Acclaimed Iranian director’s film makes Oscars shortlist
A film by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi has advanced to the shortlist for the international feature film category at the 98th Academy Awards, organizers said on Tuesday.
A film by dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi has advanced to the shortlist for the international feature film category at the 98th Academy Awards, organizers said on Tuesday.
Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, was included among 15 shortlisted titles as France’s official submission. Films from 86 countries were eligible in the category, with Academy members required to view all shortlisted entries to take part in the nominations round.
The film was made secretly inside Iran and follows the moral dilemma of a group of former political prisoners who believe they have captured the man who once tortured them. The work draws directly on Panahi’s own experiences of detention and surveillance.
It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, further cementing Panahi’s standing as one of Iran’s most internationally recognized filmmakers despite long-standing restrictions on his work.
Legal pressure at home
Earlier this month, Panahi’s lawyer said the director had been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison on a charge of propaganda against the state. The ruling also included a two-year travel ban and restrictions on political and social activity. The sentence was issued while Panahi was abroad promoting the film.
Panahi has said he plans to return to Iran after completing the awards campaign, despite the risks. “I have only one passport, the passport of my country,” he said earlier this month.
Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, 2026. The awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15 in Los Angeles.
Sweden confirmed on Wednesday that one of its citizens was detained in Iran, in a response to questions from Iran International, after Iran’s judiciary disclosed details of a case involving an Iranian-Swedish dual national accused of spying for Israel.
In a written response, Sweden’s foreign ministry said the embassy in Tehran and the ministry were in contact with the family and that the citizen had access to a lawyer, adding that no further details could be provided for consular reasons and to avoid disrupting the case.
Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday that the case was examined in Alborz province and heard by the second branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and that a verdict would be issued soon.
“Based on reports and the defendant’s own confessions, he was recruited by the Israeli intelligence services in 2023,” Jahangir told reporters. He said the defendant, identified only as a Swedish citizen since 2020, later traveled to six European capitals to receive espionage training, made several trips to Israel and entered Iran about a month before the recent war, staying in a villa near Karaj. Jahangir said electronic surveillance equipment was discovered during the conflict and that the defendant had confessed to spying for Israel.
Iranian officials say the arrest forms part of a broader picture of alleged espionage uncovered during and after the war. Authorities have said more than 700 people were detained on suspicion of spying or cooperating with Israel following the conflict, which lasted 12 days and included US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
In November, the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said it dismantled what it described as US-Israeli spy networks inside Iran. Parliament has also approved emergency legislation allowing espionage suspects to be prosecuted under wartime legal provisions.
Executions and international concern
Iran has carried out several executions in recent months over espionage convictions tied to Israel. The judiciary has said those executed were convicted of offenses including “enmity against God” and collaboration with hostile states.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran and international rights groups say at least a dozen people have been executed on espionage charges this year, many after the war. Rights groups have raised concern about due process, while Iranian authorities say the judiciary is acting in line with domestic law to protect national security.
Member of the Canadian Parliament Garnett Genuis told Iran International the government failed to protect people forced into conscription by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) when it listed the group a terrorist organization last year.
Genuis, who has advocated for proscription of the IRGC since 2018, said the Liberal government "was dragged kicking and screaming" to the decision and then failed to safeguard those ensnared by Iran’s mandatory conscription laws.
“We shouldn’t be punishing victims of forced conscription,” Genuis said. “We should target those who voluntarily joined or stayed, and those who committed atrocities.”
Canada told Iran International in November it does not automatically reject Iranian men’s permanent residency applications solely for compulsory IRGC service, after a conscript said he was ruled inadmissible for his involuntary service.
Genuis highlighted a bill he backed proposing to amend Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to exempt individuals required to serve in a terrorist organization if they met three criteria of completing only the mandatory period, not remaining voluntarily and not participating in terrorist acts or atrocities.
The bill, he said, addressed concerns the Liberals had raised for years yet the government did not adopt it after the IRGC listing.
Last month a Federal Court dismissed an appeal by 40-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Mohammadreza Vadiati’s against the denial of permanent residency despite completing only mandatory IRGC service from 2006 to 2008 in non-combat roles.
