Saudi Arabia expels Iranian military attaché, three diplomats

The head of a Tehran rehabilitation center for orphaned girls with disabilities was arrested after objecting to a demand by IRGC forces to house 50 of their personnel at the facility, informed sources told Iran International.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces sought to take over part of the Hamdaman rehabilitation institute. The head of the center objected to the request but was assaulted by the officers and subsequently detained, the sources said.

The director's whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

In January, a video of an Iranian father’s agonized search among the corpses of slain protesters in a Tehran morgue, looking for his son Sepehr, seared viewers with the enormity of the state’s mass killings.

Now, HRANA reports that the father, Esmail Shokri was violently arrested on Saturday night while visiting his son’s grave in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery and taken to an undisclosed location.

Read more about Sepehr Shokri's story

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven said Saturday they are prepared to take whatever steps are needed to ensure global energy supplies remain stable, stressing the need to protect key maritime routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, amid Iran's attacks.

"We ... express support ⁠to our partners in the ‌region ​in the face of the ​unjustifiable attacks by ⁠the Islamic Republic of ‌Iran and its proxies," ​the ministers of Canada, France, Germany, ‌Italy, Japan, the United ​Kingdom and the United States, as well as the ​top EU diplomat, said in a statement.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the regime’s reckless attacks against civilians and civilian ⁠infrastructure, including energy ⁠infrastructure," ​they said.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it struck a strategic research and development facility in Tehran which it said was used to develop components for nuclear weapons.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Israeli Air Force carried out the strike based on precise intelligence, targeting a site associated with Iran’s military industries and ballistic missile program.

The facility, identified as Malek Ashtar University, is affiliated with Iran’s Defense Ministry and has been sanctioned internationally over its alleged role in advancing Tehran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.

Revolutionary Guard Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi has come under criticism from senior IRGC officials for being absent during ongoing clashes and leaving his forces without leadership, sources with knowledge of the matter told Iran International.

The main criticism, according to the sources speaking to Iran International on condition of anonymity, centers on the commander’s lack of presence on the ground at a time when operational pressure has significantly intensified since the start of the war in late February.

Sources say that as casualties have mounted within the Aerospace Force—responsible for missile and drone launches—Mousavi’s absence has been cited as a key factor contributing to the deteriorating situation.

Aerospace Force operators have described the operational conditions as highly dangerous, with each missile launch mission carrying extreme risk and, in some cases, likened to near-suicidal operations, according to the informed sources.

At the same time, sources say families of some personnel have filed complaints with senior IRGC authorities, saying that the commander did not maintain an effective presence under dangerous conditions and that forces were effectively left without adequate support.

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