Caine, Vance raised US munitions concerns over Iran escalation - CNN

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he would order Ukrainian intelligence to provide partner countries with information showing that Russia had helped Iran prepare strikes against US military facilities and regional states.

“I will instruct our intelligence to share with our partners the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of Persian Gulf states and US military facilities there since the beginning of July.

He alleged that the resulting images were transferred to Iran and that Russian satellite activity closely corresponded with Iranian attacks—both before strikes, to assist preparations, and afterward, to assess the damage.

“On July 19 and 20 alone, four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites—two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait,” he said.

Zelenskyy did not publish evidence supporting the allegation. But his pledge to share Ukraine’s intelligence with its partners represents a potentially significant role for Kyiv in the US-led war against Iran, particularly given Ukraine’s experience tracking Russian surveillance systems and countering Iranian-designed drones.

CBS News reported that Zelenskyy planned to share evidence with the United States showing that Russia was assisting Iran in targeting US bases in the Middle East.

His allegation also directly challenges President Donald Trump’s recent assertion that he believed assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow was not assisting Tehran.

Rare Ukrainian attack on Iran vessel

Earlier Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had achieved “very strong results” with long-range attacks in the Caspian Sea.

He said the targets included a Russian warship and vessels used to transport military cargo involving Iran, but did not identify the ships, describe the weapons used or disclose the extent of the damage.

Iran later confirmed that an Iranian commercial vessel had been hit in the Caspian Sea.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack caused an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another. It condemned the strike as an act of aggression, said Iran would defend its national interests and accused Kyiv of attempting to expand the Russia-Ukraine war.

Tehran also summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires to protest what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack, according to the Reuters report.

It was not immediately clear whether the Iranian vessel was one of the ships Zelenskyy said had been transporting military cargo.

Taken together, the Caspian strikes and the intelligence offer suggest Ukraine is treating the Russia-Iran partnership as a single military network operating across two wars.

Iranian-designed Shahed drones have played a major role in Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Kyiv is now alleging that assistance also flows in the opposite direction, with Moscow using its satellite capabilities to support Iranian attacks on US and regional military facilities.

Reuters reported on July 22 that Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Persian Gulf have prompted US intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or ​advanced drone technology.

The report, citing informed sources, said US intelligence officials have ‌not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.

Ukraine has previously offered its drone-interception expertise to Middle Eastern countries facing Iranian attacks, drawing on years of experience defending against Shahed-type drones used by Russia.

Kyiv has also increasingly targeted the Caspian Sea as a military logistics corridor, despite its distance from the principal battlefields in Ukraine.

In August 2025, Ukraine said it struck the Russian-flagged cargo vessel Port Olya-4 at the port of Olya in Russia’s Astrakhan region. Kyiv alleged that it was carrying Iranian ammunition and components for Shahed-type drones.

Four months later, Ukrainian special forces said they attacked the Kompozitor Rakhmaninov and Askar-Sarydzha off Russia’s Kalmykia region. Ukraine said the sanctioned vessels had transported weapons and military equipment between Iran and Russia.

Iran has denied supplying weapons for use in Ukraine, while acknowledging that it provided Russia with a limited number of drones before Moscow’s 2022 invasion.

Saturday’s developments, however, point to a broader confrontation. Ukraine is not only seeking to disrupt Iranian assistance to Russia but is offering to help Washington and its regional partners expose—and potentially counter—Russian support for Tehran’s war effort.

Nima Rezaei, known online as Nima Takido, has more than 935,000 YouTube subscribers and 1.5 million Instagram followers.

Iranian media reported that 5,000 free tickets had been issued for scheduled sessions at Iran Mall. Organizers were reportedly caught off guard when tens of thousands more arrived without reservations.

Teenagers traveled from several provinces and waited for hours for a chance to see him. Videos showed crowds filling the venue, turning what was intended to be a controlled fan event into a mass gathering.

The event was eventually cut short after the crowd overwhelmed the venue. Takido injured his leg in the crush and was taken for treatment.

Some Iranian reports also said his phone and wallet went missing and that security forces were called to help control the gathering.

The scenes highlighted the emergence of a parallel celebrity culture among Iran’s younger generation—one with its own stars, humor, language and communities, largely separate from television, cinema and other traditional routes to fame.

Many older Iranians had never heard Takido’s name. Yet to his young followers, he is a familiar figure whose videos and online presence have created a sense of connection built over years.

That divide is not unique to Iran. Online creators have become major cultural figures for teenagers around the world, often attracting crowds once associated mainly with film stars, musicians or athletes.

