Iran arrests fitness blogger over hijab-free workout videos
Iranian authorities have arrested a female fitness blogger after videos showing women exercising without hijab at a Tehran sports exhibition sparked criticism from hardline media.
Iranian authorities have arrested a female fitness blogger after videos showing women exercising without hijab at a Tehran sports exhibition sparked criticism from hardline media.
The judiciary's Mizan news agency said the woman was arrested on charges including propaganda against the state and offending public sentiment by publishing photographs and videos from the Fitex exhibition.
An arrest warrant was also issued for another person involved in planning the exhibition, Mizan said, without identifying either individual or specifying which images or videos prompted the action.
The fifth edition of Fitex, a fitness and sports equipment exhibition, was held from October 21 to 23 at Goftogoo Park in western Tehran.
Photographs and videos circulated on social media showed female athletes performing fitness routines and acrobatic movements, some without headscarves and others exercising to music.
Under Iran's mandatory hijab laws, women are required to cover their hair in public, including at sporting and cultural events.
The footage prompted criticism from hardline media outlets and supporters of the Islamic Republic, some of whom demanded judicial action against the organizers.
Hardline media demand action
The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency criticized what it called "widespread violations of social norms" at the exhibition on October 25 and urged sports authorities and other institutions to intervene.
The Student News Network, affiliated with the student branch of the Basij militia, quoted one of its reporters as saying anyone viewing the images would experience "secondhand embarrassment."
As criticism intensified, Iran's Sports Ministry issued a statement on October 25 distancing itself from the event, saying neither the ministry nor Tehran's provincial sports authorities had organized the exhibition or granted it a permit.
Tehran prosecutors subsequently opened a criminal case against the organizers and others involved, citing alleged violations of legal and Islamic regulations, and summoned them for questioning.
Mizan said online pages associated with Fitex had been blocked as part of the proceedings and that investigations were continuing.
Restrictions extend to art exhibitions
The action against Fitex comes amid wider pressure on cultural activities and women's public appearance in Iran.
On October 26, Tehran prosecutors initiated legal proceedings against the organizers of Art Fair Tehran, also citing alleged failures to comply with legal and Islamic regulations.
Organizers were summoned to the prosecutor's office, while the exhibition's ticketing website and the organizer's social media account were blocked.
Earlier this month, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said authorities were intensifying their crackdown on artists, writers, musicians and other cultural figures as part of a broader campaign to silence dissent and intimidate communities.
The rights group cited a source in Iran who linked the arrests of cultural activists to authorities' fears of renewed protests, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas amid worsening living conditions.
Iranian lawmakers are reviewing a new internet regulation bill that could expand authorities' powers to restrict online access, raising concerns over further controls after months of nationwide internet shutdowns.
The proposed Cyberspace Regulation Bill is being examined by a parliamentary committee, but its official text remains unpublished, Iranian news outlet Jamaran reported.
Parliament received the proposal on August 3, but lawmakers reviewing it have declined to disclose its provisions.
"A decision has been made not to publicize the details of the Cyberspace Regulation Bill for the time being," Rouhollah Abbaspour, spokesman for the parliamentary committee, said.
An unofficial 12-article draft circulating online resembles the controversial Internet Protection Bill, known as the Sianat plan, which stalled in the previous parliament. However, a committee member told local media that the version under review differs from the circulating text.
Lawmakers divided over restrictions
The proposal has drawn criticism within parliament, with some lawmakers questioning the need for additional controls when international internet access is already heavily restricted.
Mostafa Pourdehghan, a member of parliament's Industries and Mines Committee, criticized repeated attempts to restrict international connectivity and expand domestic alternatives, citing existing filtering, poor internet quality and rising costs.
Pourdehghan warned that further restrictions during wartime could increase public anxiety, particularly among young people, and predicted the bill would meet the same fate as the earlier so-called Protection Plan.
Lawyer warns of sweeping powers
Lawyer Kambiz Norouzi warned that the proposed legislation could give the Supreme Council of Cyberspace extensive authority while weakening government oversight.
