Inside the dramatic escape of Iranian women footballers seeking asylum

Trump issued the warning in a post on Truth Social, saying any attempt by Iran to mine the narrow maritime passage would trigger a severe response.

“If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY! If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before,” he wrote.

“If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction!”

He later said American forces have destroyed 10 inactive Iranian mine-laying boats and ships in recent hours, warning that additional strikes could follow.

CBS News earlier quoted US officials as saying that Iran may be preparing to deploy naval mines in the strategic waterway in an attempt to further disrupt shipping through the Persian Gulf. According to the officials, Tehran could use small boats capable of carrying two or three mines each to place them in the strait.

The warning comes as the United States continues to review options to protect maritime traffic in the region.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday the Pentagon is examining possible measures, including escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a route through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass.

“We are looking at a range of options to set the military conditions to be able to do that,” Gen. Dan Caine said during a briefing when asked about escorting ships.

He said officials are evaluating the risks and resources required for such an operation.

The White House also signaled that the administration is preparing additional steps to ensure the strait remains open.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration has already offered political risk insurance to tankers operating in the Persian Gulf and temporarily waived certain oil-related sanctions.

She added that Trump has also offered the US Navy to escort tankers if necessary, but confirmed that no ship has been escorted yet, days after the idea was first raised to reassure maritime trade companies.

“The President and his energy team are closely watching the markets, speaking with industry leaders, and the US military is drawing up additional options, following the President's directive to continue keeping the Strait of Hormuz open,” Leavitt said.

Iran's Guards threaten commercial ships

Iranian officials have meanwhile doubled down on their own warnings over access to the strait.

Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said ships linked to what he called “aggressors” would not be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If you have doubts, come closer and test it,” Tangsiri wrote on X.

Earlier, the Revolutionary Guards said Arab or European countries that expel Israeli and US ambassadors from their territories would be granted full freedom of transit through the strait starting Tuesday.

US officials say the military campaign against Iran has already reduced Tehran’s ability to carry out attacks.

Gen. Caine said ballistic missile launches have dropped sharply since the start of Operation Epic Fury.

“Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downwards, 90% from where they started, and one-way attack drones have decreased 83% since the beginning of the operation,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States and Israel were “winning decisively” in the conflict and vowed the campaign would continue until its objectives are achieved.

The goals of Operation Epic Fury, he said, remain destroying Iran’s missile stockpiles, launchers and defense industrial base, degrading its naval capabilities and ensuring Tehran cannot obtain nuclear weapons.

“Our will is endless, but ultimately the president gets to determine the end state of those objectives,” Hegseth said.

Rather than confronting the official narrative head-on, many posts mocked the opaque and unusual circumstances of Mojtaba’s rise – especially the emergence of a leader who, for many Iranians, remains almost entirely unseen.

The jokes fall broadly into several recurring themes.

‘A leader no one has seen'

Many jokes focus on Mojtaba Khamenei’s near-total absence from public life.

Unlike most senior political figures, Mojtaba has rarely appeared in speeches or interviews, and only a handful of recordings of his voice are publicly known.

Some users turned this into a technological joke. One widely shared post said:

“There isn’t even enough audio of Mojtaba Khamenei for AI to train on to make a fake voice of him.”

Others simply pointed to the unusual situation more directly.

“We are entering the second day of Mojtaba Khamenei's leadership, and still nobody has seen him.”

Several posts framed the absence through humor about remote work – a concept familiar to many younger Iranian users.

“If you like working remotely, the best job is Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Nobody asks where you are, what you’re doing, or even whether you’re alive.”

Another post used religious imagery to exaggerate the idea that he has remained invisible.

“We’re in a situation where the appearance of Mahdi is more likely than the appearance of Mojtaba.”

Mahdi – the messianic figure awaited in Shiite Islam – frequently appears in Iranian satire as a way of describing events considered extremely unlikely.

Another viral joke suggested Mojtaba’s leadership was almost abstract.

“In the phrase ‘Mojtaba’s leadership,’ the literary device being used is personification.”

The remark plays on a Persian rhetorical term used in literature classes, implying that leadership is being attributed to something that has not visibly acted.

'The only known quote'

Another recurring joke centers on how little Mojtaba Khamenei has publicly said.

One of the few widely circulated videos attributed to him shows him announcing that his religious classes would be canceled.

That short clip has now become a punchline.

