Iran says detainee in France part of prisoner exchange talks with Paris

The commentary followed mass No Kings rallies on Saturday, when millions of Americans poured into the streets across hundreds of cities and suburbs to protest President Donald Trump’s policies.

Tasnim news agency, which is linked to the IRGC, characterized the protests as “a sign of severe polarization and institutional decay” in the United States.

The article said that the scale and spread of the demonstrations showed a society “on the verge of collapse,” suggesting that “civil conflict in America no longer seems unthinkable.”

On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also referenced the protests during a speech in Tehran.

“I have heard that people across all US states are chanting against him,” Khamenei said, referring to Trump. 

“If you are truly powerful, then go and calm them down, silence them, and send them back to their homes,” he said, in a swipe at what he described as Washington’s interference in other countries.

Such framing by Iranian state-linked media is consistent with Tehran’s broader narrative that seeks to highlight social unrest and political dysfunction in Western nations as a counterpoint to criticism of Iran’s domestic situation.

The site, located within the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran, was hit in an Israeli airstrike on October 25, 2024, but was not struck during the June conflict.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said rebuilding at the site—identified as Taleghan 2—began before the country’s 12-day war with Israel in June and continued afterward.

“The purpose of the new construction at this location cannot be discerned from the imagery; a multitude of other non-nuclear purposes are also possible,” the report said.

“It is deeply concerning that construction is occurring at a former AMAD Plan nuclear weapons development site, raising considerable questions as to the true purpose of the facilities there.”

AMAD was a secret scientific project allegedly aimed at developing nuclear weapons. It began in 1989 and ended in 2003, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Satellite imagery from May 20, 2025, showed a black temporary cover hastily installed over the destroyed building, the report said.

By June 12, groundwork and foundations had been laid, and by late August, a new arch-roofed structure about 45 by 17 meters was under construction over the temporary cover, with two smaller buildings nearby.

ISIS said imagery from September 27 showed a third arched structure and further progress on the others. It added that the smaller side buildings appeared to include “blast traps” if later bunkered with earth.

A support facility about 200 meters east of the main complex was also identified, with construction first noted in May and still ongoing.

The institute said that although there is no current evidence to support any nuclear-weapons-related purpose, efforts should be made to determine whether Iran is attempting to reconstitute either the high-explosive test chamber facilities originally part of the AMAD program or the more recently reported PETN plastic-explosive manufacturing capability.

It added that the structures’ arched roofs could later be covered with earth to enhance survivability in the event of future airstrikes and said it will continue to monitor developments at the site.

It added that the structures’ arched roofs could later be covered with earth to enhance survivability in the event of future airstrikes and said it will continue to monitor changes at the site.

Speaking to Iran International, 22-year-old Arya Ostad Ebrahimi described how he was gravely wounded by security forces during protests in the Kurdish city of Mahabad in November 2022 and forced to flee the country after repeated threats against him and his family.

“I was injured by the oppressive forces of the Islamic Republic,” he said. “That day, I helped a woman and her little son escape when they attacked the crowd. I saved their lives — but I was shot at close range and severely injured.”

Ebrahimi said both of his legs were struck by shotgun pellets.

“They took me to a village instead of a hospital because Mahabad was under military rule,” he told Iran International. “They removed some of the bullets, but around 80 are still inside my body.”

Doctors, he said, later confirmed that many of the pellets were lodged near his knees and arteries, making surgery impossible.

“The pain never stops,” Ebrahimi said. “When I sleep, if I roll onto my side or put my hand under my head, I wake up from the pain. It’s like someone is pressing a syringe into my wrist.”

From protest to exile

Before the uprising, Ebrahimi was a boxer and runner preparing to study law. His life changed the day he attended the funeral of slain protester Zanyar Abubakri — one of the bloodiest days of the Mahabad demonstrations.

“The people of Mahabad were brutally beaten and shot,” he recalled. “I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

After being shot, he hid in safe houses to avoid arrest.

Security forces raided his family home several times, threatening to kidnap his nine-year-old sister if he failed to surrender. “They came in the middle of the night with guns,” he said. “My little sister still hasn’t recovered from the fear of those nights.”

Eventually, he fled Iran and sought refuge in Turkey. But even there, he said, he has not found safety. His asylum status has been revoked, and he must regularly report to authorities — a process he fears could lead to his arrest and deportation.

“The Turkish government took away my residence and asylum status,” he explained. “Now, through a lawyer, I’m just buying time. I have to go every few weeks to sign at the immigration office, and I’m terrified each time. I’ve seen how others like me — political refugees — have been arrested while signing and sent back to Iran.”

He said that fear has made daily life unbearable. “I can’t sleep. I’m afraid they’ll come to my house one day and take me away. If they send me back, it will be a death sentence. I know what will happen to me in Iran.”

