French mine-clearing assets remain deployed in Persian Gulf, Macron says

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Friday hit back at Donald Trump over his remarks about Iranians struggling with food shortages, saying the US president was projecting America’s own food insecurity problems.

“Imagine having forty-something million of your own citizens on food stamps and calling another nation hungry,” Ghalibaf wrote on X.

“This is not a proclamation. This is a projection. Keep your SNAP advice,” he added, referring to the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Ghalibaf said Iran would decide for itself how to use its assets, telling Trump to “mind your malnutrition rates.”

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.