Israeli soldier jailed five years over spying for Iran

Craig Foreman and his wife, Lindsay, were arrested in January last year while traveling through Iran by motorcycle on a journey from Europe to Australia. Both deny the espionage charges. They were each sentenced to 10 years in prison in February.

Joe Bennett, Lindsay Foreman's son and the family's spokesperson, said Craig Foreman was told he was being taken to see his lawyer but was instead brought before a judge and informed of the additional sentence.

“He was allowed no lawyer, no translator and no opportunity to defend himself,” Bennett said, adding that the family was “absolutely flabbergasted” by the decision.

The couple have been on hunger strike since May after prison authorities prevented them from calling their families. HRANA, a US-based human rights group, said last week that Craig Foreman had lost about 16 kilograms while Lindsay Foreman was suffering from dizziness and body tremors.

“My mum and Craig are 18 months into an ordeal they should never have known,” Bennett said. “They are weak, they are hungry, and now Craig is being punished simply for being heard. To add two more years to an innocent man's sentence, in secret and with no chance to defend himself, is a flagrant abuse of the most basic rights any person is owed.”

Last month, UN special rapporteurs Alice Edwards and Mai Sato called for the couple's release, saying they appeared to have been wrongfully detained and sentenced after proceedings that “failed to meet basic fair trial guarantees.”

Britain has advised against all travel to Iran since 2022, warning that British nationals may be detained because of their nationality or links to the UK. The Foreign Office has said it is working to secure the couple's release and that their welfare remains a priority. The family also welcomed the appointment this week of former Middle East minister Alistair Burt as Britain's first envoy for nationals detained abroad in complex cases.

An Iranian lawmaker said on Wednesday that Tehran should seize a US military base in the region and take American soldiers prisoner in response to attacks on Iran.

Manouchehr Mottaki, a member of parliament representing Tehran, said any military bases used to launch attacks on Iran were "legitimate targets."

"We should launch a ground attack on US military bases in the region, seize one of them, take thousands of American soldiers prisoner and bring them to Iran," Mottaki said in a televised interview.

"We must begin the ground offensive, something the Americans threatened for a long time but never dared to carry out," he added.

Iran's army said on Wednesday it would respond after a US strike on one of its barracks in southeastern Iran that it said killed seven military personnel.

The army's ground forces said the United States fired 13 missiles at a barracks in Bampur, near Iranshahr, before dawn, targeting accommodation buildings and guard posts.

It said seven military personnel, including career soldiers and conscripts, were killed and several others were wounded.

"The retaliation for the blood of the martyrs of this crime is certain and imminent," the army said, adding that it would deliver a "decisive response" to the attack.

Iran executed a man on Wednesday after accusing him of setting fire to government and police facilities during protests in Isfahan province in January, the judiciary’s Mizan News reported.

Mohammad Amini Dehaghani was hanged after the Supreme Court upheld his sentence, the report said.

The judiciary alleged that he threw Molotov cocktails at the Dehaghan governor’s office and central police station on January 9 and encouraged others to attack officers.

The report cited surveillance footage and what it described as the defendant’s confessions. It also alleged that Amini Dehaghani sought to use a rifle taken from police officers during the protests.

An Iranian lawmaker criticized a parliamentary proposal titled “Revenge against Trump,” saying on Wednesday that genuine retaliation would not be carried out through legislation.

“Someone who wants to take revenge does not turn it into a law. Someone who does these things certainly does not want the action to happen,” Shahrokh Ramin, a member of parliament’s social committee, said.

“If we are truly seeking revenge, we take revenge, and the way to do it is not through legislation,” he added. “When the Americans wanted to strike us, they did not pass a law.”