Russia moves to ratify comprehensive treaty with Iran

“The death of Mahsa Amini was not caused by physical assault, beating, or head trauma,” the Special Committee for Investigating the 2022 protests wrote in its latest report, adding that its findings “reaffirm the conclusion of the Legal Medicine Organization and that law enforcement officers, emergency responders, and hospital personnel acted without negligence.”

Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian woman whose killing at the hands of Iran's morality police in 2022 sparked nationwide ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests.

The report, released on Wednesday, repeats the state’s long-held narrative that Amini died from an existing medical condition. According to the committee, she suffered from a hypothalamic-pituitary axis disorder from childhood and died of “multiple organ failure (MOF) resulting from cerebral hypoxia.”

The panel maintained that medical records and scans were reviewed, though none were made public or shared with Amini’s family or international investigators.

Independent experts and leaked CT images cited by Iran International contradict the official account. The scans, obtained by a hacker group, showed skull fractures and signs of cerebral trauma, which doctors said were consistent with a heavy blow to the head.

Foreign blame and media accusations

The committee categorized the 2022 unrest as a coordinated campaign to destabilize the Islamic Republic. It said that “hostile and subversive domestic elements, as well as a significant number of foreign agents… exploited the protest environment out of opposition to the Islamic Republic and with the intent to incite riots and overthrow the State.”

It cited an array of foreign actors—including the United States, Israel, and European governments—as allegedly instrumental in fueling the unrest, accusing them of organizing “riot cells, arming demonstrators, and disseminating propaganda” through platforms like Iran International, BBC Persian, and the VOA.

The Islamic Republic has openly threatened Iran International’s reporters for covering developments in Iran and amplifying the voices of the people and has plotted to assassinate several of the network’s staff.

It also said platforms like Instagram were used to spread instructions on making Molotov cocktails and encourage attacks on security forces.

With the start of the 2022 protests, the Islamic Republic once again resorted to its familiar tactics of suppressing nationwide demonstrations by cutting off internet access across the country and heavily censoring the flow of information.

Numerous reports showed that during the anti-government protests in various cities across Iran, internet connectivity was disrupted and text messaging services were shut down.

Disputed death toll

The committee reported 281 fatalities in the unrest: 90 individuals it classified as “rioters,” 54 security officers, and 112 civilians it said were killed under ambiguous circumstances. It acknowledged 6,308 injuries, 90% of them among security personnel, and estimated financial damages exceeding 20 trillion rials (about $20 million).

It denied any pattern of abuse in detention, saying, “No complaints have been reported to the Committee” regarding mistreatment, and maintained that “each of the ten individuals” executed in connection with the protests was convicted of premeditated murder.

The findings contradict documentation from Iran Human Rights, which recorded at least 551 protester deaths—including 68 children—and dozens of suspicious deaths in custody.

While defending the conduct of law enforcement, the report conceded that “in rare cases some officers acted beyond their legal duties” and said 621 judicial cases had been filed against personnel, mostly resulting in convictions, acquittals, or dismissals.

The Islamic Republic’s special committee rejected widespread reports of sexual assault and rape against protesters, saying that out of the 45 individuals said to have been victims, only the identities of five had been provided — and that these five had not filed any complaints regarding such abuse at the time of their detention.

Harrowing testimonies from Iranian dissidents across multiple provinces suggest a systematic and widespread weaponization of sexual violence by security forces to stifle protests in 2022, according to a year-long investigation by Iran International.

A section of the report said that if security forces had used live ammunition as per the allegations from rights groups, the protests would have been suppressed more easily, fewer officers would have been injured, and there would have been less damage to public property.

International scrutiny and domestic defiance

Despite broad international condemnation of its handling of the protests and the UN Human Rights Council’s mandate for an independent fact-finding mission, Iran continues to reject the work of the team.

“The Special Committee—despite not recognizing the legitimacy of the International Fact-Finding Mission—held two virtual meetings with them,” the report said, adding that documentation had been provided via unofficial channels.

The committee did not clarify whether it will publish the evidence cited in its findings or allow independent verification.

The report concluded by recommending structural reforms, expanded propaganda efforts abroad, and increased legal action against perceived foreign interference.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, outlines an alleged scheme between 2022 and 2024 to illicitly ship, store, and sell Iranian oil for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the IRGC-QF.

According to the Justice Department, facilitators used deceptive tactics to conceal the oil's Iranian origin, falsely labeling it as Malaysian.

The alleged scheme involved manipulating the tanker's Automatic Identification System (AIS) to conceal that the oil was loaded from an Iranian port.

Additionally, the facilitators are accused of presenting falsified documents to a storage and port facility in Croatia, claiming the oil was of Malaysian origin.

Storage fees in Croatia were reportedly paid in US dollars through US financial institutions, transactions that authorities believe would have been rejected had the institutions been aware of the oil's Iranian connection.

The petroleum product was ultimately sold in 2024, leading to the seizure of the $47 million in proceeds that are now subject to the forfeiture complaint.

The Justice Department further contends that the petroleum is the property of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which it accuses of perpetuating a federal crime of terrorism by providing material support to the IRGC and IRGC-QF.