One post summarized the situation: “The only existing quote from Imam Mojtaba Khamenei: ‘Next week there will be no class.’”

The post was accompanied by a parody image styled like the decorative wall murals commonly seen on schools and public buildings in Iran, where passages from religious figures and political leaders are often painted alongside floral designs.

In the satirical version circulating online, however, the wall bears only the mundane line about next week’s class being canceled – recasting an ordinary notice as the supposedly defining quotation of a newly appointed Supreme Leader.

Other jokes focused on Mojtaba’s lack of a public résumé. One post mocked the situation using corporate language:

“You don’t have a résumé, you want to work remotely, you got the job through connections – and you don’t even have a photo for your CV so they have to generate one with AI.”

Another user suggested that even performing a simple task could count as experience.

“At least bury your father so you can have one executive job on your résumé.”

‘Schrödinger’s Khamenei’

A darker strand of satire reflects the uncertainty and speculation that often accompany major political events in Iran.

Some jokes played with the idea that Mojtaba’s status remains ambiguous because he has not appeared publicly.

One widely shared post referenced the famous physics thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s cat:

“I think instead of Schrödinger’s cat we’re dealing with Schrödinger’s Khamenei. Until they show him, we don’t know whether he’s alive or dead.”

Some posts jokingly suggested that naming Mojtaba as leader could solve several political problems at once.

“Announcing Mojtaba as leader was actually smart. You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.”

Another post used similarly blunt humor:

“You know what’s better than one dead Khamenei? Two dead Khameneis.”

Other jokes focused on the strange overlap between the funeral of the late leader and the introduction of the new one. One user wrote sarcastically:

“Right now the Islamic Republic has two leaders on earth – one they won’t bury and another they won’t reveal.”

Even the burial itself became a subject of dark humor.

“The only reason they haven’t buried Khamenei yet is to save funeral costs – they’re waiting a few days to bury Mojtaba too.”

Inside Iran, political figures who disappeared from public view after the February 28 strike are gradually re-emerging through statements congratulating him on his elevation to leadership.

Among them are Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the former leader’s chief of staff, and Asghar Mirhejazi, his powerful security chief, who issued a rare joint message despite earlier reports that Mirhejazi had been killed in the attack.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also rumored to have died in a strike on his home, released a similar message.

These congratulatory notes appeared during one of the most solemn Shiite mourning periods, commemorating Imam Ali. At the same time, part of the country is mourning the former leader, while Mojtaba himself is grieving the loss of close family members.

State officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and security chief Ali Larijani, have recently appeared in simple, Zelensky-style military uniforms without insignia. All three have pledged allegiance to Mojtaba.

Social media has filled with dark humor about Ali Khamenei’s death and Mojtaba’s life expectancy.

More serious posts include the resurfacing of an old video circulated widely on X, reportedly with IRGC encouragement, in which reformist politician Faezeh Hashemi says she would prefer Mojtaba to the “fanatic elderly candidates” for leadership. Like others, she suggested he might introduce reforms.

Mojtaba’s record since 2005, however—particularly during elections and protest crackdowns—offers little evidence of reformist tendencies. Many analysts warn that Iran may become even more radicalized under his rule, noting his long-standing ties to vigilante groups involved in suppressing dissent.

Debate over hereditary succession has intensified. Critics argue that dynastic leadership contradicts the Islamic Republic’s founding principles. Others counter that hereditary succession mirrors the lineage of the Twelve Imams.

Members of the first group note that Khomeini’s son Ahmad was never allowed to inherit power—an argument echoed implicitly by some of Khomeini’s descendants, including his great-grandson Ali, on X.

Former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei and former state TV chief and tourism minister Ezzatollah Zarghami have both said they have been close friends of Mojtaba for years, describing him as “modest” and “simple.”

Rezaei, who appeared frequently on state television after Khamenei’s death, has promised to share more about Mojtaba in the coming days.

State TV’s IRINN channel has twice acknowledged that Mojtaba’s leadership faced serious resistance within the Assembly of Experts. In an unusual live broadcast comment, one analyst even suggested opposition to Mojtaba might emerge from within his own support base.

Some media outlets, including Khabar Online, cautiously suggested this week that Mojtaba’s rise could signal a more prolonged and unpredictable phase of conflict, reflecting broader uncertainty inside Iran’s political establishment over the direction his leadership may take.

