Iran carries out suborbital test of Qased satellite carrier - Tasnim

Hossein Shamkhani -- the son of Ali Shamkhani, a long-time defense minister and former head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council - was branded “a central player” in Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet".

An EU statement released on Friday accused him of using Dubai-based firms to conceal the origin of Russian crude.

“Hossein Shamkhani is involved in an economic sector providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation,” the bloc said.

Shamkhani was sanctioned alongside his companies Milavous Group Ltd and Admiral Shipping.

“He uses the company Milavous Group Ltd to blend crude oil with various petroleum products from Russia and to rebrand for exporting purposes, thereby concealing their origin,” the statement read.

“As Director of the company Admiral Shipping, he is involved in transporting and selling Russian crude oil.”

A 2024 Bloomberg investigation reported that the Shamkhani network is at the heart of a sanctions-evading secret trade with Russia, in which Iran provides Moscow with weapons in exchange for oil, helping Russia's war on Ukraine.

The investigation alleged that the network had become a major actor in the export of Iranian and Russian oil and had launched a hedge fund with offices in cities including London, Dubai, and Singapore to manage proceeds.

Shamkhani has denied Bloomberg report.

The Shamkhani family has faced repeated accusations of corruption and abuse of power. Iran International’s Mojtaba Pourmohsen reported on their alleged ownership of foreign assets and ties to the fatal 2022 building collapse in Khuzestan, linked to a businessman associated with the family.

The oil magnate's father, Ali, was seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on his residence in June. Initial reports said he had been killed, but state-linked outlets later confirmed he had survived. He remains a close confidant and advisor of Ali Khamenei.

The EU’s latest sanctions also included a move to lower the price cap on Russian crude in a bid to further constrain Moscow’s energy income.

“We are in constant consultation with these two countries to prevent activation of the snapback or to mitigate its consequences,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said at a weekly press briefing on Monday. “We have aligned positions and good relations.”

The trilateral talks, which will take place at director-general level, are aimed at coordinating a response to growing pressure from the West over Iran’s nuclear program, Baghaei said.

Tehran has long portrayed Russia and China as reliable allies, citing their support in trade, defense, and diplomatic arenas.

Iran leans on allies as E3 threat looms

The meeting comes as the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal—France, Germany, and the UK—have warned they will trigger the snapback mechanism by the end of August unless Iran returns to substantive nuclear negotiations. The mechanism, part of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, allows any JCPOA participant to restore UN sanctions if Iran is deemed non-compliant.

“There is no legal, moral, or political basis for reinstating sanctions that were lifted under the JCPOA,” Baghaei added. “We have been engaged in consultations with Russia and China on this issue for the past year.”

Western nations cite multiple reasons for Iran's non-compliance, including enriching uranium to near weapons level and expelling the UN's nuclear inspectors.

A separate meeting between Iran and the European trio is scheduled for Friday in Istanbul. Baghaei said Monday that the deputy EU foreign policy chief is expected to attend, without naming the official. The Iranian diplomat said the talks would “seriously address sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear program.”

“We will clearly state our demands,” he added.

Tehran has grown increasingly critical of European governments in recent months, accusing them of siding with the United States and Israel.

“European countries not only failed to condemn the attacks on Iran and its nuclear facilities, they supported them,” Baghaei said. “They must be held accountable.”

Nuclear talks with US remain off the table

Asked about the prospect of renewed engagement with Washington, Baghaei said there were currently no plans for talks.

“I explained today about Iran’s talks with Europe; at the moment, we have no plans for talks with the United States.”

However, he said diplomacy remains “a tool and opportunity to safeguard Iran’s national interests, and that Tehran would not hesitate to use it when necessary.”

Iran and the United States had held multiple rounds of nuclear talks via Omani mediation before Israel launched its 12-day war on Iran, but Washington’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites brought the negotiations to an end.

However, in Washington ,US President Donald Trump expects Iran to return to nuclear negotiations, saying that diplomacy is in Tehran's best interest, according to the State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.

“I know that he expects them to begin to negotiate because that's in their best interest,” Bruce said in an interview with Fox News last week. “He has believed and continues to believe that diplomacy will work here."

Baghaei also dismissed recent remarks by former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told CNN that Iran had agreed to cap enrichment below one percent and discuss weaponization assurances.

“Such a thing did not happen,” he said, calling the remarks “part of US domestic disputes”.

Iran lashes out at IAEA conduct

The spokesman reaffirmed Iran’s continued membership in the IAEA and the Non-Proliferation Treaty but criticized the agency’s leadership.

“We are not satisfied with the agency’s approach or with Director General Grossi,” he said. “The Iranian people are angry.”

He added that future cooperation would follow a new framework approved by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Following Israeli and US strikes, Iran passed legislation restricting cooperation with the IAEA unless its security conditions are met.

