The European Union Aviation Safety Agency on Wednesday extended its conflict-zone information bulletins for the airspace of Iran and Iraq until November 16.
EASA also extended bulletins covering the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, as well as Lebanon, until November 16.
A separate bulletin covering Jordanian airspace was extended until October 16.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received US feedback on Iran’s seven-day proposal during talks with Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday night, Reuters reported, citing an official briefed on the talks.
The main disagreement concerns the sequencing of the plan rather than its elements, the official said. The proposal outlines a seven-day process to build trust and return to an enhanced version of a memorandum of understanding reached by Iran and the United States in June.
Araghchi presented the US proposal at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting and briefed ministers on his trip to New York, including Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, government spokesperson said.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said Iran would eventually “give up,” but suggested that point had not yet been reached.
Tanker struck in Strait of Hormuz
The diplomatic exchanges came with shipping risks persisting in the waterway at the center of the negotiations.
A tanker heading into the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, citing a verified source. Authorities were investigating the strike.
Separately, the Revolutionary Guards described near-daily confrontations with vessels in the strait. Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said Iranian forces were targeting ships every 24 hours but had received no US response for some time.
The disruption has also affected neighboring Iraq. Parliament speaker Haibat al-Halbousi said Iran had given Iraqi tankers no exemption from restrictions on navigation through Hormuz.
Iran expands military and civilian preparations
Beyond the strait, Iranian officials described efforts to strengthen the country’s military capabilities and prepare civilian infrastructure for further conflict.
Iran is rapidly expanding its missile, drone and air defense capabilities, deputy Revolutionary Guards commander Mostafa Izadi said.
“We are present in the Strait of Hormuz with strength. We are rapidly expanding our missile, drone and air defense capabilities,” Izadi said.
Iran will also hold drills covering schools, hospitals, banks, mobile phone operators, airports, ports, bridges, roads and aviation networks to prepare civilian infrastructure for wartime threats, Passive Defense Organization chief Gholamreza Jalali said.
Jalali said Iran had prepared for possible attacks on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities before the war and conducted drills for such scenarios.
Two January protesters executed
Away from the military confrontation and negotiations, Iran carried out two more executions stemming from the January protests.
Ali Hemmati and Majid Nikandish were executed over demonstrations in Mashhad, with the judiciary accusing them of involvement in the deaths of four security personnel.
The judiciary said the two participated in protests in the city’s Tabarsi district on January 8 and accused them of attacking security personnel, setting buildings on fire and damaging public property.
Sources previously told Iran International that Nikandish was tortured and forced to confess after his arrest and transfer to Vakilabad Prison.
Wednesday thus brought movement in indirect diplomacy with Washington without an end to confrontations in Hormuz, while Iranian authorities prepared for further conflict and continued executions stemming from January’s protests.
Sepahi, detained over protests in January and sentenced to death in Isfahan, now has his case before the sentence enforcement office, raising concerns over his execution.
“I personally saw the four places where the pellets had hit his legs,” the former prisoner told Iran International, adding that Sepahi told him his initial recovery took about two months.
Held in a security ward at Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan, Sepahi suffered a stroke on July 28, when two other prisoners were executed, including his cousin Abolfazl Sepahi. He was hospitalized before being returned to prison.
He was sentenced to death in the Alikhani Square case, a mass prosecution of protesters accused of involvement in unrest in Isfahan in which the Islamic Republic says four security personnel were killed.
Shot during arrest
Security forces arrested Sepahi at home following the January protests, ordering his family onto the floor before going upstairs to his room.
One officer restrained him before another said, “Hold him. I want to shoot him.”
The officers shot him in both lower legs, with two more pellets striking his thighs as he was taken away. One remained lodged in his thigh bone and required surgery.
After two days in hospital, he was transferred to another detention facility. His mother, brother and teenage sister were also detained.
Torture during interrogation
Sepahi spent about 26 days undergoing interrogation and torture at the facility, according to the former prisoner.
His mother was at times brought into an adjoining room so she could hear or witness the torture. Interrogators struck him in the face and hit the wounds on his legs with a hose until they began bleeding again.
“I will sign whatever you tell me to,” Sepahi shouted during the torture, based on the account.
Civil rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian said on September 12 that Sepahi and several other defendants in the case were tortured in detention.
Several defendants told the court they had faced torture, sexual assault and threats of rape to extract statements against one another, Mahmoudian said, adding that a significant part of the case and resulting sentences rested on those statements.
Statements challenged in court
Sepahi told the judge during his trial that security forces had shot him during his arrest, his former cellmate said.
When the judge suggested the shots might have been fired as he tried to escape, Sepahi responded: “What escape? They shot me inside my own room.”
Other defendants who had previously made statements against him also told the court that their accounts had been extracted under torture.
Some were beaten and subjected to mock executions after returning from court and forced to write new statements against Sepahi and other defendants.
Sepahi’s mother, Somayeh, is serving a five-year sentence at Dowlatabad Prison on charges including “assembly and collusion,” “acting against national security” and “rebellion.”