Much of that privileged access is believed to operate through so-called “white SIM cards” – mobile lines exempt from Iran’s filtering system that allow direct access to blocked platforms such as X, Telegram and Instagram.

Spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani did not directly refer to those SIM cards but spoke about the government-imposed national internet blackout, saying Tehran is instead offering connectivity to “those who can better deliver the message.”

According to internet monitoring group NetBlocks, the Iranian government has been promoting its agenda through whitelisted online services while the public remains in a digital blackout

“The regime continues to promote its agenda through whitelisted networks, cultivating media assets at home and abroad,” NetBlocks said on Friday, six days into the latest round of nationwide internet shutdown.

This is while President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed in early December to deactivate the so-called “white SIM cards” that grant unfiltered access to a circle of state-linked users.

“We have instructed that these white internet lines be turned black as well, to show what will happen to people if this blackness continues,” he said.

Pezeshkian has repeatedly promised to lift filtering, a key pledge of his 2024 presidential campaign.

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  New X location feature fuels dispute over unequal internet access in Iran

Meanwhile, Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown has continued for more than 240 hours, marking one of the most severe government-imposed nationwide blackouts ever recorded globally and the second longest in the country’s history after the January protests, according to NetBlocks.

The group said on Tuesday that Iran has now spent roughly a third of the year 2026 offline.

According to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, ordinary users’ access to the global internet inside Iran remains at roughly one percent, effectively isolating most citizens from international platforms.

The blackout — the third nationwide shutdown since the 12-day war in June — has severely limited the flow of information and made it nearly impossible for citizens to receive warnings about potential attacks or communicate with relatives.

Many Iranians who manage intermittent access through virtual private networks (VPNs) say the wartime blackout has deepened anxiety and isolation.

Several users have described the shutdown as comparable to a war crime because it disrupts civilian communication and limits access to critical information during attacks.

‘War crime’

One user wrote on X: “If a government deliberately cuts communications while providing no warning or protection mechanisms for civilians, and this leads to widespread harm, it could be examined as a serious violation of international obligations and in some circumstances even a war crime.”

Critics say authorities have not introduced any nationwide warning system to protect civilians from airstrikes. One user wrote that what they expected from government SMS alerts was “to tell me to take shelter because they’re bombing the street next to me—not to report the price of oil.”

Iranian newspaper Shargh highlighted the psychological toll in an article titled “The Sound of Bombs, the Silence of the Internet: The Iranian Psyche in Crisis.”

The paper wrote: “Restrictions on internet access and the circulation of incomplete information have made the true picture of the crisis more complex. Every rumor, every partial analysis and every tense environment erodes the collective psyche and intensifies the sense of insecurity.”

“When people face only the sound of fighter jets in silence and with limited information, the psychological impact of this crisis can be as significant as the physical destruction,” the article added.

Privileged access

Beyond the immediate risks, the shutdown has also inflicted economic damage, forcing many online businesses, freelancers and digital services to halt operations.

Heavy signal jamming has also made Persian-language satellite television channels difficult or impossible to receive in many areas. Without access to often costly VPNs, which only a minority can afford, state television has effectively become the primary source of information for many Iranians during wartime.

Government institutions and state-affiliated media have been sending mass text messages warning that those who access international internet services could face legal consequences, while also distributing official narratives and government-approved news.

Despite the restrictions on the general population, critics say some government figures—including Mohammad Marandi, who continues posting online and giving interviews to international media—retain unrestricted access.

Diaspora activist Azadeh Davachi wrote: “They cut the internet for the people while they themselves sit online tweeting and threatening the public. If you really care about the people, at least restore the internet.”

Calls for help

For millions of Iranians abroad, the blackout has meant losing nearly all contact with relatives inside the country. Many say they have had no news from family members since the war began.

International phone calls are also heavily restricted, often working only from inside Iran to outside and frequently dropping in less than a minute.

For diaspora communities already anxiously following the conflict, the prolonged silence has only deepened fears for loved ones inside Iran.

The prolonged shutdown has prompted calls from activists abroad for emergency connectivity solutions. Some diaspora campaigners have launched an online appeal using the hashtag DirectToCellForIran, urging Elon Musk to activate Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service so mobile phones could connect directly to satellite internet.

One activist wrote: “We urge you to activate Starlink Direct-to-Cell in Iran, even on a trial or testing basis. This could be a vital solution for internet connectivity.”