A growing crisis for Iranian refugees

Ebrahimi’s ordeal is part of a wider crisis facing Iranian asylum seekers in Turkey. Iran International has previously reported on how political dissidents and protesters who fled Iran are being detained, mistreated, and in some cases prepared for deportation.

In January, Iran International profiled 35-year-old Iranian refugee Sina Rostami, held in a Turkish deportation camp.

Also a former protester in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Rostami said he was routinely awakened by guards striking him with batons and forced to live in overcrowded, filthy quarters.

“The way they treat us here is like we’re not humans,” Rostami said at the time.

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  A young Iranian's plight in Turkey underscores horrors of refugee life

In February, Iran International reported on Iranian refugee and LGBTQ+ activist Nahid Modarresi, who lost her protected-person status after the United Nations handed asylum responsibilities to Ankara.

“I hide myself because I am too afraid to go outside,” she said.

Legal advocates estimate that thousands of Iranians once under UN protection have had their status revoked, leaving them at risk of detention and deportation.

Together, these cases reveal a growing pattern of pressure on Iranian refugees in Turkey. Human rights groups warn that political exiles are being left without protection and face possible repatriation to Iran, where they risk torture, imprisonment, or execution

Despite his injuries and uncertainty, Arya Ostad Ebrahimi remains determined to keep speaking out.

“I didn’t commit any crime,” he said softly. “I just wanted freedom.”

“If you look at the Middle East, I would say prior to us hitting Iran so hard, we could have never made that deal (Gaza peace deal) because you would have had a dark cloud over the Middle East,” Trump told reporters alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Washington DC.

“When we took out their nuclear capability, which was one of the great military maneuvers of all time... the Middle East just opened up,” he added.

The US airstrikes targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, following an Israeli air campaign that began on June 13 against Iranian military and nuclear-related sites.

“Iran would have continued producing tens of thousands of ballistic missiles at an accelerated pace" had Israel given in to the demands to stop the war, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday.

"Within a few months it would have developed atomic bombs aimed at destroying us — as well as you, Knesset members, everyone: Jews, Arabs, rightists, leftists. They would all ascend to the sky in atomic smoke,” Netanyahu added.

The Gaza peace deal mediated in early October by the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar put an end to over two years of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which started in response to Hamas's October 7 attack.

Deadly fighting broke out in southern Gaza on Sunday between Hamas and Israeli forces, with both sides accusing each other of violating the agreement.

Clashes erupted near Rafah after Israeli troops came under fire, prompting airstrikes that killed at least 26 people, including civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza health officials. Hamas said Israel had breached the ceasefire, while the Israeli military blamed Hamas for initiating the attack, which killed two Israeli soldiers.

"There is a strong likelihood that Iran was involved in a Hamas attack on Israeli troops near Rafah that killed two soldiers on Sunday," Israel Hayom reported on Sunday, citing a regional diplomatic source.

Iran maintains continuous contact with parts of Hamas' leadership as well as field commanders, and has a clear interest in sabotaging the ceasefire and undermining efforts to end the war, the report cited the source as saying.

“All that stands in the way of progress is a hostile and treacherous Iranian IRGC leadership and its proxies,” Barrack said on X, describing Tehran and its network of militias as the chief obstacle to regional stability.

In a detailed social media statement titled “Syria and Lebanon Are the Next Pieces for Levant Peace,” Barrack said the momentum from the Gaza ceasefire and the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit has created a historic opportunity to rebuild the region—if Iran’s influence can be contained.

Barrack said “the rest of the region is accelerating towards expulsion of Iran’s terrorist proxies,” and argued that the Middle East’s political and economic realignment is already underway.

Turning to Lebanon, Barrack pressed Beirut to distance itself from Iran-backed Hezbollah and embrace US and French-sponsored disarmament efforts.

Hezbollah’s continued dominance, he warned, has left Lebanon “an army without authority and a government without control,” deterring investment and threatening new conflict with Israel.

He described President Donald Trump’s twenty-point peace plan as a blueprint for reconstruction, reconciliation, and economic integration that could transform “a century of conflict into a generation of cooperation.”

Barrack concluded that the Middle East now faces a defining choice: to isolate Iran and embrace reconciliation, or risk losing a rare moment of regional unity and peace.

“Iran stands terminally weakened – politically, economically, and morally,” he added, predicting that Saudi Arabia’s expected entry into the Abraham Accords would accelerate a shift “drawn not by pressure but by prosperity.”

The Abraham Accords, brokered in 2020 by President Donald Trump and his senior adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner, normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.

Current efforts to expand that framework could gain momentum following the Gaza ceasefire.