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Israel’s foreign minister said a “massacre of unimaginable proportions” was taking place in Iran, speaking on Monday during talks with Azerbaijani officials in the capital Baku.
“Now, the ayatollah regime is brutally murdering and oppressing its own people as they struggle for their freedom,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said at a joint press appearance with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, according to i24 news.
“We hear the chilling stories,” Sa’ar said, adding that reports were emerging despite an internet shutdown in Iran. He said a government that acts violently toward its own people could not be expected to behave differently toward others.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group threatened new attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, as a US aircraft carrier moved toward the region amid rising tensions over Iran, AP reported on Monday.
The Houthis released a short video showing images of a burning ship with the caption “Soon,” without giving details. The group has attacked more than 100 vessels in the Red Sea in the past, saying the campaign was meant to pressure Israel over the war in Gaza. The attacks paused after a ceasefire, though the group has repeatedly warned it could resume them.
The threat comes as the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying destroyers head toward the Middle East.
An independent research group said on Saturday it had identified a large, coordinated social media influence operation it linked to the Islamic Republic, aimed at shaping global narratives and suppressing dissent during the country’s uprising.
Golden Owl, an open-source intelligence research initiative, said its investigation found thousands of coordinated accounts on X and Instagram working in support of the Iranian state, amplifying regime narratives while targeting opposition voices.
The group said it analyzed nearly 8,000 account records on X, identifying more than 7,500 unique accounts operating in what it described as a state-aligned network.
According to the findings, about 500 accounts acted as high-impact “originators” producing narratives, while more than 2,500 others functioned as amplifiers, reposting content at volumes consistent with centralized or automated control.
Golden Owl said the network showed clear signs of coordination, including synchronized messaging, mass account creation around major geopolitical events and sustained activity during periods when Iranian authorities imposed internet blackouts at home.
The researchers said more than a quarter of the accounts were created after October 7, 2023, and that the network expanded further during periods of regional escalation and protest crackdowns.
Activity remained high during Iran’s internet shutdown, which Golden Owl said suggested privileged access or operations conducted from outside Iran.
Content promoted by the accounts included praise for Iran’s leadership and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attacks on opposition movements – particularly supporters of the exiled Pahlavi family – and anti-Semitic rhetoric, the report said.
Some accounts also pushed narratives aligned with separatist or fringe opposition groups, which the researchers said appeared aimed at fragmenting dissent.
Declared locations for many accounts were outside Iran, including in the United States, Britain and Germany, which Golden Owl said pointed to a focus on influencing Western public opinion rather than domestic audiences.
Golden Owl said the findings were based on reproducible data and that some datasets had been published for independent verification.
It called on social media platforms to investigate the accounts and on policymakers to recognize what it described as the scale of Iranian state-linked influence operations.
Russia said on Monday that a possible US strike on Iran would seriously destabilize the Middle East and urged restraint from all sides, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This would undoubtedly mark another step toward serious destabilization of the situation in the region,” Peskov said, referring to reports that Washington might consider military action against Iran.
“Russia continues its efforts to de-escalate tensions,” he added. “In this situation, we would like to see restraint from all parties involved as well as their focus exclusively on peaceful negotiations to address the issues they consider relevant,” he said.
Israeli media reported earlier that the US had been preparing to strike Iran during the past week and that preparations for the attack may be complete.
Russia has previously warned that any strike on Iran could destabilize the region and urged diplomacy to prevent escalation.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the arrival of foreign warships near Iran would not change Tehran’s defense posture or its approach to diplomacy, after reports that a US aircraft carrier had reached the Middle East.
“Our position is clear. We have never welcomed war, and we have never turned away from diplomacy and negotiations, and we have shown this in practice,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.
“The entry of foreign warships is not meant to affect Iran’s resolve and seriousness in defending the country,” he said, adding that Iran had “full will and capability to defend Iran with the backing of our people.”
Israel’s Channel 13 reported that the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East on Sunday evening and was operating near Iran. The report said a ship carrying missile defense systems was heading toward Israel and that a THAAD air defense battery was expected to arrive in the coming days.