Iranian officials have since escalated attacks on the agency, including threats to put its chief, Rafael Grossi on trial, with calls in hardline media for his arrest and execution. France, Germany, and the UK jointly condemned the threats in a recent statement.

“Russia prioritizes its own interests and its relationships with other countries over its relationship with us,” Izadi said in an interview with the Iranian outlet Jamaran. “If Russia were to choose between supporting us or Israel, it would undoubtedly choose Israel.”

Izadi’s comments come as several Iranian officials express frustration with Moscow’s silence during recent Israeli strikes on Iranian targets, despite Tehran’s military cooperation with Russia.

“I don’t believe our military cooperation with Russia or our support in the Ukraine war was ever conditional on reciprocal support during times of crisis,” Izadi said. “Russia would never accept such terms. From their perspective, Iran is an unpredictable country, and naturally they would not commit to risking their own interests for us.”

The former diplomat also criticized Moscow’s lack of diplomatic engagement during the recent 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, comparing it with Russia’s past mediation efforts in Iraq during the US-led invasion.

“Even for the sake of preserving its international image or influencing the course of the conflict, Russia did not attempt any mediation between us and the Zionist regime,” Izadi added. “This is in stark contrast to the early 2000s, when Russia sent special envoys to Iraq via Iran multiple times. No such initiative was taken for Iran this time.”

"Over the 46 years since the Islamic Republic was established, our relationship with the United States has been effectively hostile, our ties with Europe have fluctuated, and our relations with regional and neighboring countries have been far from stable. These dynamics have gradually pushed us toward isolation," Izadi said.

Predatory Sparrow, the group believed to be aligned with Israeli intelligence, demonstrated “surgical precision and total freedom of access,” erasing data and destroying wallets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to a report published Sunday.

By targeting Bank Sepah—the Guards’ central financial institution—hackers rendered Iran’s military payroll inoperative and triggered cascading disruptions. “Automated teller machines went dark, and online and in-branch services shut down,” the report said. “Salary and pension payments halted.”

The hackers also penetrated Nobitex, Iran’s dominant cryptocurrency exchange, extracting and burning stablecoins tied to IRGC operational funds.

Nearly 90 percent of the country’s crypto transactions pass through Nobitex, and the group extracted approximately $90 million in stablecoins linked to IRGC funds. These were then burned by transferring them to inaccessible blockchain addresses, permanently removing them from circulation.

“Predatory Sparrow reportedly extracted $90 million from wallets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, then burned the assets by transferring the funds to addresses where they could not be retrieved, thereby permanently removing them from circulation,” the article said.

The strike ignited a broader panic. Though not directly attacked, Iran’s largest commercial bank, Bank Melli, couldn’t meet demand for cash. The Central Bank of Iran attempted to contain the collapse by injecting liquidity, but confidence evaporated. The rial fell more than 12 percent, and authorities suspended trading on the Tehran Stock Exchange.

The attack denied officials and security personnel access to their own money, directly challenging the government’s ability to sustain loyalty through financial means.

The report also said that the success of the cyber campaign has reframed US strategy. While President Trump said at the NATO summit, “We want [Iranians] to be prosperous, we want them to do well, but they can’t have nuclear weapons," it was a message to Iran's Supreme Leader that he must relinquish the nuclear program or face economic collapse.

The report said that sanctions that drive the Islamic Republic finances into vulnerable channels such as crypto and informal banking will likely be part of that strategy, in addition to shifting US cyber policy from passive backing to active involvement in offensive operations alongside Israel.

“Cyber warfare also rewards live-fire experience," the article said. "The more Washington and Jerusalem operate together in combat, the stronger their alliance grows. And when the next big test comes—as it surely will—the nations that have trained together under fire will dominate the field."

Brig. Gen. Alireza Sabahifard, who leads the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, said Iran’s air defense forces are operating with “open eyes and full strength” and will, in his words, “rub the nose of aggressors into the dirt” backed by military capabilities and “trust in God.”

The Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, Iran’s highest operational military command, oversees planning, coordination, and operational supervision of all armed forces. Its air defense base is responsible for coordinating and operating air defense activities across both the Army and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

On Sunday, Mahmoud Mousavi, the army’s deputy for operations, said Iran has replaced air defense systems damaged during last month's conflict with Israel.

"Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure," Mousavi added.

During the June conflict, Israel's air force took control of Iranian airspace, delivering a significant blow to the country's air defenses, while Iran's armed forces responded with successive waves of missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory.

Israeli military officials say that 120 air defense systems were destroyed or disabled since the first wave of attacks—around a third of Iran’s pre-war total. Long-range systems, including Russian-supplied S-300s and Iran’s Bavar-373 batteries, were among those targeted.