Kuwait sentences three to death over deputy PM assassination plot, Iran links - AFP

An excerpt from an interview al-Hakim gave to Iraqiya TV on September 29 has gone viral in recent days.

Al-Hakim, head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement and a former head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, said Washington had explicitly warned Baghdad to comply with US sanctions against Iran or risk sanctions itself.

He said Iran was justified in feeling it had been treated unfairly under what he described as a US siege, but argued that countries could not be governed by emotions and aspirations alone.

Iraq, he said, stood in solidarity with the Iranian people while also having a responsibility to shield its own population from the consequences of sanctions.

‘Honour vs dishonour’

Hardline Iranian social media users accused al-Hakim of betraying Iran and showing ingratitude for its support, with some calling for retaliatory measures against Iraq.

Ehsan Salehi, an adviser to former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, accused al-Hakim on X of bowing to Washington, justifying that stance and moving closer to Arab Gulf rulers.

Hardline commentator Alireza Taghavinia interpreted al-Hakim’s comments as an admission that Iraq had little choice but to comply with Washington.

“When Ammar al-Hakim, a Shiite whose position he owes to Iran, says this, what can we expect from [Pakistan’s Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif?” he wrote.

Filmmaker Ali Zarnegar wrote: “This is precisely the line between honor and dishonor, and unfortunately, you chose to be dishonorable.”

Another user sarcastically called for Iran to prevent Iraqi oil from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Our feelings are with Iraq, too, but what can we do? We have to attack tankers associated with them,” the user wrote. “Since they are so afraid that America will freeze their oil money, we will make things easier for them and prevent even a drop of their oil from being exported through the Strait of Hormuz.”

National interest first

Other users defended al-Hakim, arguing that his remarks reflected the Iraqi government's responsibility to protect its national interests and criticizing Iran’s leaders for putting ideology ahead of Iran's own welfare.

Mohsen Salehikhah, a journalist and documentary filmmaker associated with reformists, praised the Iraqi politician.

“Ammar al-Hakim said something absolutely right,” he wrote. “If the Islamic Republic also understood that it should prioritize Iran’s interests rather than sacrifice our national interests at the altar of ideological delusions and aspirations, perhaps the situation would be different today.”

Another user pointed out that al-Hakim leads one of the Iraqi political movements closest to Iran, suggesting that other Iraqi groups could hardly be expected to put Iranian interests first.

“Some people spent years selling the public the illusion that sanctions did not matter because we could maintain relations with our neighbors instead of America,” the user wrote. “Well, this is our closest neighbor.”

‘Teach others a lesson’

The backlash comes amid a separate dispute over Iraq’s closure of the al-Shaib/Chazabeh border crossing with Iran.

An adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi has said the crossing was closed to prevent the smuggling of narcotics and counterfeit money from Iran, while Iran’s Interior Ministry complained that Baghdad had not informed Tehran in advance.

The closure has prompted calls from some Iranian hardliners for retaliation against Iraq.

Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani called for greater restrictions on Iraq’s access through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Baghdad should be made to understand “the real meaning of a blockade and its consequences.”

He went further, arguing that Iraq should be brought closer to collapse over what he described as a strategic mistake “so that others learn a lesson.”

At Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones challenged contradictions between Mostafa Sepahvand’s testimony and his messages to a contact in Iran, accusing him of being a “skilled liar.”

Sepahvand later acknowledged that a proposed £150,000 payment was conditional on harming a journalist, but maintained that he had demanded the sum to deter the IRGC and never intended to carry out an attack.

Sepahvand, 41, is on trial alongside Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57. All three deny charges under Britain’s National Security Act.

Prosecutors allege they gathered information for Iranian intelligence to prepare for serious violence against at least one target, with Sepahvand expected to carry out an attack. The alleged targets included Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini.

Jones put it to Sepahvand that either his messages to Mostafa Ghorbani or his account to the jury was untrue. Following the prosecutor’s accusation that he was a skilled liar, Sepahvand shouted in English: “I never did this.” The court then took a break.

When the hearing resumed, his defense barrister, Tyrone Smith, asked him to confirm that the £150,000 discussed in his messages related to causing harm to a journalist. Sepahvand answered yes.

Smith revisited a March 20, 2025, voice message in which Sepahvand discussed the payment, locating a target and carrying out the task when the money was ready.

Asked whether he believed the money would ever be paid, Sepahvand said no. He maintained that his demands were intended to scare off the IRGC.

“I never wanted to harm anyone,” he told the court, saying he had been deceiving the group throughout because he hated it. Asked whether he had ever seen or harmed any of the journalists, he answered no.

Earlier questioning examined Sepahvand’s repeated attempts to reach Ghorbani in late December 2024 and January 2025.

Sepahvand said he was anxious about his criminal case in Iran and wanted Ghorbani and another contact, Amin, to enlist the help of a man referred to as “Haji.”

