Iran demands sanctions relief in any deal, says deputy FM

A health ministry public relations official said on Monday that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was taken to hospital following the US-Israeli attack and treated for several wounds requiring stitches, including to his leg.

The official said Khamenei did not suffer injuries causing disfigurement or loss of limb.

The remarks appeared to push back on earlier reports that Khamenei Jr sustained serious injuries during US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed his father, including wounds requiring multiple surgeries and a prosthetic leg.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since he was announced as new leader, fueling speculation about his condition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant had never been subject to sanctions and that its operation concerned only Russia and Iran, state-run TASS news agency reported.

“This concerns no one except Russia and Iran,” Lavrov said, adding that the site had been excluded from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

He said the project was being implemented and that additional power units were under construction.

He added that personnel were returning after some employees had been evacuated to neighboring countries during what he called US and Israeli strikes near the plant.

A US-sanctioned LPG tanker loaded fuel at Iran’s Kharg Island on Saturday after slipping through the US naval blockade undetected, Tanker Trackers said on Monday.

The tracking firm said the vessel had last appeared on AIS nearly two weeks earlier off the coast of India before loading LPG at Kharg Island.

Europol said on Monday that 14,200 posts and links tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had been targeted in a coordinated operation against online terrorist material.

The operation, led by Europol’s EU Internet Referral Unit, involved 19 countries and focused on content used to spread propaganda, recruit supporters and raise funds.

The material, Europol said, appeared across social media, streaming services, blogs and websites in several languages, including Persian, English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

The content, it said, included AI-generated videos glorifying the IRGC, political messaging, calls for revenge over Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and material linked to allied groups including Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Continue reading

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions.

“Iran must enter serious negotiations with the United States, stop threatening its neighbors and open the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions,” Merz said in a post on X.

He also condemned renewed Iranian airstrikes against the United Arab Emirates and other countries, saying attacks on nuclear facilities threatened people across the region.

“There must be no further escalation of violence,” Merz said.