US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday at Lavrov’s request, the US State Department said.
In a statement, the United States Department of State said the two officials discussed US-Russia relations, the war in Ukraine, and Iran.
Graffiti in support of Iran’s theocracy has appeared in one of the most prominent Iranian-American neighborhoods in the United States, prompting concern among some residents about intimidation and the spillover of political tensions into diaspora communities.
One of the markings found in the area bore the name “DISO,” a Los Angeles-based graffiti group whose work has largely focused on pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messaging.
The group’s Instagram page includes several posts opposing the US-Israeli war on Iran and expressing support for the Islamic Republic. It has also openly criticized prominent opposition leader and exiled prince, Reza Pahlavi.
The DISO marking was found on a billboard structure along the northbound side of Westwood Boulevard, just north of Missouri Avenue. The graffiti appeared alongside color patterns resembling the flag of the Islamic Republic.
In a separate incident, “Stop War” was spray-painted over photographs of slain Iranian protesters displayed on a nearby memorial wall. There is no evidence that the vandalism of the memorial wall was carried out by DISO.
The wall commemorates protesters killed during a wave of unrest in Iran in January, described by activists as the “Bloody January Massacre”, where at least 36,500 people were killed in the crackdown.
The memorial had become a focal point for collective mourning and political expression among members of the Iranian diaspora, many of whom have called for greater international attention and support following the mass killings.
Its vandalism is viewed by some residents not only as an act of destruction but also as an attempt to undermine or erase a narrative of loss and resistance that holds deep significance for the community.
'Deliberate act of intimidation'
Despite reports submitted to the City of Los Angeles, some of the graffiti has remained in place, raising questions among residents about response times and local authorities’ handling of politically sensitive vandalism.
Roozbeh Farahanipour, a political activist and member of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, told Iran International the graffiti represents what he described as a deliberate act of intimidation.
He said the public display of such messaging in Westwood sends what he described as a direct threat by the Islamic Republic and its affiliated networks against the Iranian-American community.
Farahanipour said the imagery reflects an effort by Iranian authorities and their supporters to project power “in the capital of their opposition,” referring to the concentration of Iranian dissidents and exiles in the area.
As an anti-war activist, he added that political activists and business owners in Westwood “will never allow the flag of the Islamic Republic to be displayed or normalized in this community.”
He further characterized the graffiti as a security concern, warning that such messaging, particularly amid ongoing tensions involving Iran, can contribute to fear and intimidation among residents.
For many residents of Westwood, often referred to as “Tehrangeles” because of its large Iranian-American population, the appearance of pro-Islamic Republic messaging carries emotional weight.
The neighborhood has historically served as a refuge for Iranians who left the country after the 1979 revolution and subsequent political repression.
A fire that broke out in the reed beds of the Mighan Wetlands in Iran’s central city of Arak been contained, official media reported on Tuesday.
Local reports said the blaze spread through parts of the wetland area, prompting emergency response teams to the scene. Authorities later brought the fire under control after several hours of firefighting operations.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Iranian media added.
US Secretary of State Rubio says "the operation epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal."
"He would prefer to sit down work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed a full opening of the straits so the world can get back to normal that he and he preferred that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting."
"That's the route he prefers. That is so far, not the route that Iran has chosen. And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we're the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there, and that's what we're undergoing now."
"What that may lead to in the future is speculative. I'm not going to speculate about what it would take or what it would do, but look the message to Iran. These guys are facing. They are facing real, catastrophic destruction to their economy, generational destruction to their economy, generational destruction to the wealth of their country, imposed on themselves by the by the actions that they're taking. They should check themselves before they wreck themselves in the direction that they're going. "
The United States, Bahrain and US partners in the Persian Gulf drafted a UN Security Council resolution to defend freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to hold the world’s economy hostage,” Rubio said in a statement on Tuesday.
The draft resolution requires Iran to cease attacks, mining and tolling, disclose the number and location of sea mines it has laid and cooperate with efforts to remove them, Rubio added.
Rubio said the US looked forward to a vote on the resolution in the coming days.
“The people of Iran are daily victims of the regime, and the President has deep sympathy for what they’re going through,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“I don’t know of any country in the world where there’s a bigger difference between the people and the people who run the country,” he added.
“This country is run by radical Shia clerics, and that’s not what Iran and the Iranian people are,” he said.
Rubio said Iranians “just want a normal life and a regular life,” adding that Iran has “an incredible history” and “an incredible legacy.”