He said Amin had told him the case had been stopped or canceled, but that this was a lie.

A translated Iranian judicial document examined in court indicated that Sepahvand’s sister appeared on his behalf on January 7, 2025, to appeal convictions dating from 2014 for 32 burglary offenses. The appeal was unsuccessful, although the judge altered the sentence.

Sepahvand said his sister appealed again and that he also pleaded guilty. He maintained that repeated calls to Ghorbani concerned efforts to resolve the case.

He attributed other exchanges about money to car trading, a bodywork workshop and loans that had to be repaid with interest.

During the defense questioning, Sepahvand reaffirmed that threats against his family had prompted his actions. Smith referred to his account that he had sought to appear cooperative without actually assisting a foreign intelligence service or intending to harm anyone.

Smith also asked whether Sepahvand’s solicitor had contacted counterterrorism police several times between July and December 2025 to say he had information to provide, and whether police had declined to speak to him until he pleaded guilty. Sepahvand answered yes.

He confirmed that he had asked his solicitor to pass on the name of Navid, a contact previously discussed during the trial.

Prosecutors reject Sepahvand’s claim that he acted under duress and deliberately performed the surveillance poorly.

According to the prosecution’s account of their defenses, Javadi Manesh and Noori accept visiting locations and taking photographs and videos but say they did not know they were assisting Iranian intelligence.

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Kayhan daily and a longtime appointee of the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, questioned the purpose of the gathering in an article headlined “Tehran summit: Oasis or mirage?”

His criticism extended even to Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and himself a prominent hardliner who opposed the nuclear diplomacy of former President Hassan Rouhani.

Bagheri had presented the meeting as an opportunity to develop a new regional security framework. Shariatmadari dismissed that prospect, arguing that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were too close to the United States to credibly mediate between Tehran and Washington.

He accused the three countries of supporting US and Israeli military operations against Iran and questioned why Tehran would expect them to abandon their longstanding strategic ties with Washington.

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Iran's support for the Houthis

Shariatmadari's central objection concerned Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca mutual defense pact in August, committing themselves to collective defense. With Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia intensifying, Shariatmadari argued that cooperation with the three countries risked weakening Iran's support for the Yemeni group.

He described Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraqi militias and Palestinian armed factions as “one spirit in several bodies,” arguing that confronting any of them amounted to confronting Iran itself.

Shariatmadari questioned whether the visiting delegations intended to pressure Tehran into distancing itself from the Houthis and insisted Iran would never abandon them.

Yet he also portrayed the diplomatic visit as evidence of Iranian strength, arguing that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz had brought Washington and its allies close to economic suffocation and forced regional governments to seek relief through Tehran.

His argument exposed a tension in the hardline position: the arrival of foreign delegations was presented as proof that Iran's pressure was succeeding, while negotiations aimed at easing that pressure risked squandering the leverage it had created.

Against compromise

On Saturday, the hardline Paydari Front urged Iran to begin withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reconsider its defense doctrine. Hardline lawmakers have also sought to impeach Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi over his dealings with Washington.

These critics are closely tied to Iran's security establishment. Paydari Front leader Sadegh Mahsouli is a former Revolutionary Guards officer, while Shariatmadari represented the late supreme leader at Kayhan for decades.

Their criticism has continued even as President Masoud Pezeshkian and national security chief Mohsen Rezaei welcomed the visiting delegations. The four countries ended Monday's meeting with an agreement to continue discussions on regional peace and security.

The dispute exposes a growing divide within Iran's ruling establishment over what to do with the leverage created by months of confrontation.

Shariatmadari and like-minded hardliners believe that confrontation is working. In their view, diplomacy that requires Tehran to relinquish that leverage risks trading away the very gains it has produced.

Mustafa Duair, head of the provincial council in Maysan, a southeastern governorate bordering Iran, threatened civil disobedience unless the Al Sheeb crossing was reopened.

Baghdad has cited technical problems for the closure, while Tehran has pointed to US pressure.

The Iran-aligned Badr Organization defended Duair, turning the dispute over a border crossing into a broader challenge to the central government's authority from within Iraq's Shiite political establishment.

Risks of another battlefield

In September, Iraqi authorities seized a drone launcher allegedly used to attack Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline. Saudi officials had traced the attack to the province, close to the Iranian border.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday that Iraqi officials suspected Israel had struck two depots storing Chinese-made portable air-defense systems allegedly supplied by Iran to allied Iraqi militias.

The reported shipments and Israeli involvement remain unconfirmed, but the allegations underscore the risks Baghdad faces when armed factions acquire weapons and pursue military agendas outside state control.

Ammar al-Hakim, a veteran leader with longstanding ties to Tehran, acknowledged sympathy for Iranians facing sanctions but warned in a September interview that Iraq must protect its own citizens from the same penalties.