‘Required’ not ‘forced’
Genuis criticized Canadian authorities for narrowly interpreting “forced conscription,” often requiring proof of imminent danger to life or health, while his bill deliberately used “required” instead of “forced.”
“If the law says you must do something, that is a requirement, consequences of refusal in Iran — including imprisonment — should be contextualized,” he added.
In a written response to Iran International, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said conscription alone does not automatically render someone inadmissible. However, critics say guidance remains vague, allowing excessive officer discretion.
“In the absence of clarity in the law, there is a real risk of wildly inconsistent decisions,” Genuis said, warning similarly situated applicants could face vastly different outcomes.
Under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws, membership in or support for a listed terrorist entity can result in inadmissibility, asset freezes, and criminal penalties.
“The government could easily adopt the exemption via its own legislation — the simplest and fastest solution,” he said. “The Conservatives put forward the solution, the government should implement it.”
The listing of the IRGC – which Canada blames for human rights abuses and the 2020 downing of a civilian airliner PS752 in 2020 – has broad implications for thousands of Iranian nationals who performed compulsory service.
Genuis said listing the IRGC was necessary but innocent people must be spared.
“The IRGC needed to be listed and needs to remain listed,” he said. “But it was never a choice between doing it badly or not doing it at all. We showed how to do it right.”
Genuis also criticized the Liberal government’s record on foreign interference and transnational repression, warning Iranian government-linked threats remain active in Canada.
New Google algorithms for YouTube are more accurately detecting virtual private networks which mask user locations and are reclassifying most traffic as originating from Iran where ad rates are minimal.
Prominent creators have reported revenue drops of as much as 90% in December.
Previously, RPM (revenue per 1,000 views) for Iranian content creators averaged $3-11 but has now fallen to between 20 cents and $1 for many channels, Shargh Daily reported on Tuesday.
Gaming YouTuber Aria Keoxer reported earning just $400 from a video with 400,000 views, down from thousands previously, the report said.
The changes stem from improved detection of VPN-spoofed locations, treating most views as originating from Iran, whose market advertisers rarely seek out due to stiff Western sanctions.
Users in Iran also use VPNs to sidestep broad official censorship of the internet.
While not all channels are equally affected - some report only 20% declines - the shift threatens the viability of Iranian content production, pushing creators toward sponsorships or alternative platforms.
“The income of Persian YouTube channels has practically dropped to zero," one account said on X. "Since last week, YouTube in its new update doesn't even show ads to those who connect from inside Iran using a VPN, and this means that the previous method of making money through monetization no longer works.”
“The result is that Persian channels without sponsors have practically reached the end of the line, continuing has become very difficult for them, and for some of them, continuing activities are no longer worthwhile!" it added.
An official YouTube statement on the changes in December did not mention Iran.
The country's digital marketing sector has grown modestly despite sanctions. E-commerce revenue stood at $15-16 billion in 2025 and had grown up to 12% annually, analysis site Statista reported.
Social media advertising in Iran has hit about $430 million each year driven by local platforms like Instagram and Telegram as well as apps like retail hub Digikala and ride-hailing platform Snapp.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly promised to lift government censorship over the internet, a key pledge of his 2024 presidential campaign, but has made little headway.
Public anger intensified after revelations of so-called white SIM cards providing unfettered access to privileged insiders, which critics say contradicts government rhetoric about digital equality.
The digital and e-commerce economy in Iran faced a huge blow during a 12-day war in June with Israel, when Tehran briefly shuttered the internet entirely in what authorities called an effort to foil Israeli espionage but dissidents said aimed at free expression.
A lawsuit filed in a Texas state court accuses top American chip-making companies of failing to stop their technology from being diverted into Iranian and Russian weapons used in attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
The lawsuit names Texas Instruments, AMD and Intel, accusing the companies of allowing tiny computer chips they produced to reach - what the plaintiffs refer to as - hostile countries through weak oversight of global supply chains.
The companies did not immediately respond to an Iran International request for comment.
Filed by Watts Law Firm LLP and BakerHostetler LLP, the case represents Ukrainian civilians and families who say they lost loved ones or suffered serious injuries during drone and missile attacks. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for wrongful death, physical injury and psychological trauma.