In an editorial published by Shargh newspaper, Norouzi criticized Article 1 of the circulating draft, which designates the council as the highest authority for internet policymaking.
Article 6 would also allow internet access to be suspended or restricted on orders from judicial authorities or other competent bodies, without clearly identifying those additional authorities.
"This provision amounts to creating unlimited and unregulated power to violate fundamental freedoms and is certainly unconstitutional and illegitimate," Norouzi wrote.
Norouzi also argued that the bill would concentrate decision-making in an institution whose proceedings are largely closed to public scrutiny.
The official parliamentary text has not been published, leaving uncertainty over whether these provisions appear in the version under review.
Months of shutdowns and previous restrictions
The proposal follows months of internet disruption affecting millions of Iranians.
Authorities imposed a nationwide blackout on January 8, 2026, during anti-government protests. Connectivity was only partially restored before another near-total shutdown began on February 28 following the outbreak of war involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
The second blackout lasted 88 days, with international connectivity beginning to return on May 26.
Restrictions disrupted businesses, education and communications. Iran's Chamber of Commerce estimated direct economic losses at $30 million to $40 million daily, with indirect losses potentially doubling that figure.
The legislation follows years of attempts to expand state control over online communications.
The earlier so-called Protection Plan sought greater oversight of foreign platforms but stalled following public opposition.
In July 2025, President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration also withdrew a separate cyber censorship bill following criticism over its potential impact on free expression.
Authorities have continued developing the National Information Network, which allows selected domestic services to operate independently of international connectivity.
The Supreme Council of Cyberspace, established by former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2012, already plays a central role in internet policymaking.
For now, lawmakers remain divided over the proposal's prospects, while the refusal to release its official text has left its scope, legal implications and potential impact on internet access unclear.
Iran's acting oil minister Hamid Bovard is facing questions over his role in recovering billions of dollars in oil revenues and allegations of his brother's involvement in senior appointments, news outlet Rouydad24 reported on Wednesday.
The report follows the resignation of Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad on October 4 and Bovard's appointment as caretaker minister, despite his previous responsibility for overseeing oil operations as managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
The controversy has intensified following a debate hosted by the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency over billions of dollars in outstanding oil revenues, the performance of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company and the circumstances surrounding Paknejad's departure.
The debate raised questions about Bovard's appointment as acting oil minister, given his previous responsibility for overseeing oil sales as head of the National Iranian Oil Company, and whether he should also be held accountable for the failure to recover export revenues.
The criticism centres on the failure of intermediaries, commonly known in Iran as trustees, to transfer proceeds from oil exports back to the country.
Reports have put the outstanding revenues at several billion dollars, including an estimated $4.7 billion associated with sales during Paknejad's tenure.
Questions over family influence
Rouydad24 also raised questions about the possible involvement of Bovard's brother, Javad Bovard, in recent management appointments across the oil sector.
The outlet cited unverified reports and rumours suggesting that Javad Bovard may have influenced personnel decisions.
The National Iranian Oil Company has previously denied allegations that family connections were being used to secure business advantages, saying certain contracts dated back to the previous administration.
Among the appointments highlighted was Mohammad Salehi Dolabi's selection as managing director of Oil Exploration Operations Company (OEOC), an upstream oil services company.
Rouydad24 questioned the limited publicly available information about his technical qualifications and previous experience in exploration and drilling, saying the lack of transparency had contributed to concerns over the selection process.
Uncertainty over permanent minister
Bovard's appointment as caretaker minister does not guarantee that he will become the permanent head of the ministry.
Under Article 135 of Iran's constitution, President Masoud Pezeshkian has three months to nominate a replacement minister for parliamentary approval.
Rouydad24 identified several potential candidates, including former economy minister Masoud Karbasian, former minister Mohammad Shariatmadari and former Social Security Organization chief Mostafa Salari.
The report suggested Bovard could face competition from candidates with greater ministerial or managerial experience.
