Ghalibaf hits back at Trump over food shortage remarks

The prisoners arrested in the city of Mahallat have been identified as Erfan Khalili, Ali-Akbar Mahlooji, Hesam Issaei, Hossein Shokouhi and Abolghasem Kazem-Aslani.

They are being held in Arak prison and have only 10 days to appeal the verdicts.

Their verdict was announced on the same day that fellow political prisoner Arghavan Fallahi was sentenced to death on a charge of “baghi,” or armed rebellion, the US-based HRANA news agency reported.

The 24-year-old, held in Evin Prison, was sentenced by Judge Abolghasem Salavati of Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, HRANA said.

The charge was based on allegations of membership in anti-government groups and involvement in armed activities. Human rights activists say she is accused of links to the exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).

Salavati also sentenced political prisoner Mehdi Nazer and his fiancée, Mahnaz Chardouli, to death and also 10 years in prison. The couple were arrested in Tehran on January 11, 2026.

The charges include attacking a mosque with Molotov cocktails, taking part in illegal gatherings, “assembly and collusion,” and alleged offenses under Iran’s espionage law, including cooperation with Israel.

The sentences come as rights groups have warned against the Islamic Republic’s growing use of capital punishment following nationwide unrest and the US-Israel war against Iran.

Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, and Together Against the Death Penalty, based in Paris, said in a joint annual report released in April that the Islamic Republic executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest annual figure recorded in Iran since 1989.

The groups said the number marked a 68% increase from 975 executions in 2024 and included 48 women.

A Saudi delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khereiji paid tribute to Ali Khamenei’s coffin on Friday, while Iranian organizers arranged for the recitation of a Quranic verse referring to two armies that met at the seventh-century Battle of Badr.

The verse, Al Imran 3:13, describes one side as fighting in the cause of Allah and the other as disbelievers. It also says Allah supports with victory whom He wills.

The choice of verse appeared to place Iran on the side backed by God and its adversaries in the opposing camp, making the choice controversial on social media.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office denied a New York Times report on Friday that US officials feared Israel might try to assassinate Iranian negotiators during talks earlier this year.

“As usual, The New York Times’ latest story about Israel and the Iranian negotiators is fake news. A complete fabrication of reality,” the office said.

The New York Times reported, citing current and former US officials, that American officials indirectly warned Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf that Israel might target them.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi warned on Friday that Ali Khamenei’s planned funeral could become a deadly state spectacle, saying Iranians were again being made to pay the price for a government display of power.

“The main question is not where Khamenei will be buried,” Ebadi wrote in a post on Instagram. “The question is what will happen to the people who are once again supposed to pay the price for the government’s show of power in the most expensive funeral in history?”

Ebadi said Khamenei had, weeks before his death, spoken of tyrants from Pharaoh to Nimrod being overthrown at the height of their arrogance. She said he was now set to be buried in a costly, multi-day state ceremony similar to the rulers he once invoked.

“This is no longer mourning; it is planning for disaster,” she wrote.

Iran International earlier reported that authorities are preparing an unprecedented security operation for Khamenei’s burial, seeking to avoid repeats of past funeral disasters.

At least eight people died and many others were injured in a stampede during Ruhollah Khomeini’s chaotic 1989 funeral, while at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 injured during Ghasem Soleimani’s funeral in 2020.

Stana and Badea, who received 12 years and eight years in prison, respectively, were found guilty last month of wounding Zeraati with intent in the 2024 attack.

The Judge agreed with the prosecution’s case and assessment that this was a state-sponsored attack, concluding that the evidence overwhelmingly supported the conclusion that the attack was carried out in the interests of and on behalf of the Iranian state, according to a police statement.

"The judge ruled that the ‘foreign power condition’ under section 31 of the National Security Act was met in the case of Stana due to the extensive planning and his lengthy involvement in the plot, indicating that he knew, or at very least ought to have known of the connection to the Iranian state," the statement said.

"The condition was not deemed to have been met in the case of Badea, who was not aware of the connection to Iran as the motivation behind the attack."

UK Security Minister Angela Eagle said the "abhorrent" attack on Zeraati was “carried out on behalf of Iran before both men cowardly fled the country.”

“These sentences send a clear message: anyone acting on behalf of a foreign state to commit crimes in the UK will be identified, pursued and punished,” she said.

Eagle added that Britain takes the threat from Iran “extremely seriously” and vowed that the UK would “continue to hold the regime to account.”

Chief Superintendent Kris Wright, head of Protective Security Operations for Counter Terrorism Policing London, told Iran International after the sentencing that police and prosecutors had always treated the attack as one “coordinated and orchestrated on behalf of, or by, the Iranian regime.”

He said the judge’s sentencing remarks showed she was satisfied the evidence presented in court was strong enough to use powers under the National Security Act to increase the offenders’ sentences.

The case has drawn renewed attention to threats facing Persian-language journalists and dissidents in Britain, particularly after UK authorities previously said they had disrupted around 20 Iran-related plots or hostile activities since 2022.

Wright said Counter Terrorism Policing had worked extensively with Persian-language media organizations in London and across the UK for several years, adding that police recognized the position they were in and would continue helping them “enjoy the freedoms available in the UK” and continue their work.

Asked whether the attack reflected a broader pattern, Wright said police were seeing “an increasing number of hostile activities, criminal activities, and planning activities” directed or coordinated by foreign states.

He said authorities were also seeing a growing use of “criminals-for-hire,” or proxies, including UK-based criminals and individuals who enter the country on behalf of foreign regimes to carry out attacks.

Wright said one suspect in the Zeraati case remains outside UK custody and is still subject to legal proceedings in Romania. He said the Metropolitan Police were working closely with international partners and remained “fully committed” to bringing everyone involved to justice.

“This is a hugely important verdict today, and it sends a message to regimes around the world that Britain values and thrives on democracy,” Wright said.

“Those who seek to undermine the values we hold dear will not be allowed to thrive here in the UK,” he added, saying police would use every available means within the justice system to hold those responsible to account and expose the overseas agencies, bodies and regimes behind such activity.