A senior Iranian official said the country must go beyond platform filtering and fully implement a “national internet” system to protect citizens from what he called foreign digital espionage, Iranian media reported on Thursday.
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.
A Belgian parliamentary committee has approved a resolution backing the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, MP Darya Safai said on Wednesday.
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 is intensifying a nationwide crackdown in the wake of its 12-day war with Israel, targeting ethnic and religious minority groups as well as foreign nationals, in what experts describe as a bid to reassert control, deflect blame, and suppress dissent.
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.
Iran has rebuked the European Union’s top diplomat over her call for the end of Tehran’s nuclear program, warning that European countries and the UK could be excluded from any future negotiations if they insist on such positions.
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 war has paused, but the collapse has not. Shaken by defeat in the streets, across the region, and from the skies, the Islamic Republic now stands weakened and exposed. The pillars that once held it up, ideology, reach, and fear, are cracking.
The Islamic Republic has begun sealing itself off from the world.
Today, Iranian state media announced that President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. Inspectors will no longer be allowed access to Iran’s contested nuclear facilities. This decision comes just days after Israel and the United States inflicted unprecedented damage on those very sites during a 12-day campaign.
The move heightens the risk of war but also underscores a deeper truth: something irreversible is unfolding.
What began as a 12-day campaign of missile strikes, drone attacks, and air raids has paused, but only just. A ceasefire is in place, yet it may be more fragile than ever, liable to collapse at any moment. Most of Iran’s nuclear facilities were struck during the offensive, but the true extent of the damage remains unclear. If Iran still retains sufficient capacity, it may now accelerate uranium enrichment, not only to gain leverage in future negotiations but to reestablish deterrence in the face of overwhelming vulnerability. With inspectors barred under the new law, suspending cooperation with the IAEA, the next phase of this confrontation may shift from visible strikes to hidden centrifuges.
Yet, beneath this high-stakes brinkmanship, lies a regime already in retreat. The Islamic Republic’s collapse is no longer a distant scenario; it is underway. Over the past three years, Iran has suffered three strategic defeats: one from below, one abroad, and one from above. Each shattered a pillar of its power, ideological control, regional reach, and deterrent capacity.
Blow from above
The most recent blow came from the skies.
In a twelve-day campaign, Israel, joined in the final phase by the United States, inflicted the most severe damage the Islamic Republic has endured since its founding. Iran’s air defenses were dismantled, missile infrastructure crippled, and its nuclear program set back by years. Senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists were killed in strikes deep inside Tehran.
What shocked Iran wasn’t just Israel’s reach, it was Washington’s decision to join in. For decades, Tehran’s core strategic doctrine rested on the belief that the United States would avoid direct confrontation. That doctrine, built on proxy warfare, ambiguity, and the assumption of American restraint, has now collapsed. The red lines Iran once counted on no longer exist.
It wasn’t just military damage; it was a collapse of assumptions.
The Islamic Republic will attempt to rebuild. But its adversaries, having demonstrated their reach, might not allow it. The ceasefire is brittle. More fire will follow.
Symbolically, the clerical establishment is entering a new phase of uncertainty. During the war, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei went underground and has only appeared through pre-recorded messages from undisclosed locations. Even if he reemerges, the precedent has been set: the threat to his personal safety is now constant. Israel has changed the rules of the game. Nowhere, and no one, is beyond reach.
That new reality is already reshaping how the Islamic Republic functions. Khamenei has quietly appointed a new commander to lead the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the central entity in the command chain of Iran's armed forces. Yet the Islamic Republic has withheld his name; two of his predecessors were killed within days of each other. For the IRGC, long accustomed to operating in the open, this marks a profound shift. At least for now, it must act like a force in hiding.
Collapse abroad
But the unraveling didn’t begin in the air.
In December 2024, Iran was forced to withdraw from Syria after the fall of its last meaningful ally, Bashar al-Assad. Years of investment, billions of dollars, thousands of fighters, and hundreds of IRGC casualties vanished in weeks. Israeli airstrikes, shifting Arab alliances, and regional backlash reversed a decade of expansion.
This was Iran’s Afghanistan moment.
