Italy moves minesweepers closer to Persian Gulf amid truce concerns
Italy is moving two minesweepers closer to the Persian Gulf but will only deploy them as part of an international mission if a stable truce takes hold in the region, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Wednesday.
Speaking to parliament, Crosetto said the vessels would be “pre-positioned” first in the eastern Mediterranean and then the Red Sea as a precaution, adding that any deployment to the Strait of Hormuz would require parliamentary approval.
He said Italy would act only in the event of a “real, credible and stable truce,” as talks led by Britain and France continue on a possible naval mission to protect shipping in the region.
A British-Iranian man said a suspected Iran-linked agent offered him £40,000 ($53,000) to kill a London-based journalist critical of Tehran, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
The man, identified by the pseudonym “Nima,” told the newspaper he reported the incident to British police after returning to the UK and warned the journalist, who works for a Persian-language broadcaster.
Nima, who has lived in Britain for about a decade and works as a bartender, said the encounter began during a holiday in southern Europe, where he visited an Iranian restaurant and met two men, including one he recognized from Iran.
The man initially discussed plans to open a bar in London and asked for Nima’s contact details, presenting the approach as a business proposal, according to the report.
Alleged murder proposal
Nima said a second meeting took a darker turn when the man arrived with two others and began referring to personal details about his life in Britain and relatives in Iran.
“He told me: ‘You are a decent man. You have family in Iran who need your support. I would like to offer you a job, with an initial payment of £40,000,’” Nima told the Jewish Chronicle.
According to the report, the man referred to an Iranian journalist in London with whom Nima had argued online and said he wanted to “punish” him, asking whether Nima could carry out the act or find someone else to do so.
Nima said he was offered 20,000 pounds in cash immediately and the remaining amount after identifying the journalist’s location. He said the men appeared to believe the journalist lived in a safe house.
The suspected operative did not directly identify himself as an IRGC member, Nima said, but an acquaintance suggested he held influence in Iran and referred to “Sepah” - the Persian name for the IRGC –while discussing possible help for Nima’s family.
The alleged approach comes amid heightened concern in Britain over Iranian-linked threats targeting dissidents, journalists and Jewish institutions.
Iran-aligned group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia has said it carried out attacks on Jewish sites in Britain and Europe, including incidents involving two north London synagogues last month.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum has warned repeatedly that Iran, acting through the IRGC, poses what he described as a “potentially lethal” threat in Britain. British authorities have disrupted multiple alleged Iran-linked plots since 2022 targeting dissidents, journalists and Jewish or Israeli-linked individuals, according to British officials.
Iran executed Ehsan Afrashteh on Wednesday on accusations of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel, the judiciary’s Mizan News reported.
Afrashteh, who was born in the central city of Isfahan in 1993 and held a master’s degree in civil engineering, was arrested in early 2024 after returning from Turkey and spent several months in solitary confinement under interrogation at a security facility, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor.
Mizan claimed Afrashteh had become fluent in English, French and Hebrew during what it described as his cooperation with Israel.
Iran executed Ehsan Afrashteh on Wednesday on accusations of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel, the judiciary’s Mizan News reported.
Afrashteh, who was born in the central city of Isfahan in 1993 and held a master’s degree in civil engineering, was arrested in early 2024 after returning from Turkey and spent several months in solitary confinement under interrogation at a security facility, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor.
Mizan claimed Afrashteh had become fluent in English, French and Hebrew during what it described as his cooperation with Israel.
It accused him of selling sensitive information to Israel and claimed that he had been trained by Mossad in Nepal.
The judiciary-linked outlet also claimed that he initially carried out instructions while working as an online taxi driver.
Several human rights organizations had previously warned that he was at imminent risk of execution.
Iranian poet Peyman Farahavar remains at risk of execution after the country’s Supreme Court rejected his request for judicial review, a rights group said on Tuesday.
The case against him stemmed from his poetry, political writings and protest activities, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said, citing sources close to his family, who also said he had not taken part in any armed activities.
The US-based group said former cellmates reported torture during interrogation, the destruction of some of his handwritten poems and denial of full medical care despite serious health problems.
Iranian poet Peyman Farahavar remains at risk of execution after the country’s Supreme Court rejected his request for judicial review, a rights group said on Tuesday.
The case against him stemmed from his poetry, political writings and protest activities, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said, citing sources close to his family, who also said he had not taken part in any armed activities.
The US-based group said former cellmates reported torture during interrogation, the destruction of some of his handwritten poems and denial of full medical care despite serious health problems.
Farahavar, a 37-year-old father from Iran’s northern province of Gilan, was sentenced to death on accusations of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi) and “enmity against God” (moharebeh) by a Revolutionary Court in Rasht.
Farahavar was arrested in Rasht in September 2024 and later transferred to Lakan Prison after being held at an Intelligence Ministry detention center, the group said.
Iran has been carrying out near-daily executions, which has raised fears for detainees believed to be facing the death penalty over January’s anti-government protests, as well as prisoners accused of espionage during the war with the United States and Israel.
