Israel's Katz threatens heavy response to any Iranian attack
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday again warned Iran against attacking Israel, saying any such action would draw a powerful response.
"Any attack on Israel, for any reason and in any place, will be met with a powerful response," Katz said in a video statement.
He said Israel could strike what he called Iran's main energy facilities, which he said support Tehran's war and military capabilities.
Katz said Iran could decide to target Israel because of what he described as mounting economic and other pressure on Tehran.
The published notice did not explain what the committee report contained or specify which parts of it the government opposed.
The cabinet took the decision at an August 23 meeting and it was formally communicated on September 8 by Iran's first vice president, IRNA said, citing the country's national database of laws and regulations.
The cabinet named the president's legal affairs office and the presidential office for science, technology and the knowledge-based economy as government representatives in the matter, IRNA said.
Bill has drawn criticism over broad reach
Parliament approved the general principles of legislation on combating foreign infiltration in August by 183 votes to four, but lawmakers have yet to complete consideration of its individual provisions.
A publicly circulated draft would impose new restrictions on contacts with foreign media, universities, embassies and international organizations and give the Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization roles in identifying prohibited foreign links.
Some provisions would restrict sharing information with foreign institutions and certain forms of academic, cultural and civil-society cooperation.
Critics in Iran have warned that the broad wording could expose journalists, academics, researchers and other citizens to prosecution.
The notice did not say whether the cabinet opposed the legislation as a whole or only aspects of the parliamentary committee's report.
Pezeshkian government had raised rights concerns
The decision follows earlier public opposition from President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration. Vice President for Legal Affairs Majid Ansari said in August that the proposal conflicted with constitutional protections for citizens' rights and individual freedoms and would sharply restrict academic contacts with institutions abroad.
"If every type of contact and communication faces restrictions and is criminalized by law, naturally they will prefer to migrate and carry out their scientific and research activities in a free environment," Ansari said, warning that the measure could drive more Iranian researchers, doctors and academics to leave the country.
“Despite all these surgeries, I am still confined to my home,” the protester, whose identity and place of residence are being withheld for security reasons, told Iran International. “I am married, and during this time we have faced many problems paying for my treatment.”
His family eventually sold their car to help cover his medical bills, the protester said. Doctors have told him that regaining the ability to walk could take at least another year.
The account reflects the prolonged physical and financial consequences facing some people wounded during the protests, with Iran International receiving multiple accounts of injured demonstrators struggling to obtain treatment and pay medical expenses months later.
23 operations and more treatment ahead
The gunshot caused extensive damage to the protester’s leg, requiring doctors to perform muscle and skin grafts during a series of operations.
“About a month has passed since the skin graft, and the Ilizarov device that was fitted to my leg at the beginning of treatment is due to be put back on for about three months,” the protester said.
An Ilizarov apparatus is an external bone-fixation system using metal rings, rods and wires to gradually reposition sections of bone. It can be used to treat severe damage or the loss of part of a bone.
Doctors also attached a vacuum-assisted device to the wound for several months to promote new tissue growth, the protester said.
Infection, nerve damage and numbness later forced doctors to remove some of the repaired tissue and perform a muscle graft about six months after the shooting, according to the protester.
“I asked people who were able to help, but in the end, with great difficulty and even by selling our car, we tried to cover the costs,” he said.
Security fears complicate hospital treatment
Fear of arrest or identification at hospitals has complicated treatment for some protesters wounded during demonstrations, prompting some to seek medical care covertly or at home.
“After one of the surgeries, because there were many security officers in the emergency department, the doctor helped me leave the hospital,” the protester said.
Hospital staff recorded the cause of his injuries as a traffic accident, and his doctor later helped take him to Tehran to continue undergoing surgery, the protester said.
“I really do not know how to thank the medical staff,” he added. “They cooperated extensively and tried to make sure nothing else happened to me.”
Protester recounts January 8 shooting
Security forces initially fired pellets toward demonstrators before a live round struck his leg at close range on the evening of January 8, the protester said.
“My whole body is covered with pellet marks. The bullet hit my leg from close range,” he said. “When I was shot, they dragged me along the ground while I was in a very bad condition. I will never forget that night.”