The complaint alleges that profits generated from such sales support the IRGC's "full range of malign activities," including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses both within Iran and internationally.

The Justice Department noted that funds successfully forfeited that are linked to a state sponsor of terrorism may be directed, in whole or in part, to the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

The case is being investigated by the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations in New York, with Assistant US Attorneys and a Trial Attorney from the National Security Division handling the litigation.

The Justice Department emphasized that a civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation, and the government bears the burden of proving forfeitability in the civil forfeiture proceeding.

In February, US President Donald Trump's signed a directive restoring the so-called maximum pressure policy on Iran of his first term aimed at driving the Islamic Republic's oil exports to zero.

Oil is critical for Iran's economy, accounting for around 15% of Iran's GDP and at least half of the government's budget, employing around a third of the country's 25 million workers.

Under the Biden administration, Iran's oil revenues surged due to weak sanctions enforcement. Trump has vowed to reverse it and bring the oil exports to zero, if Iran refuses to curtail its nuclear program.

Kamal Kharrazi, who heads Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and previously served as foreign minister, said: “Recent US behavior is psychological warfare—alternating between threats and offers of negotiation,” he said, referring to what he described as conflicting remarks from American officials and media coverage of a message sent by US President Donald Trump to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, earlier this month.

According to a report by Axios, the message from the US was described as “tough,” with a two-month deadline to reach a new nuclear deal and a warning of consequences if Iran expanded its nuclear program.

But Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, offered a more conciliatory version, saying the letter proposed peaceful dialogue and trust-building.

“They've reached back out,” Witkoff said in an interview last week, referring to indirect Iranian responses via multiple channels. “Trump believes this has a real possibility of being solved diplomatically.”

Kharrazi said such gestures appear designed to pressure Iran into accepting unfavorable terms. “This is not real negotiation—it is an attempt to impose one side’s will through coercion,” he said, adding that Iran’s experience with past agreements has made it wary of US commitments.

His remarks come after Iran’s foreign minister said direct talks with the US are currently impossible without major policy shifts. Iranian officials have acknowledged ongoing indirect communication through intermediaries, including Oman and European nations.

Last year, Kharrazi said Iran had the technical capability to build nuclear weapons but was restrained by a religious decree banning them. He warned that an existential threat could prompt a change in military doctrine.

“Unlike her predecessors, who tried to reflect EU positions with at least some regard for international legal principles, Ms. Kallas speaks recklessly,” Baghaei said. “Even if her words stem from inexperience, they still harm Europe’s image in the eyes of any neutral observer.”

Kallas, speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday, said Iran posed a grave danger to both the region and the world.

“On Iran, we agree the immense threat Iran poses to the region and global stability. Iran is a threat also supporting Russia's war in Ukraine,” she said. “Iran must never be allowed to acquire or build a nuclear weapon. And EU supports all diplomatic efforts to that effect.”

Sa’ar called for European support against Iran and its regional allies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. “We are now fighting the war of the free world,” he said. “The war is against Western civilization—against its values and its ways of life.”

Earlier this month, Kallas called for a renewed international nuclear agreement with Iran, similar to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), just days after former US President Donald Trump raised the possibility of military action to dismantle the deal.

Speaking at a United Nations Security Council session on EU-UN cooperation, Kallas said: “The constant expansion of Iran’s nuclear programme fully contradicts Iran’s own commitments as endorsed by the Security Council.”

“In the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the (Caspian Sea), we have established security and strength, and we will prevent any enemy adventurism,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said at a rally in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

Tangsiri said that IRGC naval units and their regional allies had turned regional waterways into a “theater for defeating the enemies", the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim website quoted him as saying, in a possible reference to Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen who have imposed a maritime blockade in the Red Sea.

The exercises featured over 3,000 vessels, according to the IRGC, which said the parade was timed ahead of International Quds Day, an annual event promoted by Iran to express support for Palestinians.

Organizers said boats operated by the IRGC and civilian volunteers paraded in 13 locations spanning the Persian Gulf, the Makran coast and the Caspian Sea.

At one of the southern sites, pro-government demonstrators burned representations of the Israeli flag.

The exercise comes as the US military has deployed long range bombers at a strategic Indian Ocean airbase, a spokesperson told Iran International, as Washington ramps up rhetoric against Iran and continues a bombing campaign on Houthi fighters in Yemen amid the Iran-backed group's blockade of commercial shipping in the Red Sea region.

US President Donald Trump has demanded Tehran come to a deal over its nuclear program or face a military intervention and warned any attack by the Houthis would be treated as emanating from Iran, after the group, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US, launched multiple attacks on US warships.

Top Iranian leaders have rejected the ultimatum and deny seeking nuclear arms.

President Trump reportedly issued a two-month deadline to Iran, via the United Arab Emirates, to agree to a new nuclear arrangement, vowing military consequences should Tehran fail to comply.

Iran and the IRGC have been connected to multiple tanker hijackings and attacks in areas including the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.

Just last year, amid the Houthi blockade, Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey in retaliation for the confiscation in 2023 of the same vessel and its oil by the US, according to Iranian state media.