The unresolved oil revenues and questions surrounding senior appointments have placed the ministry's leadership under renewed scrutiny, with the government yet to announce its nominee for the permanent post.
A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday that Qatar had presented Tehran with ideas that were unacceptable rather than a new peace proposal, casting doubt on diplomatic efforts to end the US-Israeli war on Iran as Washington weighs further military action.
The unnamed official told Reuters that Tehran would show no flexibility on the nuclear issue, a key point of dispute in efforts to reach an agreement.
The remarks came hours after Reuters cited another unnamed official briefed on the negotiations as saying that Qatari mediators had presented Iran with a new draft agreement in Tehran on Sunday, with a response expected by the end of the week.
Qatar pushes seven-day agreement
According to the official briefed on the negotiations, the draft sets out a seven-day timeline to address concerns on both sides, requiring each side to take daily confidence-building steps.
The process could begin early next week, while several countries would act as guarantors of the agreement. The official also said there had been concerns ahead of Sunday's meeting in Tehran that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could resume attacks on Iran this week.
Trump leaves military options open
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to rule out further strikes on Iran after the November 3 US midterm elections, saying "anything is possible."
"I can't tell you that," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland when asked whether he planned to attack Iran after the elections. "But anything is possible."
Trump said Iran wanted an agreement and might be waiting until after the elections, but warned that delaying a deal "is not going to help."
"We've decimated their military. We've decimated the finances. They have no money. They have inflation the highest in the world, 300 percent. The government is gone. But we'll see what happens," Trump said.
His remarks came as the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington had warned several Arab states in the Persian Gulf to prepare for a possible short, intense military campaign against Iran after the elections.
US and Israel prepare for possible strikes
The United States has sent warnings through diplomatic and military channels as Washington and Israel prepare for a possible new round of attacks aimed at weakening Tehran and pushing it toward negotiations, the Journal reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.
The US military is moving a Patriot missile defense system from Texas to strengthen regional defenses and has relocated troops from vulnerable bases in preparation for a possible escalation, according to the report.
US forces have also been replenishing munitions, while bombers and fighter jets are being prepared for potential operations.
An additional aircraft carrier strike group and a Marine expeditionary unit are expected to join roughly 20 US warships in the Middle East next month, although some vessels could rotate out, the Journal reported.
Trump has not made a final decision but is leaning toward a large-scale attack after the elections that could target Iranian infrastructure and nuclear facilities, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with his thinking.
Israel has also prepared plans and identified targets for possible strikes, while Netanyahu has pushed for renewed military action against Iran, according to the report.
The White House declined to comment on "sensitive military plans that may or may not exist," but said Trump "keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon."
Two men accused of assisting Iranian intelligence knowingly helped prepare attacks on Iran International journalists, a prosecutor told a London court on Tuesday, citing photographs and videos of addresses linked to them.
At Woolwich Crown Court, prosecutors alleged that Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, knowingly assisted Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, in targeting Iran International journalists Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini.
All three defendants deny the charges brought 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.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones accused Noori of being a trusted member of Sepahvand's surveillance team, citing photographs, messages and mobile phone location data. Noori denied knowingly participating in the alleged plot, saying he had taken photographs and videos at Sepahvand's request without understanding their purpose.
Late-night filming and repeated visits
Jones questioned Noori about a video filmed on St Dunstan's Avenue, an address linked to Hosseini, and sent to Sepahvand via WhatsApp at 11:56 p.m. on December 12, 2024.
Noori acknowledged taking the video but said they had gone for a drive because they were bored. He said Sepahvand asked him to film near a park, send the recording and delete it.
Jones challenged that account, suggesting the camera had deliberately focused on a particular house rather than randomly filming the area.
The prosecutor also cited phone and vehicle location data indicating repeated visits to the Malthouse Court area, linked to Pourmohsen, arguing that the movements were part of coordinated surveillance.
Noori said he did not know the significance of the locations and believed the recordings might have been connected to Sepahvand's business activities.
Jones also questioned him about four videos recorded over more than three hours in Kingston upon Thames on March 4, 2025, near premises associated with a business called Need a Fixer.
