Iran says it sold $18 billion worth of oil since war began in February
Iran sold $11.5 billion worth of oil during the war that began on February 28 and another $6.5 billion during the ceasefire period, Reuters reported Saturday, citing Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad.
The ceasefire began on April 7 and was declared over on July 10. The sales generated more than 60% of the oil revenue projected in Iran’s annual budget, Paknejad added.
File photo by ISNA shows Rajaeishahr Prison west of Tehran
As international attention remains fixed on the Iran-US war and regional escalation, human rights advocates say Tehran is intensifying another campaign largely outside the global spotlight: the execution of protesters and political prisoners.
“The bombs are making noise and the world is looking at Iran, but what about the silence that is killing innocent people every day?” Azadeh Afsahi, founder of Iran House, told Iran International’s Eye for Iran podcast.
Rights groups say the war did not create the crackdown but has provided political cover for the Islamic Republic to fast-track death sentences, conceal executions from families and intimidate a population already traumatized by the violent suppression of nationwide protests in January.
Accelerated executions raise alarm
Rights groups estimate that around 100 political prisoners and protesters have received death sentences, while hundreds more face capital charges. More than 70 people are awaiting execution in Dastgerd Prison in the central city of Isfahan, according to Iran Human Rights.
Iran Human Rights says at least 24 people have been executed in connection with the January protests since March 19, most recently Mehdi Khaneki, a 26-year-old law graduate who was put to death on July 22.
Others have been executed over alleged ties to banned opposition groups or on espionage charges.
Those facing execution include people arrested following protests in Isfahan on January 8.
Iran executed Erfan Esfandiari, reportedly 18, and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, a 23-year-old Afghan national, on July 19. Iranian authorities accused them of involvement in the deaths of four members of the security forces.
Rights groups say the defendants were denied fair trials and access to independent legal representation. Ten other men prosecuted in the same case remain at risk of execution, according to UN investigators.
The UN Human Rights Council-mandated fact-finding mission called on Tehran on Thursday to halt the executions immediately. It said relatives of at least two prisoners had been summoned for what appeared to be final visits, raising fears that further executions could be imminent.
The mission also raised alarm over efforts to expedite protest-related proceedings. It noted that Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi announced on July 15 that cases connected to the protests and recent hostilities had been finalized and referred to court following an order from judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to accelerate proceedings.
ARTICLE 19, citing figures compiled by Hengaw, said Iran executed 109 people in June, including three women—a 10% increase from the same month last year. Only seven of those executions were officially announced, while at least 12 families received no advance notice, according to the organization.
The lack of warning has left some relatives learning about executions through official media.
According to AFP, the family of Vahid Baniamerian, a 34-year-old physics lecturer, received no warning before his execution. A relative said they were still awaiting a Supreme Court review when reports of his imminent execution began appearing in state media.
Baniamerian was executed alongside five other men convicted of alleged membership in the outlawed People’s Mujahedin Organization.
The executions also drew a response from US President Donald Trump, who wrote “Savages!!!” while reposting an image and account of Mohammadi’s execution. He also shared posts about Esfandiari.
Trump had previously warned Tehran against executing protesters. During the January 2026 uprising, he said the United States would take “very strong action” if authorities carried out hangings and told Iranians that “help is on its way.”
Human rights advocates, however, say public condemnation has not been matched by sufficient action.
Fear of another uprising
Shahin Milani, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, said the regime views internal rebellion as a greater threat to its survival than the prospect of a large-scale foreign invasion.
He said the Islamic Republic may fear its own population more than US military action. “The most serious threat that they face is from internal rebellion. This is from Iranian people bringing the regime down.”
Milani said the severity of the January crackdown demonstrated how seriously the authorities viewed that threat.
“They set a new standard in their own regime for brutality,” he said.
The executions, Milani argued, are intended both to frighten the wider population and demonstrate strength to regime supporters who might otherwise consider defecting.
He said they may delay further unrest but cannot resolve the economic hardship and political discontent driving opposition to the government.
“You cannot kill your way out of economic misery and discontent,” he said, predicting renewed demonstrations could emerge within months or years.
Afsahi said the crackdown has deepened depression and trauma among survivors and victims’ families, while international attention remains concentrated on the military conflict.
“Everybody cares about the bombs, but nobody cares about the hanging that is happening every day,” she said.
Despite that trauma, Afsahi said many survivors remain prepared to protest again.
“They’re just waiting,” she said. “They’re ready for that next ignition to be able to go out again.”
Brandon Silver, an international human rights lawyer and director at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said the executions should be viewed within the broader context of Iran’s record of domestic repression.
He pointed to the country’s high rates of executions, executions of people convicted of crimes allegedly committed as children, state hostage-taking and imprisonment of journalists.
