After the drought came the floods: why rain is no panacea in Iran

"In the case of some of these executions," Rubio told reporters at a State Department press conference when asked about reports by human rights organizations that Iran has had the highest number of executions in 2025.

"Some of them, by the way, were in the aftermath of the war with Israel, where they went through and have jailed people and accused people of being informants and spies."

"Our problem with the Iranian regime isn't simply – I mean, obviously, it's predominantly their desire to acquire nuclear weapons, their sponsorship of terrorism – but it's ultimately the treatment of their own people," Rubio said.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and a standoff between Tehran and Washington over the future of its uranium enrichment has precluded any renewed talks since a 12-day war launched by Israel and the United States in June.

Tehran rejects US demands to stop enrichment, curb its missile arsenal and end support armed allies in the Middle East like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Under Rubio, the state department has ramped up its criticism of Iran's human rights records in frequent social media posts, most recently branding as suspicious the sudden death of a human rights lawyer whom Tehran said died of a heart attack.

Earlier this month, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammedi was arrested at a memorial service for the man, Khosrow Alikordi, along with dozens of other activists in one of the more prominent anti-government protests against authorities since a June war.

Economic and ecological problems have also beset the country as US and international sanctions ramped up after the war.

"You've got a clerical, radical regime that has driven and taken the wealth of that country and used it not to enrich their – secure their people and their future, not to make sure they have enough water and electricity," Rubio added.

"They've used their money to sponsor terrorist organizations all over the world."

Tehran says it oversees a regional axis of Resistance opposed to Israel and the United States, but its sway is diminished after two years of regional combat in which Iran itself and its allies took heavy blows.

The Hamas attack, the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June and Israel’s relentless strikes on Iranian-aligned actors did not end the region’s conflicts, but they changed how states now manage them.

In place of grand diplomacy or formal pacts, a loose alignment has begun to form from overlapping security, political and economic imperatives.

Stretching informally from Baghdad to Damascus, this nascent arc of stability is emerging less as a peace project than as a constraint on Iran’s regional reach—interlocking with the logic of the Abraham Accords and pressing against the network of proxies through which Tehran has long projected power.

This shift has unfolded alongside a parallel Iranian track: diplomatic outreach, particularly towards Saudi Arabia and other Arab neighbors, aimed at preserving room for manoeuvre even as Tehran’s proxy network comes under strain.

That dual approach matters, shaping regional calculations as Iran seeks both to absorb pressure and to prevent the emergence of a more openly consolidated front against it.

Iraq: on the mend but shaky

In Iraq, the aftermath of the recent elections and the government’s brief attempt to designate Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthis as terrorist organisations—followed by a rapid reversal—highlight a deeper struggle over sovereignty.

An emergent bloc of political, clerical and institutional actors is pushing for greater state consolidation, while Iran-backed networks seek to preserve the hybrid armed–political order entrenched since the fight against Islamic State in 2014.

Senior clerics linked to the orbit of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have repeatedly warned that the continued power of militias is eroding national unity and hollowing out state authority.

At the same time, developments inside Iraq are complicating Tehran’s position. Efforts to expand domestic gas production, reduce reliance on Iranian imports and attract Western investment after the withdrawal of sanctioned Russian firms are slowly reshaping the economic outlook.

Improved, if fragile, coordination between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government on revenue sharing and border controls has also narrowed institutional fissures Iran has long exploited.

These shifts are incremental and uneven, and their durability remains uncertain. Yet together they form the first pillar of a broader regional realignment rooted less in ideology than in state capacity and economic necessity.

Iraq may also prove the weakest link: its politics remain volatile, and Iran-aligned actors retain deep organizational and financial networks. Still, even limited consolidation across security, energy and governance would tilt the strategic balance of the Levant in ways long thought unattainable.

Syria: stabilizing but weak

The fall of Bashar al-Assad a year ago, and the rise of a Salafi-leaning transitional authority have opened a period of uncertainty, marked by serious risks but also new constraints on external actors.

Syria is unlikely to join the Abraham Accords or pursue formal normalisation with Israel soon. Nevertheless, quiet contacts involving Damascus, Israel and Qatar—aimed at limiting spillover, restraining militias and establishing narrow de facto understandings—point to the emergence of a pragmatic, if tentative, security framework.

Events beyond Syria’s borders have sharpened regional sensitivities.

Israel’s attempted attack against Hamas leaders in Qatar which failed to kill their intended targets unsettled several US Arab partners and may have influenced strategic thinking even where public positions remained measured.

More significant is the regional effect of a Syria no longer fully aligned with Iran’s strategic priorities. A stabilizing Syrian state, broadly aligned with Iraq and Jordan, would sharply restrict the land and air corridors Iran has long used to supply Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Recent interceptions of Iranian weapons shipments across Syrian and Jordanian territory by Israel and Jordan underscore that Iran may still see Syria as a transit point for its weapons.

A pattern emerging

This informal Baghdad–Damascus alignment intersects with the logic of the Abraham Accords, which the Trump administration’s November 2025 National Security Strategy identifies as the US priority to build up security in the region.

The document frames Arab and Muslin normalization with Israel not as a legacy achievement but as a functional framework for missile defence, maritime security as well as intelligence and regional burden-sharing.

While Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait remain outside the Accords formally, growing patterns of de facto cooperation—through air-defence coordination, early-warning integration, maritime security arrangements and intelligence exchanges—suggest the Accords already function as an organising principle for states reluctant to make public commitments.

