Hezbollah.

Aoun also warned against foreign interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect.

“We reject any interference in our internal affairs,” Aoun said, adding that “it is forbidden for anyone … to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage,” Aoun said according to the statement.

“The friendship we seek with Iran must be with all Lebanese, not through one sect or component alone,” Aoun added.

Tehran's take

A report by Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News at the time did not indicate any tensions.

Tasnim said that during his meeting with the president, Larijani spoke of deep historical and cultural links between the two countries.

“If one day the people of Lebanon are in distress, we in Iran will also feel that pain. We will stand by the dear people of Lebanon in all circumstances,” Tasnim quoted Larijani as saying.

Larijani also said he had renewed his invitation for Aoun to visit Tehran and emphasized Iran’s readiness to help Lebanon in the field of reconstruction, according to local Iranian media.

Later on Tuesday, pro-Iran Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen reported, citing unnamed sources in the Secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, that the reports circulating about the content of the meeting were inaccurate.

Al Mayadeen cited the sources as expressing surprise at what had been published, saying it was entirely unlikely that the “absurd” phrases attributed to the Lebanese president had ever been said by him.

In early August, Washington presented Lebanese officials with a US-supported roadmap that called on Beirut to issue a decree within 15 days committing to Hezbollah’s full disarmament by December 31, 2025.

Lebanon’s cabinet in September discussed the US plan and approved its objectives, while stopping short of setting a timeline.

A ceasefire brokered by France and the United States between Hezbollah and Israel came into effect last November, requiring phased Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army across the area.

Both Hezbollah and Israel continue to accuse their opponent continuous violations of the ceasefire.