IRGC chief says Iran engaged in all-out war with global adversaries

Major General Hossein Salami, speaking at a ceremony honoring veterans of the Iran-Iraq war in West Azarbaijan province, said that although Iran faces what he described as a “powerful global coalition” of enemies, it continues to function normally at home.

“We are in a full war, but nothing appears warlike. The arenas of battle are active, but the country is at peace,” Salami said in remarks broadcast by state media.

“You see the enemy’s deployment, hear their rhetoric, and feel their political pressure. But the mystery lies in how this nation stands firm and dignified under such heavy pressure.

“All parts of the system are operating normally, while we are in a full-scale war. There is no anxiety among the people—this is exceptional and unprecedented,” he said.

Also on Sunday, commander of Iran’s Army Ground Forces said Iran’s army is fully prepared to respond to any threat “at any level and scale.”

“Our hands are truly on the trigger, and our eyes are wide open,” said Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari, according to state-affiliated ISNA news agency. “We are monitoring threats carefully and are ready to act on the command of the Supreme Leader.”

The comments come after a CNN report last week quoted US intelligence officials who said Israel was preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities if ongoing indirect US-Iran nuclear talks collapse.

Before the talks began, US President Donald Trump had already warned Iran that if a new deal was not reached within a set time, the US would bomb Iran.

Speaking to reporters, Heidari said the armed forces — including the regular army and particularly its ground forces — are positioned to retaliate swiftly and decisively against any hostile action.

“If any threat is carried out, rest assured that its origin will be wiped out in a fraction of a moment,” he said. “The people should have confidence that we will confront any threat, from any source, at any scale.”

Last week, Iran’s top military commander announced a major increase in the country’s air defense capabilities, including a fivefold rise in detection and tracking systems.

Last October, Israel carried out a major strike on Iranian targets, destroying large sections of the country’s air defense infrastructure. The attack followed two massive airstrikes from Tehran on Israel. Reports in Fox News and the Wall Street Journal said all of Iran’s S-300s were taken out of action.

“The country’s air defense readiness—especially in detection, identification, and elimination of aerial threats—has advanced significantly compared to last year,” Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, told the IRGC's Tasnim News Agency.

“Although I had no intention of publicly declaring this in such explicit terms, the SNSC has formally written to the Parliament, directing us not to promulgate the hijab and chastity law for now," Ghalibaf told lawmakers.

His remarks came in response to a demand from hardline MP Mohammad-Taghi Naghdali, who urged the Speaker to forward the bill for executive enforcement.

The legislation—officially titled The Law to Support the Family by Promoting Chastity and Hijab—was passed by Parliament in December 2023 but has remained unenforced amid internal disagreements and widespread public opposition at home and abroad. The United Nations said the proposal amounted to "gender apartheid".

Ghalibaf emphasized that, under Article 176 of Iran’s Constitution, the SNSC has overriding authority on matters of national security.

“When the Council issues a directive of this nature, the Speaker has no legal authority to proceed with enforcement,” he said.

Behind-the-scenes power struggles

The decision underscores an intensifying struggle between Iran’s ultra-conservative factions, who demand immediate enforcement, and state institutions seeking to avoid further social unrest.

In recent months, hardliners and religious vigilante groups have mounted increasing pressure on authorities to enforce the law, even staging sit-ins outside Parliament that were eventually broken up by police.

Mohammad-Mannan Raisi, a firebrand MP closely aligned with the ultraconservative Paydari (Steadfastness) Front, recently accused the SNSC of betraying the Islamic Republic’s core supporters by halting enforcement of what he called “God’s commandments.”

The SNSC’s September 2024 decision to quietly shelve the law followed a wave of public backlash, echoing the protests that erupted in 2022 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody. The unrest marked one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic Republic in decades.

Surveillance without legislation

While the law itself remains suspended, authorities have pursued enforcement by other means.

Since late March, women in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan have reported receiving text-message warnings for alleged hijab violations detected via surveillance footage.

Activists and digital rights experts say the messages are powered by AI-enabled facial recognition systems, cross-referenced with government ID databases and mobile phone data.