The prosecutor cited messages discussing recordings at hourly intervals to demonstrate Sepahvand's presence at a location, suggesting Noori knowingly participated in reconnaissance intended to help identify and ultimately attack targets.
Noori denied the allegation, saying he had never suspected Sepahvand of planning violence.
Prosecutor challenges Noori over police interviews
Jones questioned why Noori had not identified Sepahvand as a friend or explained the recordings during police interviews following his arrest in May 2025.
The prosecutor suggested Noori had remained silent because he had not yet developed an innocent explanation for his activities.
Noori said he had followed his solicitor's advice and was distressed by accusations that he had assisted a government he had fled.
He told the court he had been imprisoned three times in Iran and fled the country in 2019 because he feared for his life. During questioning by his defense lawyer, the court heard that Noori was granted asylum in Britain in 2024.
Earlier hearing examined £150,000 payment for alleged attack
During Monday's hearing, prosecutors challenged Sepahvand's claim that he had been deceiving the Revolutionary Guards, arguing that he was motivated by money and assistance with a criminal case in Iran.
Sepahvand acknowledged that a proposed £150,000 payment was conditional on harming a journalist but maintained that he demanded the sum to deter the IRGC and never intended to carry out an attack.
Noori and Javadi Manesh accept visiting locations and taking photographs or videos but deny knowing they were assisting Iranian intelligence.
The trial is scheduled to resume on November 2.
Iran could lose up to 1.4 million jobs this year if its economy contracts by seven to eight percent, a senior Labor Ministry official said on Tuesday, estimating that around 2.5 million people are already unemployed.
Malek Hosseini, deputy minister for entrepreneurship and employment development, said Iran's economy contracted by 10 percent excluding oil and 4.6 percent including oil in the spring, citing official figures in an interview with labor-focused ILNA news agency.
According to two decades of Labor Ministry research, every one-percentage-point decline in economic growth corresponds to an average loss of 170,000 jobs, Hosseini said.
“If negative growth of seven to eight percent is recorded by the end of the year, around 1.2 million to 1.4 million people will have completely left the labor market” over the course of the year, he said.
The warning follows remarks by Ali Babaei Karnami, head of parliament's Social Affairs Committee, who said on October 23 that more than 1.7 million Iranian workers had lost their jobs since the start of the 12-day war.
Economist Ahmad Alavi told Iran International on October 18 that poverty, unemployment and declining purchasing power had existed before the war but had since worsened, attributing the country's economic difficulties to the Islamic Republic's policies.
More than one million leave insurance rolls
Around 1.15 million people were removed from Iran's compulsory social insurance rolls between March and August, although further analysis is needed to distinguish retirements, disabilities and new registrations, Hosseini said.
Another 300,000 people joined the unemployment benefits system by the end of August.
Iran's formal labor market recorded a net loss of approximately 500,000 workers during the Iranian year ending March 2026, according to Hosseini.
The official estimated that informal employment accounts for 54 percent of Iran's workforce, compared with 46 percent in formal employment.
“Our labor market suffers from chronic and structural problems,” Hosseini said, adding that the balance had shifted further toward informal and underemployed work since the war.
Government proposes jobs without insurance coverage
The Labor Ministry is developing a public employment program for unemployed people and informal workers affected by the economic crisis, offering short-term construction and service-sector work.
“There is absolutely no social security insurance under the public employment program,” Hosseini said.
Participants will also fall outside the protections of Iran's labor law, although existing employers and workers in registered businesses will remain subject to those regulations.
Hosseini said the ministry was working with the Central Bank to identify informal workers through banking transactions, distinguishing wage income from investment returns.
The official also warned that if raw materials are not adequately supplied, Iran's garment production and distribution chain could suffer losses equivalent to about 60 percent of its pre-war workforce, potentially affecting up to 750,000 jobs.
Workers, retirees and employees across Iran have repeatedly staged protests in recent months over low wages, unpaid salaries, rising living costs, dismissals and job insecurity.
