Araghchi says Iran remains committed to NPT, denies ending IAEA cooperation

Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris were formally charged this week with spying for Israel’s Mossad, conspiracy to overthrow the regime, and “corruption on earth,” AFP reported, citing diplomatic and family sources on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the charges against the two French citizens are “totally unjustified and baseless,” adding: “If it is indeed confirmed that they are facing these charges, we would consider them completely unjustified and unfounded.” He stressed that their release is “an absolute priority” for the French government.

He added, “We have always told our interlocutors from the Iranian regime that any decision on sanctions will be conditional on resolving this issue.” His remarks echoed earlier comments on the possibility of triggering the snapback mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The two were arrested in May 2022 during a trip to Iran and remain in detention in Tehran.

The pair’s family says they still have no access to independent lawyers. Kohler’s sister told AFP they had seen a judge who confirmed the charges, but no further details were provided. In May, France filed a case against Iran at the International Court of Justice, accusing Tehran of arbitrary detention and violations of international law.

President Emmanuel Macron has previously referred to the pair as “state hostages,” accusing Iran of detaining foreigners to exert pressure on Western states. Iran denies the claim.

Since the end of the 12-day Israeli campaign on June 24, Iran has carried out multiple executions and arrested hundreds on charges of espionage and collaboration with Israel.

Earlier warning tied snapback to nuclear behavior

On Wednesday, Barrot separately warned that France, along with Germany and the UK, could invoke the so-called snapback mechanism under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if Tehran refuses stricter curbs on its nuclear and ballistic programs.

“With a simple letter in the mail, we can reimpose on Iran a global embargo on weapons, nuclear equipment, banks and insurance,” Barrot told Le Monde. “It is essential that our security interests be taken into account.”

The snapback provision allows remaining participants in the deal to restore UN sanctions lifted under the agreement if Iran is found to be in breach. The United States, which exited the accord in 2018 under President Donald Trump, can no longer trigger the process itself.

“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters. “All of the intelligence that we've seen leads us to believe those facilities, especially, have been completely obliterated.”

The June 22 strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan using bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk cruise missiles, a mission US officials have described as a success.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that the Fordow facility had sustained major damage. “What we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” he told CBS News, adding that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is still evaluating the site.

Despite the damage, Araghchi said Iran would not abandon its nuclear efforts. “Our peaceful nuclear program has turned into a matter of national pride and glory,” he said. “People will not easily back down from enrichment.”

IAEA says enrichment could resume within months

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Sunday that Iran retains enough technical capacity to resume uranium enrichment in a matter of months. “They could have, in a matter of months—or even less—a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium,” he told CBS.

“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared,” Grossi said. “There is still something there.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed that view, saying the program could recover if the government chooses to act. “If there is this will on our part, and the will exists in order to once again make progress in this industry, we will be able to expeditiously repair the damages and make up for the lost time,” he said.

Tehran suspends cooperation with UN watchdog after strikes

Tehran has since enacted legislation suspending cooperation with the IAEA under its safeguards agreement, unless its demands—including guarantees for its nuclear facilities and scientists—are met. The IAEA said on Wednesday it had not yet received formal clarification and that its inspectors remained in Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials and state media have escalated criticism of the agency. A senior judiciary official said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi could face trial in absentia for “deceptive actions,” while a hardline newspaper called for his arrest and execution. France, Germany, and the UK condemned the threats in a joint statement and reaffirmed support for the agency.

Despite the damage to key facilities, Iran has not ruled out further enrichment. “People will not easily back down,” Araghchi said. President Donald Trump warned earlier that any resumption of enrichment would be met “without question” by further military strikes.

Mostafa Mirsalim, a member of the Expediency Council and former presidential candidate, said foreign messaging apps were “tools of Zionist surveillance” and urged the public to abandon them.

“Filtering alone is not sufficient,” he said. “The government’s main goal is to launch a reliable national information network, and we hope this will be realized soon with the help of our experts.”

The proposal follows widespread internet disruptions during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel, which reignited public criticism of state censorship and shutdowns.

Officials have defended the blackout as necessary for national security, warning that VPNs used to bypass restrictions may themselves be exploited by foreign intelligence.

“People should stop using these platforms voluntarily,” Mirsalim said, adding that government restrictions would be unnecessary if citizens acted “wisely.”

Iran has long promoted the idea of a “national internet,” officially known as the National Information Network — a domestically controlled infrastructure that can operate independently of the global internet.

Critics say it would allow authorities to disconnect Iran from the outside world during protests or conflict, and further isolate users from uncensored information.

Safai, a lawmaker of Iranian descent, said the vote in the foreign affairs committee marks a key step in her long-standing campaign to hold the IRGC accountable for its role in international terrorism and domestic repression.

“Belgium is one of the first countries in Europe to take this step explicitly,” she said on X. “Belgium is leading the way internationally, and it is now up to the European Union to follow through on this stance.”

She added that the resolution also calls for “the unconditional and immediate release of Ahmadreza Djalali” and an end to executions carried out by Iran’s authorities.

Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic, was arrested in Iran in 2016 and sentenced to death the following year on charges of spying for Israel, which he denies. In April, Sweden’s foreign minister called on Iran to release him on humanitarian grounds, citing his deteriorating health and harsh prison conditions.

Safai's proposal has previously drawn support from then-Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, who said Belgium backed adding the IRGC to the EU sanctions list.

The new Belgian government, led by Bart De Wever, reaffirmed that position in its coalition agreement, which said "The government advocates for the inclusion of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations."

The IRGC, a powerful parallel military with extensive economic and intelligence roles, was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019 under President Donald Trump. Washington and Ottawa have called on European allies to follow suit.

Iran’s Jewish community has come under intensified pressure since the end of Israel's campaign, with members directly targeted by security forces.

Beni Sabti, who fled Iran as a teenager with his family and sought refuge in Israel, told Iran International that while rumors of mass executions of Iranian Jews are untrue, more than a dozen Jewish Iranians have been detained and interrogated under suspicion of espionage.

"This is purely antisemitic," said Sabti, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, specializing in Iranian affairs.

Many Jewish conscripts in Iran were allegedly forced to participate in public demonstrations of loyalty to the Islamic Republic following Israel’s strikes on military and nuclear sites.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iranian authorities have summoned and interrogated at least 35 Jewish citizens in Tehran and Shiraz over alleged contact with relatives in Israel. A senior member of Tehran’s Jewish community told HRANA the interrogations are “unprecedented” and have triggered profound fear and uncertainty throughout the community.

"It's a kind of sacrifice," said Sabti, "The Islamic Republic knows the Jews are not involved in espionage. It's a play that they have to do and play that game of the regime to obey them and to let them interrogate them, and after that, they most probably are released."

Crackdown on Kurds

One of the hardest-hit communities is Iran’s Kurdish minority, according to Taimoor Aliassi, the UN representative of the Kurdistan Human Rights Association in Geneva.

“Since the beginning of the 12 days war, over 300 Kurdish citizens have been detained, five executed, one died under torture in prison in Kermanshah, another killed in the street and a Kolbar was also reported killed by border officials,” Aliassi told Iran International.

He said the Islamic Republic has multiplied checkpoints and intrusive controls at the entrances to Kurdish cities, accompanied by heavy deployments of military forces.

“It’s a state of emergency and the Islamic Republic is scared of popular uprising in Kurdistan which could lead to other parts of the country,” he added.

Baha'is and Baluch minority groups

Iranian security forces have also carried out widespread raids on the homes of Baha’i citizens during and after the conflict, IranWire reports.

Headquartered in Haifa, Israel, the Baha’i faith is Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority but it is not officially recognized by the Iranian government.

Baluch citizens from the restive province of Sistan and Baluchistan have also come under intensified targeting. The IRGC announced it had killed or detained 52 people in the southeastern province on charges of espionage for Israel.

Security forces opened fire on residents in the village in the region on Tuesday, according to the Haalvsh website. One woman, Khan-Bibi Bameri, was killed. Eleven other women — including four minors — were seriously injured. Two remain in critical condition.

Masking internal failures

Shahin Milani, director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, told Iran International that these groups are being scapegoated to mask the Islamic Republic's internal failures.

“The Iranian government must know very well that Baha'is and Iranian Jews are not in the position to have access to classified information or to collaborate with Israel. Baha'is were purged from all public sector jobs after the 1979 Revolution," said Milani.

"Accusing them of espionage and other national security crimes serves only one purpose for the Islamic Republic: telling its supporters that it is doing something to address the massive security failures exposed by the war,” Milani said.

He added that these arrests reflect the Islamic Republic's inability to identify actual threats.

The Islamic Republic has also arrested leading activists such as freedom of speech advocate Hossein Ronaghi. Others, including rapper Toomaj and activist Arash Sadeghi, were reportedly beaten, arrested, and later released. Nationwide, at least 705 people have been arrested on political or security-related charges since the war began, according to HRANA.

The wave of repression has drawn parallels to the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, when thousands of dissidents were executed by the Islamic Republic.

“This is sadly a tried and true authoritarian tactic, and there are real fears emerging that the Iranian people may have a totalitarian terror in store for them like Saddam Hussein after his 1991 defeat,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program.

“Now that scope is expanding to foreign nationals as well,” Taleblu told Iran International.

Repression extends to foreign nationals

Iran has arrested several European nationals in various provinces over allegations they were "in some way cooperating with Israel" and has opened cases against them, the judiciary’s spokesperson said on Monday.

On Wednesday, AFP reported that French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, detained in Iran for three years, have been charged with “spying” for Israel.

Iranian authorities have also accused the pair of “conspiracy to overthrow the regime” and “corruption on earth”— which is punishable by the death penalty, the report said citing a French diplomatic source and family members.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, declared shortly after the war began that the trial and punishment of anyone arrested for alleged collaboration with Israel “should be carried out and announced very quickly.”

Iran’s parliament has recently passed a sweeping new law mandating the death penalty for anyone found cooperating with Israel, the US, or so-called “hostile groups”—while also criminalizing the use of tools like Starlink to bypass state internet controls.

Activists fear that unless checked, a new chapter of repression could once again engulf dissidents, women, and Iran’s most vulnerable minority groups.