Just as the Soviet retreat in 1989 exposed the limits of empire, Iran’s expulsion from Syria marked the collapse of its revolutionary reach. It wasn’t a tactical withdrawal. It was a reversal of ambition.
The retreat also delivered a psychological blow to the Islamic Republic’s support base. Analysts and ideologues who had long defended Iran’s presence in Syria as a strategic depth and moral imperative suddenly found themselves without a narrative. On state media and affiliated platforms, questions began to surface, not from critics, but from within: Why did we fail? What was the sacrifice for? This erosion of confidence among Islamic Republic loyalists has further hollowed out the ideological core that the system depends on to survive.
Revolt from within
But the deepest rupture came from inside.
In 2022, the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in custody sparked the Women, Life, Freedom movement. Since then, women across Iran have discarded the hijab in open defiance, and the Islamic Republic has not been able to stop them.
Today, unveiled women walk freely in major cities. The morality police, reactivated to enforce hijab laws, are failing. A regime built on obedience can no longer uphold one of its core pillars.
This wasn’t reform; it was rout.
Western governments largely missed it. Even amid the recent war, foreign correspondents in Tehran walked past unveiled women and reported nothing about it. Some even appeared on camera in hijab, respecting the Islamic Republic’s rules while ignoring the population’s defiance and a newly established norm.
But Iranians have not been silent.
During the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, the diaspora flooded the streets from Berlin to Washington. Berlin alone saw 100,000 protesters. These weren’t rallies about sanctions, they were calls for liberation. After the June strikes, Islamic Republic loyalists abroad attempted anti-Israel rallies. They failed. Iranians know the enemy isn’t Israel, it’s the Islamic Republic.
Inside Iran, the clerical establishment’s grip on public mourning has weakened. Funerals of IRGC commanders, once orchestrated as national rituals, drew subdued crowds. The state sought grief. It was met with apathy.
Still, in Western capitals, some continue to echo the Islamic Republic’s slogans. Cloaked in the language of “resistance,” they defend a system that even Iranians have rejected. As the Islamic Republic’s pillars crumble, these foreign sympathizers cling to a myth its own people have already abandoned.
A regime in freefall
Three defeats. Three broken pillars.
The clerical establishment has lost its ideological hold, its regional reach, and its deterrent capacity. It still censors, still imprisons, but no longer inspires fear or belief. What remains is brittle. What’s emerging is not reform. It’s freefall.
Diplomatically, Iran is more isolated than ever.
The suspension of cooperation with the IAEA may be aimed at gaining leverage, but it risks backfiring. A renewed referral of Iran’s nuclear file to the UN Security Council looms. European powers are considering triggering the snapback mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal. Despite tough talk, Tehran is likely to return to negotiations with Washington, but from a position of historic weakness.
Its nuclear program is damaged. Its missiles have been exposed. Its leverage is gone.
This is not a regime to be recalibrated. It is one in structural decline, squeezed from above by military humiliation and from below by cultural revolt. To analyze today’s Iran using yesterday’s paradigms is to misread a rupture that is already underway.
Beyond Iran
The consequences won’t stop at Iran’s borders.
The 1979 Revolution reshaped the Middle East. It empowered political Islam, displacing secularism and nationalism. From Beirut to Baghdad, the Islamic Republic exported a militant, ideological model.
Its collapse could reshape the region again.
Today, Persian Gulf states are racing to modernize, digitize, and diversify their economies. Massive investments are flowing into infrastructure and artificial intelligence. Western governments are betting on a post-ideology Middle East. A transformed Iran could be the region’s missing piece.
Iran is not a failed state in waiting.
It is literate, urbanized, and cohesive. Islam shapes its culture but doesn’t define its identity. Even the Islamic Republic’s base lacks the fanaticism seen in other collapsing states. Iran is filled with engineers, doctors, and entrepreneurs, people who have thrived everywhere except at home.
They are not the risk. They are the alternative.
The fall of a repressive regime aligned with Moscow and Beijing would not bring chaos. It would bring renewal, for Iran, for the region, and for a world that has waited too long for both.
Iranian investors withdrew over 132 trillion rials—nearly $145 million—from Tehran’s stock market on Wednesday alone, marking a historic record amid deepening mistrust following the recent conflict with Israel.
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.