Iran crypto volumes draw US probes into sanctions evasion - Reuters

Gholamreza Derikvand, Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Vienna, had broken with Tehran and is now in Switzerland. There was no immediate comment from Iran’s foreign ministry.

Sources told Iran International that officials at the ministry had avoided discussing the case, with some staff citing security concerns.

Derikvand previously served as charge d’affaires at Iran’s embassy in the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014 and was viewed by colleagues as a career diplomat who could have risen to ambassador.

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  Iranian diplomat in Geneva seeks asylum in Switzerland, sources say

The move follows a similar case last month in which Alireza Jeyrani Hokmabad, a senior Iranian diplomat based at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, left his post and sought asylum in Switzerland with his family.

Diplomatic sources said fears linked to Iran’s political unrest and concerns over the stability of the governing system had prompted the decision.

Iran’s space agency chief Hassan Salarieh said the newly unveiled Hatef-3 is a full-scale test model for the planned 24-satellite “Martyr Soleimani” constellation and would be launched once final checks are completed.

Salarieh said Hatef-3 satellite is still considered an “experimental sample because the system must be placed into orbit and its performance be assessed in space.”

Iran is carrying out integration and compatibility tests between the Hatef-3 satellite and the Simorgh launch vehicle, he added, describing a launch by year-end as likely but subject to technical reviews.

According to Salarieh, a space base was also unveiled in Salmas in northwestern Iran and another in Chenaran in the northeast.

Also on Tuesday, Iran’s defense minister said the country must accelerate its space program to close what he described as lingering gaps, warning that falling behind could undermine national governance and independence.

Aziz Nasirzadeh said Iran should prioritize developing an air-launched rocket system and securing a presence in geostationary orbit, calling space a new arena for strategic competition.

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  Iran set to orbit three satellites in joint launch from Russia

“The Australian Government is today imposing further targeted financial sanctions on Iran in response to the regime’s horrific use of violence against its own people,” read a government media release on Tuesday.

The Australian government said those sanctioned include senior IRGC officials and entities that violently suppress domestic protests and threaten lives inside and outside Iran.

Among those named are Iran’s national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan, who has been a central figure in directing street-level repression, mass arrests and the use of force against protesters.

Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was also on the list. He oversees the security and intelligence apparatus responsible for surveillance, detentions and interrogations of activists and dissidents.

Ali Fazli, a senior IRGC commander and former Basij chief, who has long been associated with suppressing protests and coordinating paramilitary forces against demonstrators, was also sanctioned by Canberra.

Other notable names on the list included Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, a senior commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force, Mohammad Saleh Jokar, a former commander of student Basij forces, and Yahya Hosseini Panjaki, the intelligence ministry's deputy for domestic security.

Canberra’s sanctions also targeted the IRGC Cyber Defense Command, involved in online surveillance and information control; IRGC Quds Force Unit 840, a covert unit accused of planning operations against dissidents and foreign targets; and the IRGC Intelligence Organization, which oversees domestic intelligence, arrests and interrogations and plays a central role in suppressing protests inside Iran.

The Australian government said the new measures build on earlier step of listing the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism and its existing sanctions framework on Iran.

Australia officially designated IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism in November after intelligence linked the group to attacks on Jewish centers in Sydney and Melbourne.

The Guards, who have been designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 2019, were also put on the EU’s terrorist list in late January.

The Albanese government has so far sanctioned more than 200 Iranian individuals and entities, including more than 100 linked to the IRGC.

The sources said Alijanvand was shot by security forces with two live rounds, one striking his lower back and another his abdomen. His family spent five days searching hospitals, police stations and prisons across Isfahan province before identifying his body in the cold storage at Bagh-e Rezvan cemetery on January 13, the sources said.

According to the sources, Alijanvand's body was transferred later that night, on January 13, to Shahin Shahr's morgue.

Authorities initially refused to hand over the body and sought to have Alijanvand declared a “martyr,” a condition the family rejected, which would have required them to accept the state’s official account of the death rather than acknowledge that he was killed by state security forces.

Alijanvand was eventually buried under heavy security at around 4 a.m. on January 15, in a tightly controlled ceremony at Behesht-e Zahra Chaharbisheh cemetery in his hometown of Masjed Soleyman in southwestern Iran, with only five family members present and several plainclothes agents in attendance, the sources said.

Alijanvand was married and worked as a forklift driver at a brick factory, according to the people familiar with the matter.

“Reza worked from morning until night. He was deeply patriotic and hopeful for Iran’s freedom,” the source said, adding that Alijanvand believed Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi would return to the country.

Last month, Iran International reported that more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history.

The British Foreign Office said it had sanctioned 10 individuals and the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic for what it described as serious human rights violations, including the killing of protesters, torture, sexual violence, and sweeping restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The measures include asset freezes, travel bans and director disqualification sanctions, which prevent those listed from holding senior positions in British companies.

Among those designated was Eskandar Momeni, who oversees Iran’s domestic security apparatus, provincial police chiefs Mohammad Reza Hashemifar and Ahmed Amini, senior IRGC commander Mohammad Zamani, judges Ahmad Darvish Goftar and Mehdi Rasakhi, and the businessman Babak Zanjani.

“The Iranian people have shown extreme courage in the face of brutality and repression over recent weeks simply for exercising their right to peaceful protest,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement. “

The reports and shocking scenes of violence that have been seen around the world are horrific,” she added.

British officials said the action followed similar measures imposed by the European Union and the United States as part of a coordinated effort to hold Iranian authorities accountable.

Last week, EU foreign ministers formally designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, a move that prompted sharp retaliation from Tehran.

Iranian officials have routinely dismissed Western sanctions as politically motivated and deny responsibility for abuses.

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker said the country would now consider the armies of EU member states “terrorist groups,” escalating an already tense standoff between Iran and Western governments.

The sanctions were announced as signs emerged that diplomatic contacts between Iran and the United States could resume.

An Iranian foreign ministry official said on Monday that Tehran was weighing terms for renewed nuclear talks, even as Washington has increased its naval presence in the region following last month’s deadly protest crackdown.