US says Iran’s nuclear program set back by up to two years after 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.

If the European Union believes Tehran's nuclear program must be ended, then "the participation and role of the European Union and its member states, plus the UK, in any future negotiation would be irrelevant and therefore meaningless,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.

His statement came in response to a post by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who urged Iran to resume talks aimed at ending its nuclear program.

“Negotiations on ending Iran's nuclear program should restart as soon as possible. Cooperation with the IAEA must resume. The EU is ready to facilitate this,” Kallas wrote.

She added that she had discussed the matter with Araghchi in a phone call on Tuesday. “Any threats to pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty don’t help to lower tensions,” she said.

Araghchi also accused Kallas of disregarding the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) "which explicitly affirm the right of all signatories to develop, research, and use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes."

On Wednesday, Iranian state media announced that President Masoud Pezeshkian had enacted a law suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, following its approval by parliament and the Guardian Council.

The law mandates a halt to cooperation under the Safeguards Agreement tied to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, unless Iran’s demands—such as security assurances for its nuclear sites and scientists—are met.

Despite the suspension of cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, IAEA inspectors remained on the ground in Iran as of Wednesday, according to a diplomat familiar with the agency’s operations who spoke to the Associated Press.

The IAEA said it is awaiting clarification from Iranian authorities. “We are aware of these reports. The IAEA is awaiting further official information from Iran,” the agency said in a statement.

The US State Department said on Wednesday "it is unacceptable that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with IAEA at a time when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity."

"Iran must cooperate fully without further delay," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters.

"Iran must fully comply with its safeguard agreements required under the NPT including by providing IAEA with information required to clarify and resolve long standing questions regarding undeclared nuclear material in Iran, as well as provide unrestricted access to its newly announced enrichment facility," Bruce added.

The selloff came as the Tehran Stock Exchange plunged for a fourth consecutive trading day after the ceasefire. The main index dropped by 57,000 points to 2.73 million.

On Tuesday, individual investors pulled out 64.78 trillion rials—around $71 million—in a single trading day, according to Iranian media.

That followed a deep-in-red opening on Saturday, the first trading day after the 12-day war, when 99% of listed stocks declined and the market lost 62,503 points.

The panic coincided with a cyberattack on Sepah and Pasargad banks that further fueled public distrust in the financial system.

In the days following, large sums were moved abroad through exchange shops. To stem the outflow, multiple exchanges experienced technical disruptions beginning Monday, Iran International previously reported.

During the war, currency and gold markets were largely inactive, but they resumed trading this week with both the US dollar and gold prices climbing.

The Tehran bourse has historically been sensitive to geopolitical stress, but recent market behavior suggests a deeper crisis of confidence—compounded by economic mismanagement, financial sector instability, and the Islamic Republic’s response to external shocks.