American citizen among five Iranian Jews still detained in Iran - Israeli media

US forces deployed two of the military’s seven Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems in support of Israel, firing more than 100 -- and potentially as many as 150 -- interceptors to defend against a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles.

The deployment marked the most significant operational use of the system to date, according to the report, which cited sources familiar with the matter.

While the interceptors successfully countered many of Iran’s long-range missiles, experts warn that the rate of usage far outpaces current production capabilities.

The US Department of Defense produced only 11 new THAAD interceptors in 2024 and expects to procure 12 more this fiscal year. The Pentagon plans to acquire 37 in 2026, according to budget documents cited by CNN.

“The reports about THAAD expenditure are concerning,” a US missile defense expert told CNN. “This is not the sort of thing the US can afford to do repeatedly. THAAD is a very scarce resource.”

A senior retired US Army officer told CNN the Department of Defense is now reassessing “wartime stockage levels of critical munitions” and working to increase annual production capacity.

A Pentagon official said the 2026 budget prioritizes “funding in the defense industrial base,” including $1.3 billion for supply chain improvements and $2.5 billion for missile and munitions production.

The Pentagon declined to specify the number of interceptors used, but Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said, “The US military is the strongest it has ever been… look no further than Operation Midnight Hammer and the total obliteration of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

However, experts cited by CNN warned that stockpile shortfalls were already a concern before the Israel-Iran war and could undermine deterrence, particularly in the event of simultaneous conflicts.

Lockheed Martin, THAAD’s manufacturer, currently operates nine active batteries worldwide, seven of them under US control. Two were moved to the Middle East in recent years, with others stationed in Texas, Guam, and South Korea. THAAD systems have also been delivered to the UAE, where they’ve been used against Houthi-launched missiles.

Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles during the war, with 86% intercepted. However, 36 missiles struck populated areas, resulting in widespread damage across Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, according to DC-based think tank Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).

Analysis conducted by DC-based think tank Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) estimated that THAADs -- alongside Israel’s Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors -- downed 201 of Iran’s 574 missiles, with 57 hitting populated areas across Israeli cities. The report estimated that the US’ THAAD system accounted for almost half of all interceptions.

JINSA analysis said Iran increasingly deployed more advanced missiles with multiple warheads and decoys in later stages of the war, challenging interception systems. “Only 8% of Iranian missiles penetrated defenses in the first week of the war. That doubled to 16% in the second half of the conflict and eventually culminated at 25% on the final day of the war before the ceasefire.”

In a post published on the social media platform X, Namazi said the Pezeshkian administration, like its predecessors, was turning to the Iranian diaspora in times of political and economic crisis.

“Mr. Pezeshkian, you and your ministers, like previous governments during times of hardship, have turned to Iranians abroad and called on them to travel to Iran,” Namazi wrote. “But it is unlikely that even you truly believe the country is safe for them—especially at a time when the arrest of dual nationals and foreign citizens on baseless charges, for the purposes of hostage-taking and political bargaining, has intensified under your own intelligence ministry.”

Namazi directly addressed the president, warning that without concrete steps to end the targeting of foreign nationals, his remarks would be seen as disingenuous. “The only way to prove your government’s goodwill and to declare an end to the Islamic Republic’s heinous diplomacy of hostage-taking is the unconditional release of people like Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, Reza Valizadeh, and all the other hostages of the Islamic Republic—including those whose names have not yet reached the press,” he wrote.

“Otherwise,” Namazi continued, “your recent remarks will rightly be seen as nothing more than baiting—an attempt to use the Iranian diaspora’s potential to fill solitary confinement cells and keep your case-building interrogators and people-selling diplomats busy.”

Earlier in the month, President Pezeshkian publicly invited Iranians living abroad to return, promising a more open and secure environment.

Namazi was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “collaborating with a hostile government.” He was released in September 2023 as part of a US-Iran prisoner swap, brokered by the Biden administration, that included the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian assets and the release of five Iranian nationals held in the United States.

Rights groups and Western officials have long accused the Islamic Republic of using dual nationals as political leverage in negotiations.

According to human rights monitors, dozens of foreign and dual-national detainees remain imprisoned in Iran under opaque legal processes, with access to consular services and fair trials often denied.

On Wednesday, July 23, the Islamic Republic tried shutting down government offices, and it cut national power demand by 19,000 megawatt-hours and reduced Tehran’s water usage by 3,800 liters per second, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Sunday.

Repeating the closure for four weeks could lower the capital’s consumption by six million cubic meters, he added.

IRGC-aligned Tasnim News Agency described the trial closure as effective, citing a 10 percent decline in Tehran’s daily water use, from up to four million cubic meters down to about 3.4 million.

Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Sunday that authorities are considering a full summer week off, with a final decision expected on Wednesday.

Iran has recently faced an unprecedented heatwave, and many natural and engineered water reservoirs across the country particularly in Tehran, Alborz and Fars provinces are nearly depleted.

In the capital Tehran, officials have attempted to curb consumption through emergency measures, including repeated water and electricity outages.

Reservoirs drop, outages rise

Authorities warned on Sunday that electricity generation from the Karaj dam in western Tehran may cease within days due to plummeting reservoir levels.

The Karaj dam’s hydroelectric plant, which still produces electricity, may be forced to shut down in two weeks as the water level drops below the intake threshold, its manager Mohammad Ali Moallem said.

Once the reservoir falls beneath a critical line, power generation will no longer be possible, he warned.

