Iran offers enrichment delay under oversight - Israel Hayom
Iran has signaled it is willing to delay uranium enrichment under strict UN nuclear watchdog supervision but insists its facilities remain on Iranian soil, Israel Hayom reported, as Washington weighs military strikes if talks fail to progress.
Citing Western sources familiar with the negotiations, the newspaper said Tehran conveyed the message to the United States via Oman after Washington expressed dissatisfaction with proposals presented in Geneva.
Under the reported offer, Iran’s enrichment facilities and centrifuges would remain in place but would not be activated during an interim period and would operate under International Atomic Energy Agency oversight.
The proposal is under review in Washington but falls short of US demands, Israel Hayom said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he held a phone call with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Saturday to discuss the latest developments linked to indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Araghchi said the two exchanged views on ways to advance the talks.
He said they emphasized the importance of constructive engagement and using dialogue to help move the negotiations forward.
US officials told ABC News that hundreds of personnel were being relocated from a major military base in Qatar ahead of a possible strike on Iran.
The report said the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group was already in position in the region in total, around 35,000 US troops are now deployed across the Middle East.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said he has met with Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi under direction of US President Donald Trump.
“I've met him at the direction of the president,” he told Fox News. “I think he's strong for his country, cares about his country. But this is going to be about President Trump's policies, not Mr. Pahlavi's policies. I think the president is interested in hearing everyone's views.”
Witkoff said Trump was curious why Iran had not yielded under US military pressure in the region.
The US envoy also said Trump had instructed him and Jared Kushner that Iran must halt enrichment and send out nuclear material, arguing Tehran’s program went beyond civilian needs.
"Shame on the UN for inviting murderers", UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said on Iran International's Eye for Iran podcast, urging the world to stop granting legitimacy to Iran's regime by welcoming it at the UN after it killed tens of thousands last month.
"Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy foreign minister of the murderous Islamic Regime in Iran, is now listed to address the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, Feb. 23, at 2:00 pm. We call on all democracies: As soon as he begin to speak, you must stand up and walk out," Neuer said in a post on his X account on Saturday.
A film with intimate scenes shot inside Iran premiered at the Berlin film festival this week, marking a new escalation in Iranian artists’ defiance of censorship at home.
Directed by Mohammad Shirvani, Cesarean Weekend includes scenes of physical intimacy unseen on screens in Iran since the revolution in 1979.
Shirvani has long worked outside mainstream Iranian cinema, producing low-budget, highly personal films that reject conventional storytelling and visual norms.
His latest work follows a small group of characters in private settings, focusing less on plot than on relationships, physical presence, and emotional tension.
The film features composer Nader Mashayekhi appearing under his own name alongside other non-professional actors, blurring the line between performance and lived experience.
Shot with a handheld camera in confined domestic and natural environments, it presents bodies and personal interactions in ways that Iran’s official cinema has avoided for decades.
Iran’s film industry has long operated under strict state supervision. Filmmakers must obtain permits before production and submit their work for approval before release, complying with detailed regulations governing dress, gender interaction, and visual representation.
The depiction of uncovered hair, physical contact, or intimate private settings has been tightly controlled for decades.
Those restrictions remain in place. But in the years following the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests and the subsequent crackdown, a growing number of artists appear increasingly willing to ignore them.
Rather than seeking official approval, some filmmakers are producing work independently inside Iran, outside the formal licensing system. These films are typically made with small crews, limited resources, and discreet production methods, then screened abroad.
The Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale, is one of the more prominent platforms for global cinema which has screened and awarded top prizes for such works.
This year, another Iranian underground film, Dream, directed by Mahnaz Mohammadi, was also selected for screening outside the main competition. Together, the two films reflect the continued presence—and evolution—of filmmaking beyond state oversight.
Many unlicensed films focus on political themes or censorship itself. But a growing number of filmmakers are disregarding it altogether, treating creative autonomy as a given rather than a subject.
In this context, the significance of Cesarean Weekend lies less in its narrative than in its production. Scenes involving bodily intimacy and private life were filmed inside Iran itself, despite rules designed to prevent such imagery from being created or shown.