Critics have condemned the approach as unconstitutional and ethically fraught.

“Does the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice even have legal access to people’s personal data?” asked Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, a former government spokesman and law professor, in a popular post on X.

In March, the UN's Fact Finding Mission on Iran said, "surveillance online was a critical tool for State repression," including against those rejecting the mandatory hijab.

"This enforcement increasingly relies on technology, surveillance and even State-sponsored vigilantism," the investigators said, with methods including dedicated apps to report violators and the monitoring of social media.

Despite government denials, the crackdown has continued.

In April, Iran’s police signed a cooperation agreement with the Education Ministry allowing enforcement measures in schools, sparking backlash from teachers’ unions who warned of “militarizing education.”

The standoff over hijab enforcement highlights deeper political dilemmas which continue to challenge Iran’s clerical leadership.

Public defiance continues to rise. Across major cities, women are increasingly seen without headscarves in public spaces, often posting videos online in acts of civil disobedience.

Iran could produce a nuclear weapon if it chose to, a former top official said, but insisted no such directive has yet been given.

“We are capable of building a nuclear weapon, but no official order has been issued so far,” said Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

If Tehran were to pursue the bomb, he added, strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure would be ineffective. “Our power lies in our scientists, not facilities.”

The aircraft, formerly operated by Hong Kong Airlines and manufactured in 2012, landed in Tehran last month and were reportedly acquired through a barter arrangement involving Iranian oil and a Chinese company named Haokun Energy.

Each aircraft is estimated to be worth less than $30 million on the secondhand market, but according to ILNA, the planes were exchanged for oil at a total value of $116 million—sparking criticism over inflated pricing and lack of transparency.

ILNA reported that Haokun Energy, a little-known Chinese firm, had been engaged in multiple Iranian infrastructure projects, including a now-abandoned $2.5 billion expansion plan for Imam Khomeini International Airport.

The firm has allegedly failed to settle significant portions of its outstanding oil debts to Iran and previously agreed to broader commitments, including rail projects and the import of 55 aircraft, most of which have not materialized.

The Airbus A330-200 is part of the A330 widebody family, which includes several variants. New list prices vary by model, ranging from $238.5 million for the A330-200 to $317.4 million for the A330-900neo, according to aircraft market sources like Alternative Airlines and Simple Flying.

However, used aircraft—particularly those over a decade old—can be purchased for a fraction of those values, depending on condition, configuration and hours flown. Recent industry reports suggest that similar aircraft have traded for between $25 million and $40 million.

The delivery comes as Iran continues to struggle with an aging and shrinking fleet due to decades of international sanctions.

More than half of its passenger planes are grounded due to a lack of spare parts, particularly engines. Efforts to modernize the fleet following the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) stalled when the US reimposed sanctions in 2018.

Former roads and urban development minister Mehrdad Bazrpash had earlier taken credit for the aircraft acquisition on social media, saying that the deal was finalized under the previous administration.

Critics have questioned why a private firm was not allowed to manage the purchase more efficiently, and why a Chinese intermediary was needed for a transaction involving state-owned assets.

No official response has yet been issued by Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization or Iran Air regarding the pricing and terms of the contract. Calls for transparency have intensified, with lawmakers and aviation experts urging a full investigation into the deal.

A leading Iranian newspaper with ties to the Supreme Leader dismissed ongoing nuclear talks as fruitless and insisted Tehran will not abandon uranium enrichment.

“Neither Iran will give up its borderless right to enrichment, which is recognized in the NPT, nor will America abandon sanctions it uses as a tool against Iran,” the editorial said in Kayhan on Sunday.

The piece accused Washington of entering talks without any intent to compromise, describing both sides as locked into irreconcilable positions.

“The final stop for negotiations, from America’s view, is sedition and chaos inside Iran,” wrote editor and Khamenei representative Hossein Shariatmadari.

He accused Washington of using “contradictory positions” as a tactic to prolong talks while tying Iran’s economy to a stalled process aimed at destabilization.