'No one knows who the Houthis are': Hegseth urged Iran link in leaked texts

The move follows a reported effort by a senior Iranian military commander urging Tehran's armed allies in Iraq and Yemen to stand down attacks on their Mideast nemesis, potentially signaling an Iranian desire for detente in the region.

Iran faces an ultimatum by US President Donald Trump to ink a new nuclear deal or face attack after its home front and armed allies in the region have been dealt historic military blows from Israel in over a year of war

Influential figures in Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s government and the Coordination Framework coalition — a group of Iran-aligned political factions — are urging militia leaders not to carry out operations that could trigger retaliation from Israel or the United States, The New Arab reported citing Iraqi sources.

Some Iran-backed militias in Iraq have moved and reorganized their weapons stockpiles and bases in recent days, the report added, anticipating possible Israeli strikes in response to earlier drone and missile attacks launched from Iraq.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the United States had stepped in to stop Israel from launching retaliatory strikes on Iraqi territory.

A senior member of the Iraqi Resistance Coordination, the umbrella group for pro-Iran militias in Iraq, was quoted by The New Arab as saying that the government and senior political leaders have directly appealed to faction commanders.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said groups like Kata'ib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba are still considering fresh attacks on Israel if it continues its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

After the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, seven Iraqi armed factions formed what they called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. They launched drones and missiles at Israeli targets, including strikes that reached the Golan Heights.

Following a deadly drone strike in January 2024 on a US outpost in Jordan known as Tower 22 — which killed three US soldiers and injured 47 — the US launched retaliatory airstrikes on Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq and Syria.

Soon after, Kata'ib Hezbollah said it would pause operations against US forces to avoid putting pressure on the Iraqi government, which had called for calm.

Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, visited Baghdad recently and reportedly told allied militias not to respond to threats from Israel or the US.

Qaani met with leaders of the Coordination Framework, commanders of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh, according to Asharq Al-Awsat and Shafaq News.

A similar message was also passed by the senior commander to Yemen’s Houthi movement through intermediaries in Iraq. The effort is seen as part of Tehran’s strategy to prevent a broader war at a time of rising tensions across the region.

According to data from Iran's Legal Medicine Organization, the figure from the year 1403 (March 21 to September 22, 2024) represents an average of roughly 180 deaths per month, or approximately 45 workers per week, a 15-percent rise year on year.

The majority of the victims were male (1,066), with 11 female workers also losing their lives. Tehran province recorded the highest number of deaths with 217, followed by Isfahan with 81 and Mazandaran with 70.

The most common cause of death in the first six months of the 1403 was falls from height, accounting for 498 fatalities, followed by being struck by hard objects (246 deaths), electrocution (155 deaths), burns (65 deaths), and suffocation (35 deaths). The cause of death for 78 workers was not specified in the report.

Data from the Statistical Center of Iran shows that the number of fatalities rose from 1,625 in the Iranian year 1397 (March 2018-March 2019) to 2,115 in 1402 (March 2023-March 2024), marking a 30% increase over that period.

Labour activists attribute the escalating number of workplace deaths to a lack of safety measures by employers, negligence, and inadequate oversight by labor inspectors.

Ehsan Sohrabi, a labor activist and former member of the Supreme Council for Technical Protection, criticized the Ministry of Labour's lack of attention to worker safety.

He told ILNA that while official figures from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security tend to be lower, the Legal Medicine Organization's data provides a more reliable picture of the increasing rate of workplace accidents and fatalities.

Sohrabi warned that the full-year statistics for 1403 are likely to show a further record increase in workplace deaths, emphasizing that safety in workshops is not being taken seriously and warnings are being ignored.

"If the overall statistics for workplace accidents in the year 1403 are published by the country's Legal Medicine Organization, we will realize that we have once again broken records in this area. Safety in workshops is not taken seriously, and unfortunately, warnings fall on deaf ears," he said.

That was when US author and scholar Ray Takeyh published his book Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic. According to Takeyh, since 1979, “getting Iran wrong is the single thread that has linked American administrations of all political persuasions.”

On January 31, 2006, “President George W. Bush described Iran as a nation held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people,” and warned that, “The nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.” That sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

According to Iran’s official news agency, as quoted by Takeyh, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded swiftly and defiantly, denouncing Bush as someone "whose arms are smeared up to the elbow in the blood of other nations," and threatening: "God willing, we shall drag you to trial in the near future at the courts set up by nations."

That was 19 years ago, when Khamenei was still a relatively restrained Supreme Leader, delegating much of the incendiary rhetoric to his firebrand president. In 2025, he presides over a timid president who adds little to the official line — a line that is always dictated by Khamenei himself. In fact, Iran's rhetoric toward the current US President is notably more restrained.

Yet, as many observers have noted over the past 46 years, Iran and the United States have a tendency to address each other at the wrong times and in the wrong ways. Bush’s labeling of Iran as part of the "axis of evil" was just one moment that derailed budding cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan and sent both sides back into confrontation — a dynamic that persists to this day.

In last week’s exchange between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program, Trump delivered bold and harsh remarks on live television — remarks that Khamenei denounced as "bullying." But Trump also sent more conciliatory messages, according to his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, in a private letter to the Supreme Leader.

