Trump says US in talks with Iran as military assets move to region

The United States declared a national emergency over what Washington described as threats posed by the Government of Cuba on Thursday, including its support for hostile states such as Iran, Russia and China and armed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

"The Government of Cuba has taken extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States. The regime aligns itself with — and provides support for — numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors adverse to the United States, including the Government of the Russian Federation (Russia), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Government of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah," the statement said.

In the executive order, Trump said Cuba’s policies and practices constitute an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and foreign policy.

The United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said on Thursday that Iranian officials and their families should no longer be able to live in the United States while, he said, people in Iran face repression.

"The families of Iranian regime elites live lives of luxury in the U.S. while their people are massacred. Not any more!" Waltz posted on X.

The remarks followed a State Department announcement earlier that Washington had taken action to revoke the privilege of Iranian senior officials and their family members to be in the country, though no details were provided on how many people are affected or how the measure would be implemented.

Britain’s government is preparing legislation that would allow ministers to ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), The Times reported on Thursday, as pressure grows to respond to the group’s role in suppressing anti-government protests.

According to the report, the proposed law would enable the proscription of hostile state-linked organizations, including the IRGC.

The Times said the initiative follows growing international pressure on Iran, including recent European Union action against the IRGC, which has drawn an angry response from Tehran.

"Britain’s Home Office confirmed it is preparing legislation but said the bill would not be fast-tracked, despite the IRGC’s role in the recent crackdown on protesters in Iran," the report said.

World Health Organization Director‑General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday that recent unrest in Iran has disrupted medical care, with health personnel and facilities reportedly attacked or prevented from providing services. He made the comments in a post on X.

World Health Organization chief also confirmed that "the Khomeini Hospital, in the western city of Ilam, came under attack earlier in January," he said. "Violence was reported inside and around the facility following the transfer of injured people to the hospital. Medical services and supplies were disrupted and affected."

"We have also confirmed that multiple health facilities were damaged across Iran in recent weeks, including 10 prehospital emergency posts, where more than 50 paramedics were injured and over 200 ambulances damaged. Tear gas was also reportedly used at Sina Hospital in Tehran," Tedros said.

Iran is now enduring the country’s longest and most comprehensive internet disruption on record. Its impact has stretched far beyond blocked platforms and loading screens, pushing many businesses to a point of no return.

Economists estimate Iran’s digital economy generates roughly 30 trillion rials (about $42 million) a day. While modest on paper, that figure represents the livelihoods of small and medium-sized enterprises that operate almost entirely online.

The Tehran Chamber of Commerce estimates that at least 500,000 Instagram-based shops operate in Iran, supporting around one million jobs whose sales effectively drop to zero without internet access.

The collapse began when the signal died

Industry data reviewed by trade groups show daily losses running into billions of rials, with the Chamber reporting revenue declines of 50% to 90%. But some analysts say even those figures understate the damage.

“Where does this figure even come from?” IT expert Amin Sabeti told Iran International. “These businesses operate on Instagram. When people have no access to Instagram, one hundred percent of their sales are gone.”

Sabeti said the lack of precise data had itself become part of the crisis. “What we do know is that Instagram and WhatsApp are widely used by small businesses, and many have now lost customers completely,” he added. “For some people, their entire livelihood depended on these platforms.”

In Iran, platforms such as Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp function not only as messaging tools but as storefronts, marketing channels and payment gateways.

Analysts estimate more than 40 million active users rely on them, making social media the backbone of e-commerce, especially for home-based businesses, informal retailers and women-led ventures.

“In many cases, people have gone bankrupt because they had issued cheques that can no longer be covered,” Sabeti said. “The reality is that a large portion of online businesses that relied heavily on Instagram have been wiped out.”

One Tehran-based online clothing seller told the news site Dideban Iran that her sales collapsed. After just one week of disruption, she laid off all her workers, shut down her workshop and sold her sewing machines. “I’m bankrupt,” she said.

Another online seller said most digital businesses lack the reserves to survive even days without revenue. “When the internet goes,” the seller said, “whatever tiny capital we have disappears.”

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  Iranian Online Shop Building Sealed As Hijab Tensions Rise

Silence from businesses

Iran International contacted several large and small online businesses to ask about the impact of the blackout. None replied. Messages were not even seen — an absence that spoke louder than any quote.

A few voices surfaced briefly on X. One user wrote that a friend who teaches languages online could no longer earn enough to cover monthly expenses. “Online business is not just online shops,” the post said. “Thousands of jobs depend on the internet, and they’ve been destroyed.”

Another described producers already weakened by months of economic pressure. “In our industrial area, someone with 15 years of production experience is renting out his workshop as a spare-parts warehouse,” the post read. “Last year we had 13 workers. Now we have three.”

Economists warn the damage will outlast restored connections. Prolonged shutdowns erode trust, deter investment and stall technological development. Many business owners say they have lost not only their capital but the will and the means to start again.

Women, who make up a significant share of Iran’s home-based digital workforce, are among the most exposed. For many, online trade was the only viable entry into the economy. With that channel severed, unemployment follows quietly.

“If this situation continues, it can really push the digital economy toward destruction,” said Reza Olfatnasab, head of the union of virtual businesses.

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  Crackdown On Online Businesses Intensifies In Iran

Numbers collide, blame follows

As businesses slipped into silence, the argument over numbers intensified.

Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi said recent outages were inflicting about 5,000 billion rials a day in direct losses on the core digital economy and nearly 50 trillion rials across the wider economy. Around 10 million people depend directly or indirectly on the sector, he said, adding that the average resilience of internet-based businesses is just 20 days.

The hardline daily Kayhan dismissed those estimates as “fabricated figures,” accusing the communications ministry of deflecting responsibility and arguing that officials who failed to build a “secure and lawful” network should be held accountable.

Industry bodies offered competing assessments. Analysts say the gap exposes a deeper problem than the shutdown itself: Iran lacks any transparent, standardized system to measure its digital economy.

For many business owners, however, the debate over billions has already arrived too late. Their screens are dark, their messages unread and their income, whatever the final number, already gone.