“There is an effort to obfuscate, to hide these staggering statistics,” Silver said, describing the executions as part of “an ongoing campaign of mass domestic repression.”
He argued that abuses inside Iran have repeatedly spilled beyond its borders through hostage-taking and alleged plots targeting journalists, dissidents and human rights advocates abroad.
“When they’re able to carry this out within Iran, it puts all of us everywhere in danger,” he said.
Silver called on governments to move beyond statements by expelling officials involved in repression, imposing visa bans and freezing and seizing the foreign assets of regime figures. Those assets, he proposed, should be redirected to victims of the Islamic Republic.
Iranian prisoners have also begun challenging the execution campaign from inside the country. About 1,500 prisoners sentenced to death for drug-related offenses in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison have staged a hunger strike and sit-in since July 13. The protest began after six inmates were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for execution.
The protest has added a rare form of resistance from inside Iran’s prisons to the growing international campaign against the executions, according to the advocates interviewed by Eye for Iran.
They said the executions may demonstrate the regime’s capacity for repression, but they also reveal its fear that the anger driving Iran’s protest movement remains unresolved.
The war may have pushed that movement out of the headlines. It has not, they warned, eliminated it.
Plane spotters watch as a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress takes off at RAF Fairford airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain, April 23, 2026.
Iran is using migrant smuggling routes into Britain to move covert operatives into the country, the Telegraph reported on Saturday, citing unnamed Iranian officials, people smugglers and analysts.
The newspaper said the operation was centered on Unit 700, a logistics and smuggling arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force that Britain sanctioned in 2024 for facilitating activities intended to destabilize the UK and other countries.
According to the report, an Iranian official described Britain's support for US military operations against Iran as making it a target, telling the newspaper: "Our armed forces' message was very clear yesterday - stay away from the carnage."
The official also said: "At the moment we have people right there in London ... They wait for us to tell them what to do," adding that Tehran could "easily make London unsafe" and that "we do not need a missile to target London. It's easier than that."
A second unnamed Iranian official went further, saying Iran had people in Britain who could "even target their prime minister's house" if Tehran chose to do so, according to the newspaper.
Smuggling network
The Telegraph said two people smugglers familiar with routes into Europe told the newspaper that parts of the network were controlled by the Iranian government.
One smuggler was quoted as saying that "some legs of the network" used to move migrants into Europe "are actually owned by the government," while another said controlling a route meant "you can do what you like."
The report said the routes, originally established to move weapons, money and supplies to Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, were also being used to move migrants into Europe, including Britain.
Security experts skeptical
The newspaper said British security experts questioned whether Iran had the capability to establish long-term covert networks in Britain.
It quoted Lynette Nusbacher, a former senior adviser to the Cabinet Office on security matters, as saying Iran lacked the "strategic patience" to plant genuine covert agents in Britain, while Kristian Gustafson of Brunel University said Tehran's objective could instead be to create enough fear to weaken British support for US operations.
Nearly half of Iranian internet users said they were angered by the country's recent internet shutdown during the conflict with the US, while most opposed unrestricted internet access for government officials, according to a survey commissioned by the communications ministry.
The survey by the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA), conducted between June 15 and June 21, found that 46.1% of internet users said the shutdown of international internet access made them "very" or "to a great extent" angry and frustrated. Another 47.1% said it caused little or no anger.
The poll found that 89.3% of Iranians aged 15 and older use the internet.
Among users, 38.8% said losing access to the global internet created serious difficulties communicating with friends and family, while 33.6% said the main impact was on entertainment, including watching videos and listening to music.
Almost one-third, or 29.6%, said their work and income would have been completely disrupted if international internet access had not been restored, underscoring the reliance of many Iranians on online connectivity for their livelihoods.
The survey also suggested the restrictions did not drive most users to state media. During the outage, 39.2% said they followed news through state television, while 21.3% relied on domestic social media platforms such as Baleh and Eitaa and 14.5% turned to satellite television channels.
The findings also highlighted widespread dissatisfaction with internet services. Some 72.3% of users said they were little or not at all satisfied with internet speed, while 56.9% said increasing internet speeds would be their top policy priority. Another 21.5% said reducing internet filtering should be the priority.
The survey found 61.1% opposed unrestricted, unfiltered internet access for government officials, while 24.6% supported such access.
The communications ministry has estimated the internet shutdown cost Iran's economy about 5 trillion rials ($58 million at the official exchange rate) a day, according to the report. The survey also found that 58% of respondents viewed internet-based businesses as a key driver of job creation.
The survey was conducted on behalf of the communications ministry among a sample of 4,545 people.
Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian gestures in a meeting, with State broadcaster chief Peyman Jebeli to his left
Iran’s government has publicly accused the state broadcaster of censoring President Pezeshkian’s remarks in which he said the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei privately ordered officials to negotiate with the United States despite publicly ruling out talks with Washington.
The dispute has reignited a long-running confrontation between Pezeshkian's administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which reformist and pragmatic politicians have for years accused of partisan coverage and a pro-hardline editorial line.
The omitted remarks came during a televised interview in which Pezeshkian described how Iran's leadership decided to resume negotiations.
"After the Twelve-Day War, the martyred Supreme Leader officially announced that we would no longer negotiate with the United States," Pezeshkian said. "State television broadcast those statements as well."
According to the president, he and other senior officials later met Khamenei to explain the country's circumstances, reminding him that he himself had argued that a prolonged state of "neither war nor peace" was unsustainable.
"We asked, 'What should we do?' He instructed us to go and negotiate," Pezeshkian said.
"He also sent a message saying, 'Go and resolve the problem,' because it was not possible to continue under conditions of neither war nor peace."
Pezeshkian stressed that opening negotiations did not amount to a concession, adding that even now, despite what he described as "difficulties communicating with the Leader," the government's diplomatic steps continued to be taken "under his guidance and instructions."
The remarks appear to describe a distinction between Khamenei's public stance and his private guidance to senior officials, although Pezeshkian did not explain why the two differed.
The president's office later complained that the passage had been removed from the version broadcast by state television, prompting criticism from government supporters and renewed accusations that IRIB had selectively edited the interview.
The broadcaster has not publicly explained why the segment was omitted.
The clash is the latest in a series of disputes between Pezeshkian's administration and IRIB.
Since taking office, government officials and reformist politicians have repeatedly accused the broadcaster of favouring hardline political factions, selectively editing interviews and undermining the elected government through its news coverage.
IRIB has consistently rejected accusations of political bias, saying its editorial decisions are made according to professional standards.
US President Donald Trump said Washington was in talks with Iran and had not yet decided whether to launch major new strikes, even as fighting spread across the region and reports emerged that Bahrain and Kuwait had directly attacked Iranian military sites for the first time.
“We’re talking to them right now,” Trump said Friday when asked whether Americans should expect major strikes. He said the United States could continue attacking Iran “piece by piece” or intensify the campaign “in a more rapid fashion,” while describing a negotiated agreement as the smarter option.
Trump said Iran appeared increasingly serious about reaching a deal but warned that negotiations could still fail. Any agreement, he said, must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
His comments came after The New York Times reported that he had met senior advisers to consider intensifying US military operations against Iran. The discussions followed US Central Command’s announcement Thursday that it had completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military and maritime targets.
Persian Gulf states enter the fight
The Wall Street Journal reported that Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent warplanes to strike drone- and missile-storage facilities and other military sites inside Iran in early July, marking their first direct retaliation against Tehran.
The United Arab Emirates provided intelligence and defensive air cover, according to the report. Bahrain and Kuwait both host US military bases and have repeatedly come under Iranian missile and drone attack.
Kuwait’s military said Friday that its air defenses were confronting “hostile” drones launched from Iran, while Bahrain said it had intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks.
Iran also stepped up its warnings to countries supporting US military operations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said countries that allowed the United States to use their bases or territory for attacks would place themselves “among the aggressors.”
Mediation channels
Pakistan and Oman were working to keep channels open between Washington and Tehran as fighting continued.
Pakistan was exploring a possible route to restart stalled US-Iran talks after a diplomatic push by China, three Pakistani sources told Reuters. They said major obstacles remained, including Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia and other regional states.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, accused Washington of a “breach of commitments” and “excessive demands” during a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in Kyrgyzstan.
The Iranian and Omani foreign ministers also spoke by phone as an Omani delegation arrived in Tehran for talks on managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Maritime conflict spreads
Maritime tensions intensified across two of the region’s most important shipping routes.
The United States and Britain were planning a high-level meeting in London on forming an international coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington was seeking allied contributions including de-mining vessels, naval ships and drones.
In the Red Sea, the Saudi vessel NCC Masa suffered minor hull damage in an attack but continued to its destination after checks confirmed that the ship and crew were safe. The incident came four days after the Iran-backed Houthis announced an immediate naval blockade on Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
As fighting continued across the region, rhetoric from Tehran also pointed toward further escalation.
Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Iran would kill one American service member for every Iranian citizen killed in US attacks.
“For every proud citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is martyred, one American force will be sent to hell,” Abdollahi was quoted as saying by IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.
He added that Iran had prepared “free, direct tickets to hell” for US troops.