In September 2025, thousands crowded into New Jersey’s American Dream mall for an appearance by teenage YouTuber Salish Matter. The turnout overwhelmed organizers and prompted complaints about unsafe conditions and poor planning.

Takido’s event showed that the same global fan culture has taken root among young Iranians, even as they remain relatively isolated from international entertainment markets.

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Unlike traditional celebrities, online creators speak directly to their audiences, share parts of their daily lives and build communities through repeated, informal interactions. For young followers, that can make them feel more familiar and accessible than figures promoted through official media.

Takido belongs to a wider Persian-language creator ecosystem that includes Farshad Silent, Aria Rahmati, Pouria Putak, Nivad, KamTalam, Mia Plays and the Kouman team.

Some live outside Iran, while others produce content that rarely appears in state-controlled media. Their influence nevertheless crosses borders and reaches large audiences inside the country.

YouTube remains blocked in Iran, and users commonly rely on circumvention tools to access it. But the restriction was secondary to what the gathering revealed: a generation forming its cultural tastes and identities in spaces largely beyond the reach of traditional institutions.

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In Iran, everyone is watching the same number this summer. The US dollar is trading at around 1.9 million rials in Tehran’s open market, and the government has turned stopping it from reaching 2 million into a priority.

The state is spending scarce reserves to defend that line. The market is bracing for it to be crossed.

To understand why one exchange rate commands this much attention, it helps to know what the number means in Iranian life. The rial is a currency people try not to hold.

Salaries are paid in it, but many Iranians with savings convert them into dollars, crypto, gold, property or even food items with a longer shelf life as quickly as they can.

The dollar rate is the thermometer of everything else: rents, medicine, car prices and the cost of a grocery run.

When the rate crosses a round number, shopkeepers reprice, landlords renegotiate and expectations reset a step higher. Round numbers are not milestones on a financial chart; they are political events.

Here is the arc of that thermometer. Fifteen years ago, a dollar cost about 10,000 rials on the open market. In April 2025, it crossed 1 million.

This summer, it stands at the threshold of 2 million.

Spread over the first 15 years, the dollar doubled against the rial roughly once every two and a quarter years. The latest near-doubling took 15 months.

Put another way: it took 15 years to destroy 99 percent of the rial’s value against the dollar, and then 15 months to erase nearly half of what was left.

If inflation and depreciation continue at roughly their recent pace, the 3-million line could be five to eight months away. The latest halving of the currency’s value has arrived far faster than the average over the previous 15 years.

Why the central bank cannot hold the line

The engine behind this is not mysterious. Iran’s official statistics agency reports that consumer prices in June were 88.6 percent higher than a year earlier; the inflation families feel at the grocery store runs higher still.

The dollar has nearly doubled alongside the prices around it.

The inflation itself is rooted in fiscal arithmetic. The war and blockade have severely constrained Iran’s oil exports and maritime trade, while tax revenue is sinking with the economy.

The government is financing a substantial portion of its widening deficit through the banking system and central-bank liquidity creation—effectively expanding the money supply to meet its bills.

Monthly inflation has recently been running as high as 7 to 9 percent. For American readers, one comparison does the work of a statistics table: Iran is now living through something close to its own version of the 2022 US inflation shock almost every month.

The central bank’s playbook for moments like this is familiar to every Iranian. When it cannot stop the dollar’s rise, it tries to postpone losing the round number for as long as possible.

It does so through market interventions and public messaging that intensify in the final stretch.

In the winter of 2024-25, it fought exactly this battle at the 900,000-rial level and managed to push the crossing of 1 million until after the Iranian New Year in March.

But that defense was financed by oil revenue.

This one is being waged mid-war, under blockade and with exports sharply constrained. It is drawing on the remnant of reserves the country will need to import medicine and food.

A central bank without reliable oil income can buy weeks, not a new trend. Every week it buys may increase the pressure behind the next jump.

What happens next depends on the course of the war, the scale of central-bank intervention and whether oil exports resume.

If inflation and depreciation continue at their recent pace, the 2-million line could fall as soon as August.

A wider war would likely freeze the market first and then send it sharply higher when trading resumes. A durable ceasefire could slow or even temporarily reverse the move.

In every version, the greatest burden falls on Iranian families paid in rials and unable to convert their income or savings into anything safer.

They are watching each round number arrive sooner than the one before.

“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.

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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.

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.

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  UK outlaws support for IRGC under new national security powers

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.