Security personnel insulted him and tried to remove his clothing after he was wounded, according to his account.
“I held tightly onto my trousers, and they struck my hands with their boots,” he said. “My entire body was bruised, and I even thought my ribs were broken.”
The officers then put him on a motorcycle, the protester said.
“One of them said, ‘Don’t hit him here, take him farther up,’” he said. “I thought they meant they were going to finish me off. I passed out from fear.”
The protester said he regained consciousness alone in a dark alley, where an elderly couple found him and helped him reach a hospital.
“At first, I thought I was dead,” he said. “Then an elderly woman and man found me. They were like angels to me and helped me get to the hospital.”
The protester said he had joined the demonstrations knowing that doing so could put his life at risk.
“That night, I went out like many others, and I knew I might lose my life, but for me it was about Iran,” he said.
Six months after the shooting, the protester remains unable to walk, with further procedures ahead and no certainty over when he will regain mobility.
The barter-like arrangement allowed Tehran to turn payments for Iranian oil into credits for Chinese imports without sending money directly through international banking channels, Reuters said, citing two senior Iranian sources and three other people familiar with the mechanism.
Iran used the system to buy medicines, vehicles and communications equipment, while it was also used in connection with contracts worth millions of dollars to supply Iran with air defense equipment over the past year, the sources said.
Billions routed outside normal banking channels
The mechanism has been operating since at least 2021 but has become more important as Washington tightened sanctions on Iran and companies doing business with Tehran, according to the report.
A buyer acting on behalf of Chinese state-owned oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong had, at least until this year, deposited hundreds of millions of dollars a month with a China-based financial entity known as ChuXin, three people familiar with the arrangement told Reuters.
Those payments covered Iranian oil purchases. ChuXin then sent funds to Chinese exporters and companies involved in infrastructure projects in Iran, likely through other Chinese financial institutions, Reuters reported.
Around 70% of the Iranian oil proceeds handled through the arrangement went to infrastructure projects, while the rest entered accounts belonging to a special purpose vehicle, or SPV, used to pay suppliers of goods to Iran, the sources said.
The two Iranian sources confirmed the existence of the SPV, which Reuters said had not previously been reported.
Oil exchanged for access to Chinese goods
The SPV is managed by two entities, one acting on behalf of China's Ministry of Commerce and another linked to Iran's central bank, according to all five sources.
When Iran's central bank approves an importer to use funds held in the SPV, the Iran-linked entity informs its Chinese counterpart so payments can be made to suppliers, three of the sources said.
The structure gives Chinese manufacturers access to payment without dealing directly with Iran, according to the report. Reuters said there was no indication that the Chinese manufacturers supplying civilian goods had broken sanctions.
Reuters could find no record of a financial institution called ChuXin in Chinese corporate registries, and one source said it may exist only on a spreadsheet.
China says unaware of arrangement
China's foreign ministry told Reuters it was "not familiar with the situation you describe" when asked about the mechanism.
"China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and have not been authorized by the United Nations Security Council," the ministry said.
Iran's UN missions in New York and Geneva did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Iran's central bank, China's commerce ministry, the National Iranian Oil Company and Zhuhai Zhenrong also did not respond to questions about their reported roles.
US pressure raises stakes
China has long been the main buyer of Iranian oil. More than 80% of Iran's shipped crude went to China in 2025, averaging around 1.4 million barrels per day, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters.
The arrangement has helped Tehran keep trade flowing despite years of sanctions, while giving China access to discounted Iranian crude.
Its importance has grown as the United States has increased economic pressure on Iran during the six-month-old war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries in August to cut business ties with Tehran or risk losing access to the dollar-based financial system.
Reuters said it could not determine how the US naval blockade on Iranian oil exports had affected the China trade mechanism. No Iranian crude cargoes had successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz to China since the blockade was reinstated on July 14, according to the news agency.
A UN embargo on exports of most major conventional weapons to Iran was restored in September 2025 along with other sanctions.
Andrea Ghiselli, an international politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who studies China's relations with the Middle East, told Reuters that Beijing wanted to resist US pressure without putting major Chinese banks and companies at risk of exclusion from the international financial system.
"They want plausible deniability," he said.