Given Khamenei’s well-known sensitivities, he might have better tolerated the harsh language in a private message and possibly even welcomed the friendlier overtures had they been made in public.

Similarly, Tehran’s responses over the past week — starting with a flat rejection of negotiations, moving to an openness to "indirect talks," and concluding with a vague “for the time being” — send a clear signal to US diplomats: Iranian officials are not interested in a public handshake with their American counterparts. Especially not after Khamenei has already set the tone with stern, uncompromising statements.

By contrast, Trump appears to want exactly that public moment — a warm handshake in front of cameras — to distinguish himself from his predecessors. This mismatch in the style and optics of diplomacy makes it difficult for either side to envision a path out of the current impasse.

As with traditional bargaining in Persian bazaars, Iranian negotiators prefer drawn-out talks, complete with repeated withdrawals from and returns to a draft agreement — all to eventually close the deal at the very moment when observers begin to believe it's off the table for good.

What’s different today is that some of those observers — both in the region and beyond — may not want a deal at all, at least not one that allows any form of nuclear capability to survive. For countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia, a weak agreement that merely delays the threat is less acceptable than no deal at all. They would rather see Iran’s nuclear ambitions completely capped than postponed.

The display comes against a backdrop of heightened rhetoric from Washington, which has warned of potential military action if Tehran does not curb its nuclear program, limit its missile development, and cease support for regional militant groups.

The unveiling, widely covered by Iranian domestic media, featured senior military figures including the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, and the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, Amirali Hajizadeh, at an undisclosed underground facility.

Reports identified various missile types at the location, including the KheibarShekan, Haj Qassem, Ghadr H, Sejjil, and Emad.

Despite Bagheri's assertions of significantly enhanced missile capabilities and preparations for a future capacity far exceeding Iran's strikes on Israel, the claim that these bases are new cannot be independently verified, as their locations are typically undisclosed.

Iran’s military has previously released images of similar underground facilities, prompting speculation that the newly publicized base may be an older site repurposed for a fresh media campaign.

Adding a nuanced layer to the display, Iranians on social media have pointed out a potential shift in symbolic messaging.

Unlike a similar video released previously showcasing a comparable missile base with both US and Israeli flags painted on a corridor floor – a common practice at Iranian state buildings and military bases intended for symbolic humiliation – the current unveiling reportedly only features the Israeli flag.

The absence of the US flag has been interpreted by some online as a possible signal that Iran might be subtly toning down its direct rhetoric towards the US amidst the heightened tensions and the significant US military buildup in the region.

The IRGC Aerospace Force commander, Hajizadeh, has previously claimed that Iran possesses hundreds of such underground missile sites across the country, a number so vast that unveiling one per week would take two years.

Iran has long prioritized the development of its missile program, which it views as a crucial deterrent, in the absence of an effective air force.

The unveiling also occurs as the United States is in the middle of a bombing campaign on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Washington says that the Houthis are directed by Tehran, a claim Iran denies, and has threatened direct action against Iran if its support for the group continues.

Trump, in late March, said that confronting Iranian threats was reaching its final stages, suggesting resolution through either negotiation or military action.

A recent report by Axios also indicated that Trump’s letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has set a two-month deadline for a new nuclear agreement, threatening military intervention if no deal is reached.

"The Houthis are absolutely on the run, the worst of them have been killed," Trump told reporters at the White House. "This is not an incompetent group of people. They make their own missiles. They get their missiles also from Iran. It's an offshoot of Iran, another offshoot."

"You have Hamas, you have Hezbollah, you have the Houthis. You've got a lot of stuff going on with Iran, and we sent a letter to Iran. You're going to have to be speaking to us one way or the other pretty soon, because we can't let this happen."

The remarks come after consternation in Washington among Trump's opponents about the inclusion of a prominent journalist in a chat conversation among senior officials about plans for a military campaign against the group.

Following an attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel's incursion into Gaza, the Houthis began attacking commercial and military vessels in the waterways astride Yemen in what they called solidarity with Palestine.

The group, which controls much of the war-torn country, has been provided advanced drone and missile technology by Iran.

Trump has demanded Tehran come to a deal over its nuclear program or face a military intervention and warned any attack by the Houthis would be treated as emanating from Iran.

His ultimatum over the nuclear standoff was delivered in the form of a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has rejected previous overtures and said Trump and the United States cannot be trusted.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon and the US director of national intelligence on Tuesday said Washington continues to assess that Tehran has not yet resolved to build one but that decision-makers there are increasingly promoting the idea.

Two top Trump officials have appeared to vary in recent days on the administration's precise demands on Iran.

White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz said on Sunday that Washington seeks the full dismantling of Iran's nuclear program: "This is the full program. Give it up, or there will be consequences."

A softer line appeared to be mooted by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff on Friday: “We should talk. We should clear up the misconceptions. We should create a verification program so that nobody worries about weaponization of your nuclear material."

Asked by Iran International if there was a discrepancy between the two sets of statements, a state department spokesperson said the president's line was unequivocal.

"President Trump has been clear: the United States cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon," the spokesperson said.

"The President expressed his willingness to discuss a deal with Iran. If the Iranian regime does not want a deal, the President is clear, he will pursue other options, which will be very bad for Iran."