Some of Iran’s deepest reservoirs have shrunk to shallow ponds, and water pressure in parts of Tehran is now so low that taps fail to reach above the second floor in many buildings, according to state-run media.

“The water crisis is more serious than what is being talked about today,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a cabinet meeting on Monday.

“If we do not make urgent decisions today, we will face a situation in the future that cannot be cured.”

In a video sent to Iran International, a Tehran resident shows new machines dispensing drinking water for a fee, activated with bank cards and filling personal containers like an ATM.

Outages now extend to seven hours in rural areas, said Ali-Gholi Imani, a member of the agricultural pricing council Sunday.

“With the current power cuts, one-third of the country’s agricultural output is being lost,” he warned.

The crisis reflects not only institutional mismanagement but resource collapse, environmental researcher Rouzbeh Eskandari told Iran International.

He recommended urgent investment in wastewater recycling, leak reduction in pipelines, and smart monitoring for farms.

Resolving the country’s water crisis requires a total of 13.26 quadrillion rials, or around $15.7 billion, Mohsen Zangeneh, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Program and Budget Committee, said Sunday.

According to officials, he added, the national budget for the current year has allocated 500 trillion rials, or about $568.2 million, toward the critical issue.

"Iran has been very nasty with their words, with their mouth. They got the hell knocked out of them, and they, I don't think they know it. I actually don't think they know," Trump told reporters on the sidelines of his meeting with the president of the European Commission.

"The whole thing's a con job. We have a lot of con jobs going on. But Iran was beaten up very badly, for good reason. We cannot have them have a nuclear weapon," he added.

On June 22, Trump ordered airstrikes against Iran's nuclear sites in Fordow, Esfahan and Natanz, capping off a surprise military campaign by Israel which killed hundreds of people, including military personnel, nuclear scientists, and civilians.

The 12-day Israeli war on Iran was launched following the 60-day deadline set by Trump for Iran to reach a deal with the West over its disputed nuclear program.

Uranium enrichment was one of the US conditions for the possible deal, but Iran has long been insisting on maintaining its enrichment program, even in the aftermath of last month’s conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News earlier this week that the country will not abandon its uranium enrichment program, calling it both a scientific achievement and a matter of national pride.

“Our enrichment is so dear to us,” he said. “Obviously we cannot give up our enrichment, because it is an achievement of our own scientists and now more than that, it is a question of national pride.”

Trump on Sunday expressed surprise at Iran's insistence on enrichment after what Araghchi called "serious and severe" damage to its nuclear infrastructure.

"They still talk about enrichment. I mean, who would do that? You just come out of something that's so bad, and they talk about, we want to continue enrichment. Who would say that? How stupid can you be to say that?"

Trump vowed that his administration is "not going to allow that to happen."

Iran’s uranium enrichment program has long been a source of international tension. While Tehran maintains that the program is for peaceful purposes, the UN nuclear watchdog argues that enriching uranium to high levels of purity lacks any civilian justification.

Although the interview was scheduled to air on Iran's state TV, the broadcaster’s decision to withhold it has raised eyebrows among moderate and pro-government news outlets.

“A bomb was planted in a house across from ours, but it was discovered before it exploded," Araghchi said in the interview which is the latest episode of an online program titled The War Story.

He also said that during his overland trips, several drones were detected flying overhead. While Araghchi himself did not notice the drones, he said his security team identified them using specialized equipment and, on several occasions, had to turn off their mobile phones for security reasons.

On June 21, Araghchi visited Istanbul to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). His trip to Turkey came after his visit to Geneva, Switzerland, where he met European powers in the middle of the Israel war.

ZDF reported at the time that Araghchi had informed Israeli officials that he would be flying to Geneva, as Israel controlled the Iranian airspace during the 12-day war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 23.

“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” US President Donald Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Araghchi confirmed at the time that Iran would halt military operations starting at 4:00 am Tehran time on June 24.

Ceasefire violation caused by 'misunderstanding'

In his recent interview, Araghchi revealed a misunderstanding between him and Iran's military forces, which led to continued Iranian strikes past the intended ceasefire time.

“There was a misunderstanding between me and the armed forces. Our friends had thought the ceasefire was in effect from 4 am GMT, so they continued attacks against the (Israeli) regime until 7:30 am Tehran time,” Araghchi said.

He said another misunderstanding occurred on the afternoon of June 24.

On the first afternoon of the ceasefire, Araghchi said, “the (Israeli) regime claimed Iran had launched missiles and violated the agreement, and they sent their jets to carry out attacks."

"I immediately messaged (Trump's envoy Steve) Witkoff and said Israel was making excuses, accusing Iran of violations that never happened. I warned that if they take action, we will respond immediately and more forcefully than before. Iran is not Lebanon — they can’t repeat what they did there.”

He said Trump then said in a social media post that he had ordered Israeli pilots to turn back, effectively halting the operation.

“This showed, once again, that everything had been coordinated with the Americans from the very beginning," Araghchi said.

The 12-day war was started by Israel and capped off by US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The United States had signaled it would join only if the campaign was going well, The Washington Post reported on Saturday citing Israeli and American officials involved in the operation.

Israel was preparing a final wave of attacks aimed at toppling Iran’s ruling system when Trump announced the ceasefire, the Post reported citing the officials.

Israel's surprise campaign of airstrikes and drone attacks killed hundreds of Iranians including civilians, military personnel and nuclear scientists. Iran's retaliatory missile strikes killed 27 Israeli civilians.