Iran says the entire region will turn into 'hell' if hostilities escalate

A 28-year-old man has died in custody after being subjected to torture following his arrest by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, rights groups reported.

Hossein Ghavi was arrested at his workplace, a tea stall, in March on accusations including filming bombed areas and contact with foreign media, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) and rights group Karun reported on Saturday.

Ghavi was tortured during detention and later died in custody, according to the reports.

Agents affiliated with the IRGC's intelligence unit informed his family of his death by phone on Thursday but provided no details.

His body has not been returned to the family, the reports said.

The daughter of slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, said individuals arrested in the United States have no relation to her family, calling the US State Department’s claim false, Iranian state media reported citing a social media post by Zeinab Soleimani.

“The individuals arrested in the United States have no relation whatsoever to the family of Martyr Soleimani, and the claim by the US State Department is a lie,” Zeinab Soleimani wrote in a post.

“They have become so weak and helpless that, by fabricating lies against a great figure like Haj Qassem, they seek to divert global public opinion from their defeat against the Iranian nation,” she added.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel production and targeted petrochemical plants in Saturday’s strikes.

“After we destroyed 70 percent of its ability to create steel, which is used as the raw material for the weapons used against us ... Today we attacked their petrochemical factories,” Netanyahu said.

“These two things are their money machine, which funds their war of terror against us and against the world ... We will continue to hit them, as I promised,” he added.

The United States is deploying most of its inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER long-range cruise missiles for operations against Iran, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The missiles are being drawn from stockpiles in the Pacific and other locations, including the continental United States, and moved to US Central Command bases and Fairford in the United Kingdom, the report said.

The order to pull the weapons, which cost about $1.5 million each, was issued at the end of March, according to the report.

Sixty percent of the B-1 highway bridge in Karaj was damaged, with six of its seven support piers seriously hit after it was targeted in an 'enemy' strike on Thursday, Iranian media quoted the executive director of the Karaj northern bypass project as saying.