The spine is formal, but the supporting structures are increasingly informal, sustaining the framework without requiring every participant to commit publicly.

The restrained language of the 2025 strategy reflects a broader shift in Washington’s approach. Rather than relying primarily on American primacy, the United States now appears focused on containing Iran by reinforcing regional structures anchored in the Accords and complemented by emerging alignments in Iraq and Syria.

Across the region, a discernible pattern is taking shape.

Iraq’s uneven institutional recovery, Syria’s cautious stabilisation, Jordan’s intensified border security, the Persian Gulf states’ expanding coordination and Israel’s sustained security posture together form the outlines of the most coherent countervailing structure the region has seen in more than a decade.

The contest, however, remains unresolved. Iran retains significant capacity, adaptive networks and a proven ability to rebuild and readjust.

The Baghdad–Damascus arc nonetheless represents a challenge to Tehran’s regional strategy rooted not in declarations or grand bargains, but in overlapping state interests and practical constraints—an alignment shaped by necessity rather than design.

“The title of the negotiation should be ‘Iran should not have nuclear weapons,’” Salehi said in an interview carried by Iranian media. “With this change, both sides can return to the negotiating table while saving face.”

Salehi, who previously headed Iran’s nuclear agency, said the change would be one of wording rather than substance and argued that workable technical solutions acceptable to both sides could be discussed once talks resumed.

“The issue is not technical,” he said. “Solutions that both sides can accept do exist.”

His comments come as diplomacy between Tehran and Washington remains stalled after a brief war between Iran and Israel in June that included US air strikes. US President Donald Trump said last week that Iran’s nuclear program was effectively destroyed by US and Israeli strikes and warned Tehran against restarting it.

Trump said Iran could avoid past and by reaching a nuclear deal, adding that any attempt to revive its program without an agreement would prompt further US action. He has repeatedly said Iran missed an earlier chance to avert the strikes by accepting a deal.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic, while Iranian officials have rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment and curb missile capabilities.

The city’s average air quality index (AQI) reached 116 on Friday, placing it in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category, Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company said. The figure marked a sharp deterioration from the previous 24-hour average of 83, which had indicated acceptable conditions.

Since the start of the current Iranian year in March, Tehran has recorded only six days of clean air. Official figures show the capital has experienced 130 days of acceptable air quality, 113 days classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups, 20 unhealthy days for the general population, two very unhealthy days and two days deemed hazardous.

The renewed pollution prompted health warnings urging people with heart and lung disease, children, pregnant women and the elderly to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel, IRNA, the state-run news agency, reported on Friday.

Chronic crisis in major cities

Air quality is measured on a scale in which AQI levels between zero and 50 indicate clean air, 51 to 100 acceptable conditions, 101 to 150 unhealthy for sensitive groups, 151 to 200 unhealthy for all, 201 to 300 very unhealthy and 301 to 500 hazardous.

Air pollution has become one of Iran’s most serious public health and environmental challenges in recent years. Major cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad and Ahvaz regularly experience prolonged periods of unhealthy air, particularly during colder months when temperature inversions trap pollutants close to the ground.

Public frustration has grown as pollution episodes intensify, with many citizens saying that simply breathing clean air has become a daily struggle. Environmental specialists have long warned that weak enforcement, aging vehicle fleets and reliance on highly polluting fuels have worsened the problem.

Critics say government policies, including the burning of heavy fuel oil at power plants during energy shortages, have played a direct role in exacerbating pollution, exposing millions of residents to serious health risks.

Khuzestan cities also affected

Air pollution also affected several cities in the southern province of Khuzestan on Friday. Data from the National Air Quality Monitoring Center showed AQI levels reaching 153 in Khorramshahr and 152 in Molasani, both classified as unhealthy for all population groups.

Other cities, including Abadan, Shushtar, Karun and Haftkel, recorded AQI levels between 108 and 136, placing them in the unhealthy-for-sensitive-groups range. Local media advised residents with underlying health conditions, as well as children and the elderly, to avoid strenuous outdoor activity.

The pollution wave comes as seasonal influenza cases rise across Iran, compounding respiratory health risks. In August, Abbas Shahsavani, deputy head of the Air Quality and Climate Change Research Center at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, said more than 35,000 deaths nationwide in the previous year were attributed to air pollution, underscoring the scale of a crisis that remains largely unresolved.

“We have received information that the man has been sentenced to death at first instance, but these are unconfirmed reports,” Malmer Stenergard told a news conference.

She said Sweden’s foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador on Wednesday to protest the reported sentence.

Sweden earlier confirmed that a person holding Swedish citizenship is imprisoned in Iran and accused of spying, saying its embassy in Tehran and the foreign ministry are in contact with the family and that the man has access to a lawyer. The ministry said it could not give further details for consular reasons.

Iran’s judiciary has said the case involves an Iranian-Swedish dual national accused of spying for Israel. Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said earlier this week the man was recruited by Israeli intelligence in 2023 and that a verdict would be issued soon.

He said the defendant, identified only as a Swedish citizen since 2020, had travelled to six European capitals for espionage training, made several trips to Israel and entered Iran about a month before the war in June, staying at a villa near Karaj.

Iran has carried out several executions in recent months over espionage convictions linked to Israel, drawing concern from international rights groups over due process.