US warns citizens against visiting Iran due to 'paranoid' spy hunt

“From late March to early August, Tehran had only six clean-air days,” the agency said. Other days ranged from moderate to very unhealthy, with at least three classified as hazardous.

The report comes as concerns grow over the government’s energy strategy and its environmental impact. In recent weeks, Iranian officials have confirmed that fuel oil, which is one of the most polluting fuels available, is once again being widely used to generate electricity amid power shortages.

“All power plants across the country used fuel oil at full capacity last year,” Saeed Tavakoli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company, said this week. He said the practice continued despite public claims that the administration prioritized environmental protection.

Tejarat News, an economic daily, criticized the government for quietly resuming the use of mazut, a low-grade fuel, after ordering a temporary halt in several cities last winter. “Fuel oil burning is no longer an emergency fix. It has become a systemic policy reflecting the collapse of energy planning,” it wrote in an editorial this week.

Pollution tied to tens of thousands of deaths nationwide

In May, Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi said Iran sees an estimated 50,000 deaths annually linked to air pollution. “Some countries have solved this issue, but we still have a long way to go,” he said.

Experts say the crisis is worsened by fragmented authority and limited enforcement. Though 23 government bodies have mandates to reduce pollution, analysts say most lack the power or resources to implement meaningful change.

“Laws stay on paper, and there is neither enough funding nor executive power to carry them out,” Mohammadreza Tavakkolian, an urban planning expert, told state media on Friday.

Calls to ban old vehicles, invest in cleaner energy, and empower a central environmental authority have so far gone unanswered. Critics warn that without systemic change, Tehran and other major cities will continue to suffer both in air quality and human lives.

“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in its updated guidance, which reiterated a level-3 travel alert for the UAE.

The council linked the threat to what it called revenge motives following Israel’s June military operation against Iran, as well as broader anti-Israel incitement. It advised Israelis to avoid non-essential travel and warned of possible attacks especially around Jewish holidays and Shabbat.

There was no official confirmation from the Israeli foreign ministry, but media outlets said the decision to withdraw diplomatic personnel followed internal assessments of the growing threat environment.

While the NSC did not mention a specific plot, it noted that hostile actors have historically focused operations in nearby countries. The UAE, which formalized ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, hosts a growing Israeli and Jewish community.

In a separate case earlier this year, three men were sentenced to death in the UAE for the November killing of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi, a rare act of political violence in a country often seen as one of the region’s most secure.

The NSC advised Israelis abroad to remain alert, avoid identifying symbols in public, and coordinate closely with local authorities if they suspect any danger.

“Any demands for financial compensation from the United States to the Iranian regime are ridiculous,” Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said at a press briefing in Washington on Thursday. “If the Iranian regime really wanted to save money, they would stop funding terrorist death squads, stop oppressing their own people, and stop wasting money on a nuclear program that isolates them further.”

The comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Financial Times that Tehran would not return to nuclear negotiations unless Washington accepted responsibility for the attacks and offered compensation.

Ball is in Iran’s court, US says

Pigott said the United States remains open to diplomacy but warned that Tehran has limited time. “Iran has a short window of opportunity, but the ball is in Iran’s court,” he said. “We’re waiting to see what they do.”

Araghchi had said talks with the US could not proceed without “confidence-building measures,” including financial redress and guarantees against future strikes. He also confirmed that a third enrichment site near Isfahan was hit during the war, the first time Tehran has publicly acknowledged the attack.

Talks remain on hold as tensions linger

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan days before a ceasefire in June, citing threats from Tehran’s nuclear escalation. Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency shortly after, though technical talks with the IAEA are expected in the coming weeks.

Araghchi said Iran and the US exchanged messages before, during and after the war but added that the “road to negotiation is narrow.” He also warned that any European move to restore UN sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal would end Iran’s talks with the UK, France and Germany.

“With the Europeans, there is no reason right now to negotiate,” he said. “They cannot lift sanctions, they cannot do anything.”

“This is a clear fabrication and a desperate move to divert attention,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in remarks carried by state media. “These baseless narratives are part of a broader Iranophobia campaign designed to justify hostile policies toward Iran.”

The US and countries including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada issued a statement this week warning that Iranian intelligence services are cooperating with international criminal networks to surveil, intimidate and potentially harm journalists, activists and political figures living abroad.

In response, Baghaei said the countries involved “must be held accountable for their open support of violent and terrorist groups who have committed acts of bloodshed against the Iranian people.” He added, “Instead of answering for their illegal behavior, they resort to media campaigns based on lies.”

Western concerns grow after publicized incidents

The Western statement followed a string of recent warnings from European and US authorities. The UK’s counter terrorism police said Iran is among the most active foreign states involved in plots to harm people on British soil. Officials in London said the Islamic Republic uses criminal intermediaries and targets vulnerable individuals to carry out surveillance or attacks.

“We are increasingly seeing these three states — Iran, Russia and China — undertaking threat-to-life operations in the United Kingdom,” said Dominic Murphy, head of London’s Counter Terrorism Command, earlier this month.

Belgian lawmaker Darya Safai said this week that local police told her about a plot to abduct her via Turkey, which she linked to her calls to label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group.

A pattern of pressure and denials

Western governments say Iran’s operations abroad are growing more frequent and bold. A report by the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee this month said Iran was behind at least 15 attempted assassinations or kidnappings on British soil since 2022.

Iran denies involvement in such operations and frequently calls international criticism part of a politically motivated campaign.

The report reveals how Iranian oil is transferred to ships bound for China through covert ship-to-ship transfers in international waters near Malaysia’s Riau archipelago, often with transponders turned off and identifying details concealed.

During a single day in the area, CBS recorded 12 such transfers—an unprecedented number that analysts say signals an expansion of the trade. China is believed to purchase up to 90% of Iran’s crude exports.

The report comes a day after the US Treasury announced sweeping new sanctions on what it described as a “shipping empire” allegedly controlled by Hossein Shamkhani, son of a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader.

The action, the largest of its kind since 2018, targeted more than 50 individuals and entities and identified 50 vessels.

CBS quoted former US Navy officer Charlie Brown, now an adviser to United Against Nuclear Iran, as saying the location near the Riau archipelago is the dark fleet’s “parking central.”

“As long as there’s a supply, there will be a demand for this discounted oil,” Brown said. “And both sides are willing to take the risk.”

Despite multiple rounds of US sanctions, smaller Chinese refineries—known as “teapots”—continue to buy Iranian crude.

Meanwhile, European powers are weighing whether to trigger the snapback of UN sanctions on Iran, which had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

It remains unclear how such a move would affect China’s energy trade with Iran or broader sanctions enforcement.