US proposed $25B asset release and 3.67% enrichment cap for Iran

Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, 34, a former MMA champion, coach and international referee, was moved from a high-security ward in Tehran’s Evin Prison to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Hengaw said.

The case comes amid a widening wartime crackdown in Iran, where authorities have intensified arrests, executions and threats against dissent while repeatedly warning that criticism could aid the country’s enemies.

Rights groups and reformist commentators have increasingly warned that wartime conditions are being used to justify broader repression, tighter internet restrictions and harsher treatment of political prisoners at a time of heightened confrontation with the United States and Israel.

Hengaw said Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Khani Shakarab to death in what it described as a highly opaque judicial process.

The sentence was upheld by Branch 39 of Iran’s Supreme Court and referred for implementation despite a recent request for judicial review submitted by his relatives, the rights group said.

A source familiar with the case told Hengaw that Khani Shakarab was denied access to a lawyer of his choosing during interrogation and trial and that the conviction was based solely on forced confessions extracted under pressure.

Hengaw said Khani Shakarab had been living in Turkey before his arrest and was detained last year by Iran’s security forces during a trip to Iraq for a religious pilgrimage at the request of a relative, before subsequently being transferred to Iran.

His brother, Esmail Khani, 43, was also arrested in the same case on political charges and is serving a prison sentence in Ardabil Central Prison, Hengaw added.

The case comes as Amnesty International said this week that executions worldwide rose to their highest recorded level in more than four decades in 2025, with Iran responsible for the overwhelming majority of the increase.

According to Amnesty’s annual report, Iranian authorities carried out at least 2,159 executions last year — more than double the previous year’s figure and by far the largest contributor to the global rise.

“A shameless minority are weaponizing the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent and punish marginalized communities,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in the report.

Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority said on Wednesday a “controlled maritime zone” would be established in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a post on X.

The authority, set up to oversee the strategic waterway, defined the zone as extending “from the line connecting Kuh-e Mobarak in Iran and southern Fujairah in the UAE on the eastern side of the strait, to the line connecting the end of Qeshm Island in Iran and Umm Al Quwain in the UAE on the western side.”

It added that vessels transiting the area through the strait would be required to coordinate with and obtain authorization from the authority.

Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani on Wednesday dismissed the effectiveness of the US-led maritime blockade against Iran and warned that any new attack would be met with retaliation.

“Maritime blockade means nothing. They exaggerate and do not dare attack,” Zakani told Iranian state television.

“They already carried out their maximum measures and saw that we have the upper hand. If they attack, they will get a response. The era of hit-and-run is over,” he added.

Zakani also rejected any suggestion that the Strait of Hormuz could become part of negotiations with Washington.

“The Strait of Hormuz is our right and we should not negotiate about it with the Americans at all,” he said.

An Iranian political prisoner sentenced to death on charges of “espionage and collaboration with a hostile state (Israel)” is at imminent risk of execution after being transferred to solitary confinement, the Norway-based rights Hengaw said on Wednesday.

Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, 34, a former MMA champion, coach and international referee, was moved from a high-security ward in Tehran’s Evin Prison to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Hengaw said.

Hengaw said Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death in what it described as a highly opaque judicial process.

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Britain said on Wednesday it had secured a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) worth about $5 billion a year in the long run, deepening economic ties with allies in a region dealing with the fallout from the Iran war.

The GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The British government said the deal would be worth £3.7 billion, or $4.96 billion, each year in the long term, more than double a previous estimate of £1.6 billion.

“At a time of increased instability, today's announcement sends a clear signal of confidence - giving UK exporters the certainty they need to plan ahead,” Britain’s trade minister Peter Kyle said.