“The feeling that the Islamic Republic has been treated unjustly under this siege of sanctions is valid and justified. But countries cannot be governed by wishes and emotions,” Hakim said.

On Monday, a spokesman for his Hikma Movement warned that breaking a militia de-escalation agreement could plunge Iraq into a “tunnel of sanctions.”

Baghdad pushes for greater control

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set June 2027 as the deadline for bringing armed factions under state authority, although some Iran-backed groups continue to resist.

He has also replaced several security chiefs since taking office in May. On Monday, Zaidi dismissed intelligence chief Hamid al-Shatri, who was appointed by his predecessor and had himself been considered for prime minister. No official explanation was given for his dismissal.

The push for greater state authority aligns with Washington's longstanding demands that Baghdad curb independent militias.

Zaidi has also sought closer economic and political ties with the United States, with more than $60 billion in commercial agreements and memorandums announced during his July visit to Washington.

But Zaidi still relies on a coalition that includes Iran-aligned parties. He insists Iraq will not become involved in the Iran war and wants Baghdad to act as a mediator, while acknowledging that disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has damaged Iraq's economy.

Iraq’s leaders are emphasizing national authority and economic interests over involvement in Tehran's confrontations, but the reaction to the Maysan border closure shows how difficult asserting that authority over Iran-aligned factions remains.

Bessent said Iran was running short of foreign currency, oil production was beginning to falter and the next eight weeks of Washington's Operation Economic Outcast would be “even more intense.”

“I would predict that from March of '26 until March of '27, the economy would contract more than 25 percent, which is more than the Soviet Union contracted after its collapse,” Bessent told Iran International’s Kambiz Tavana on Monday.

The Treasury secretary said the campaign was intended to pressure Iran's leadership rather than its population, while warning of severe fuel shortages this winter.

“My advice to the Iranian people would be: don't pay your taxes because you're not going to get anything back from the government,” Bessent said.

“You should start stocking up on heating fuel. There's going to be a big heating fuel shortage. In terms of gasoline, everyone should fill up their tanks now.”

Asked about the impact on ordinary Iranians, Bessent said humanitarian channels remained open for food and medicine, but the government was running out of dollars to pay for imports.

He also said authorities were printing money, failing to pay salaries and would continue cutting social benefits.

Bessent said economic pressure was exposing disagreements among Iranian politicians, the Revolutionary Guards and the supreme leader. He described some IRGC commanders as isolated from the public and unaware of the extent of the economic deterioration.

‘More intense’ pressure ahead

Iran's economy has come under mounting pressure from two rounds of war with the United States and Israel, a US naval blockade that has sharply curtailed its oil exports and an expanding sanctions campaign targeting its remaining sources of foreign currency.

“Iran, for the first time, probably since oil was discovered, has no oil on the water,” Bessent said. “There have been no loadings at Kharg Island. Production is starting to falter.”

“We've been going for eight weeks, and I can tell you the next eight weeks is going to get even more intense,” he said.

Bessent said Washington remained prepared to negotiate, but insisted Iran could not have a nuclear weapon and must stop financing regional armed groups.

Diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent days, with Qatari mediators in Tehran on Sunday followed on Monday by senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey seeking to de-escalate tensions and revive negotiations.

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Tehran, however, has shown little sign of softening its core demands under mounting economic pressure. Iranian officials insist Washington must meet its conditions, including lifting the naval blockade.

Targeting Iran's middlemen

Bessent also appealed directly to people involved in moving Iranian government money overseas, saying some financial intermediaries were already refusing to return funds to Tehran.

Iranian officials commonly refer to such intermediaries as “trustees,” who handle oil revenues and other transactions outside the formal banking system to circumvent sanctions.

“We are seeing the regime go bankrupt,” Bessent said. “So many of the people who are holding money outside of Iran do not want to send it back in.”

He said Iranians inside the country, members of the diaspora and employees of embassies and consulates could provide information to Treasury under its whistleblower program, with rewards of up to 30% of recovered funds.

“We are happy to unsanction individuals who work with us,” he said, adding that cooperating intermediaries could potentially claim 30% of funds they were holding for Tehran.

Bessent said Treasury was also tracking Iran's attempts to move money through cryptocurrency and foreign banks.

“There are numerous banks… We shut the Dubai branches of an Egyptian bank. We closed a Turkish bank, the second-largest Russian bank, VTB. We discovered that their external branches outside of Russia were aiding the regime,” he said.

‘Nothing like this’

Bessent rejected suggestions that Iran could wait for the US midterm elections in the hope that Washington's approach would change.

“Nothing will change in terms of President Trump's calculus, in terms of how resolute we are here at Treasury, in terms of the blockade,” he said.

Asked whether the combination of sanctions and a naval blockade had any historical precedent, Bessent said the closest comparison was Washington's campaign against Venezuela, but argued that the measures imposed on Iran went substantially further.

“There's been nothing like this,” he said.

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