About 1,500 ships were on the route to the Strait of Hormuz waiting to pass through the waterway, Iran's state media reported on Thursday.
The report said any vessel seeking to cross the area must obtain permission from the IRGC navy.
The Institute for Science and International Security said newly available satellite imagery appeared to show possible new defensive measures at Iran’s underground Pickaxe Mountain (Mount Kolang Gaz La) complex near the Natanz nuclear site.
The Washington-based institute said imagery suggested that by late April, two eastern tunnel entrances at the site had been partially blocked with grey earthen material that could hinder rapid vehicle access and would likely require heavy equipment to clear.
The institute said the entrances had appeared unobstructed in imagery from earlier in the month.
It added that the material did not fully conceal the tunnel portals, unlike measures previously observed at tunnel entrances at Fordow and Esfahan.
The institute said the activity raised “significant questions” because the deeply buried complex could potentially be used to store sensitive equipment or materials.
It also noted that older tunnel portals linked to a separate complex dating back to 2007 at Pickaxe Mountain had earlier this year been buried and reinforced with concrete, which analysts said could suggest equipment or material had been moved into the tunnels.
Iran’s president gave the first public account of a recent meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the strikes that killed his father and reportedly wounded him.
Masoud Pezeshkian said the meeting lasted nearly two and a half hours and was held in what he described as a close and cordial atmosphere.
“What stood out to me more than anything else in this meeting was the manner, outlook and deeply humble and cordial approach of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution,” Pezeshkian said.
He added that Khamenei’s approach turned the discussion into “an atmosphere based on trust, calm, empathy and direct dialogue.”
Pezeshkian also linked the meeting to the need for unity inside the leadership, saying Khamenei’s conduct could serve as a model for the country’s management system.
“When the highest-ranking official in the country treats officials and individuals with such moral conduct, humility and a people-oriented spirit, this behavior can naturally become a model for the country’s administrative and management system,” he said.
The account comes weeks after sources told Iran International that Pezeshkian had repeatedly sought an urgent meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei but received no response. The sources said a “military council” of senior IRGC officers had imposed a security cordon around the new Supreme Leader and prevented government reports from reaching him.
Taliban and Iranian officials have collaborated on developing a mobile application capable of monitoring users inside Afghanistan, sources told Afghanistan International.
Sources in Afghanistan said the application was believed to have surveillance capabilities that could expose smartphones and internet-connected devices to monitoring systems linked to the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence.
A London-based cybersecurity expert said suspicious applications could collect sensitive information, including location data, contacts, messages, browsing history and device access permissions.
German intelligence officials have privately warned that the risk of Iran-linked attacks in Germany is more serious than the government has publicly acknowledged, according to senior German officials cited by the New York Times.
The officials said state intelligence agencies had pushed political leaders to issue stronger public warnings about possible attacks linked to the Islamic Republic.
German intelligence officials have privately warned that the risk of Iran-linked attacks in Germany is more serious than the government has publicly acknowledged, according to senior German officials cited by the New York Times.
The officials said state intelligence agencies had pushed political leaders to issue stronger public warnings about possible attacks linked to the Islamic Republic.
A spokesman for Germany’s interior ministry said evidence of Iranian plots in Germany “has increased” during the conflict and that authorities were investigating planned Iranian operations, including against critics of Tehran living in Germany.
Senior officials also told the newspaper that European intelligence agencies had identified around 50 suspected plots linked to Iran-connected underground groups operating in Germany before the war began.
German investigators were assessing whether Iranian proxies were involved in an attack last month on an Israeli restaurant in Munich in which assailants smashed windows and threw explosive devices into the building, according to the report.
The newspaper also cited German officials as saying Iranian intelligence officers threatened and assaulted some anti-government protesters during a large demonstration in Munich earlier this year.
German officials said many of Iran’s most prominent targets in Germany were Jewish institutions, with two believed to be the subject of current plots by Iran’s leadership, according to the New York Times.
The report also said German investigators were assessing whether Iranian proxies were behind an after-hours attack last month on an Israeli restaurant in Munich, where assailants smashed windows and threw explosive devices inside.
German intelligence services have detected a growing connection between Iranian agents and organized crime in recent years, including links to biker gangs and human traffickers, officials told the newspaper.
Two officials said Iranian agents had at times approached European criminals with Iranian roots, whom they viewed as easier to recruit.