The chips, they added, were later found in drones and missiles used by Russia and Iran in strikes that killed and injured civilians in Ukraine.
Iran has supplied drones and other military support to Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tehran and Moscow are both heavily sanctioned by the United States, in curbs aimed at sapping their ability to project military power.
The complaint alleges the companies failed to take reasonable steps to prevent their products from reaching sanctioned actors, despite years of public warnings from governments, journalists and international watchdogs.
US export control laws are designed to stop sensitive technology from being diverted into foreign weapons programs and the lawsuit claims those safeguards were ignored.
According to the filing, American-made chips were identified in Iranian-manufactured Shahed drones and in Russian missiles used to strike residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
The Shahed has helped define the Ukrainian battlespace and the United States announced this month it had copied elements of the kamikaze drone and deployed it to the Middle East, in a move which drew pride and mockery in Tehran.
Plaintiffs argue the companies continued selling chips through distributors and online channels they knew were vulnerable to diversion. The complaint says sales continued even after reports showed US technology repeatedly appearing in Iranian and Russian weapons systems.
The companies named in the lawsuit have previously said they comply with US export controls and sanctions and do not sell products directly to Iran or Russia. The defendants have not yet responded publicly to the specific allegations in the new lawsuit and its merits have not yet been tested in court.
The lawsuit does not allege the companies intentionally supplied weapons programs but argues they knowingly failed to prevent foreseeable harm caused by the misuse of their technology.
Citing Texas tort law covering negligence, gross negligence and wrongful death, the lawsuit also argues that violations of US export control and sanctions laws automatically constitute negligence under state law.
The filing cites multiple reports documenting how American electronics ended up in Iranian and Russian weapons. Investigations by US and international research organizations have previously found that a large share of components recovered from Iranian drones used in Ukraine originated from US companies.
The complaint also points to internal warnings.
In the case of Texas Instruments, shareholders reportedly raised concerns about chips appearing in sanctioned markets but the company maintained that full traceability of its products was not achievable. Plaintiffs argue that response showed a failure to strengthen safeguards despite known risks.
David Albright, a prominent physicist and nuclear proliferation expert, posted to X that "Texas instruments has sold its goods to China and it knows they end up in Russian Shahed drones and other military systems."
Iran’s central bank said on Tuesday it had blocked bank the accounts of over 250 people suspected of money laundering a sum amounting to $1.6 billion, as the country attempts to consolidate its financial system amid harsh sanctions.
Central bank spokesperson Mohammad Shirijian said the individuals, using around 6,000 bank accounts, recorded a combined turnover of about 2,100 trillion rials ($1.6 billion).
Shirijian said about 130 trillion rials, or around $100 million, of the total was linked to the bank accounts of a 24-year-old whom he accused of involvement in “disrupting the foreign exchange market.”
He added that the cases of 13 people suspected of "disrupting the banking system and the foreign exchange market" had been referred to the judiciary.
Separately, Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, citing the central bank’s public relations director Mostafa Ghamari Vafa, reported that authorities had identified and blocked the accounts of three individuals, aged 24, 28 and 33, whose transactions totaled about 262 trillion rials ($201 million).
Tasnim said authorities had identified the trail of currency traders linked to the accounts and that the case remains under close surveillance.
Iran’s central bank issued a new directive in late September requiring banks to set annual transaction limits for customers based on their level of financial activity.
Under the directive, the annual transaction cap is set at 200 billion rials ($154,000) for salaried individuals, 50 billion rials ($38,400) for individuals without employment and five billion rials ($3,840) for inactive legal entities.
Shirijian's remarks come as Iran’s currency hit a fresh low on Monday of 1.312 million rials to the US dollar on the open market according to currency-tracking websites, reflecting deep economic woes in the country.
Tehran has sought to boost financial regulation and gain entry into anti-money laundering bodies in a bid to gain greater access to the global banking system as renewed international sanctions have dented its already creaky economy.
But in October the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rejected Iran's accession, saying Tehran would remain on its list of high-risk countries for failing to fully accept the body's rules on terror financing.
