Trump calls Iran 'a very evil place,' says future will look different

“If the agency wants to visit our sites, they’ve been bombed. Tell us—how do you expect to inspect a bombed nuclear facility? Is there a rule, a protocol, a guideline for that?” Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with state TV.

Araghchi criticized the UN nuclear watchdog for failing to condemn what he described as “illegal and savage” attacks on the country’s nuclear sites under its supervision. “This is the biggest violation of international law—truly unforgivable,” he said.

IAEA inspectors left the country following the 12-day conflict and whether Iran allows them to resume their work remains a focus of diplomacy between Iran and the West.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly maintained that US airstrikes "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program but Iran's insistence it will not to renounce enrichment leaves the long-running impasse unresolved.

Talks, not inspection

Araghchi confirmed in the interview that Iran officially invited the IAEA's Deputy Director General to Tehran for a detailed discussion, asserting Iran's view that the framework for working with the UN nuclear watchdog had changed.

"He’s not coming for inspections or evaluations—we have not allowed and will not allow that," Araghchi said without naming the deputy.

Asked how Iran can continue working with the IAEA in light of a recent law suspending cooperation, Araghchi said the legislation only proposes new mechanisms for collaboration.

“The parliament passed a crucial law, effectively tying Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA to decisions by the Supreme National Security Council. Henceforth, all cooperation with the IAEA must go through and be approved by the Council,” Araghchi said.

Israel launched a series of strikes on June 13 targeting military and nuclear sites, assassinating senior commanders and killing hundreds of civilians. Iranian missiles killed 27 Israeli civilians.

The United States attacked the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow nuclear sites with long-range bombers and submarine-launched missiles on June 22.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom have called on Iran to resume full cooperation with the IAEA, and while Iranian officials have previously indicated some talks might be soon, no definite date has been announced.

Araghchi added that no talks with the United States are finalized but confirmed that some requests have been made.

“There have been discussions and messages from the other side. Whether talks happen in the near or distant future depends entirely on what serves our interests.

“We fight, negotiate, use diplomacy, and rely on our defensive power and our people wherever necessary to secure national interests,” he added.

He added that while messages had been exchanged with the US side, no negotiations had been firmly agreed, and any future talks would depend on what Iran’s interests require.

Donald Trump said in July Iran wants to talk but that the United States is in no rush.

The company, Divar, is one of the most prominent firms to emerge from Iran’s start-up sector in the past decade. Its CEO took the rare step of publishing online a letter indicating the Revolutionary Guards' disapproval of its listing under his leadership.

Offering online classified ads similar to Craigslist, Divar enables Iranians to buy and sell secondhand goods and find and rent homes.

It has about 38 million active users, or nearly half the country’s population, according to a 2023 report from a Swedish investment firm with indirect shares in the company.

But its efforts to go public on the Tehran Stock Exchange were halted after the Guards objected to the presence of Divar’s founder and CEO, Hessam Mir Armandehi.

Late last month, Armandehi published a copy of the internal order on LinkedIn. “It is hereby brought to your attention that the Intelligence Organization of the Guards … has declared Mr. Hessam Mir Armandehi’s lack of qualification, and consequently, the company’s acceptance is contingent upon his absence,” the June 10 letter read. According to the document, the order had been issued on April 27.

Divar is reportedly highly profitable, according to four people familiar with the company who spoke to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity. A consortium of foreign investors, including Europeans, holds 15 percent of the shares of its parent company, according to its website. The consortium and the Swedish firm declined to comment.

The post was seen as a rare act of defiance in what The Washington Post called a secretive, authoritarian system.

Dozens of Iranian executives shared Armandehi’s post and wrote messages of support. “I wish we had a good and responsible government that appreciated great and capable entrepreneurs and start-ups,” one wrote. Another added, “Exactly for this reason it is impossible to grow in Iran!!”

Divar has previously clashed with security institutions. The company has refused to turn over private user data and resisted pressure to sell shares to entities linked to the state.

One person familiar with the company said Divar was also pressured to sell to a firm partly owned by a conglomerate close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority over the Guards.

In one past case, Armandehi’s cousin and fellow executive Ashkan Armandehi was briefly detained after refusing to hand over user data.

He later told Iranian media the company would not comply with blanket requests. “Providing information about ads and users without a court order is illegal,” he said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are widely known to hold major shares in oil, telecom, and construction. But the Divar case has exposed the Guards’ expanding informal control over digital companies they do not legally own, the article said.

“If a founder doesn’t have the right to stay in their own company, no investor will confidently invest in the digital economy,” Iran’s Deputy ICT Minister Ehsan Chitsaz wrote on X. “The stock market is a tool for corporate governance and transparency, not a tool for the arbitrary elimination of individuals or managerial coercion.”

The pressure Armandehi described has further deepened the private sector’s challenges by eroding fair competition and undermining Iran’s efforts to attract foreign capital, experts told The Washington Post.

“This leads to lower investment, of course, and it leads to capital flight not only from investors in Divar but also in many other digital companies, many other companies that are private,” said Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. “If they continue these kinds of policies, they are helping the collapse of the Islamic Republic.”

Despite the threats, Armandehi said he is staying. “Even now with all these pressures, I’ve neither lost hope nor have any plans for emigrating or leaving Divar,” he wrote.

Mizan identified the man as Mehdi Asgharzadeh, also known by the aliases Abu Khaled and Hesam, and said he had received military training in Syria and Iraq before attempting to enter Iran with a five-member team from Iraq through the western highlands.

The report said Asgharzadeh planned to recruit members and carry out “sabotage and terrorist operations” in Iran, including grenade attacks in crowded religious sites followed by suicide bombings.

According to the judiciary, he was arrested after security forces attacked the group’s hideout before the operation could take place. His alleged accomplices were killed in the raid.

He was convicted of “corruption on earth” through collaboration with Islamic State and actions against public security.

Mizan did not specify when he was arrested or provide details of his trial, but said the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and carried out on Wednesday morning.

Human rights groups say Iran has sharply increased the pace of executions in recent months. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, a Washington-based rights group, said earlier in the month that at least 730 people have been executed in Iran since the start of 2025.

Rights monitors have repeatedly accused Iran of conducting trials that fall far short of international standards and extracting confessions under torture, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk last week condemned Iran’s execution of hundreds of people “behind closed doors” and called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty.

The blackouts, often split into two two-hour intervals, have in some cases been officially announced by city councils or municipalities. But many residents say only one outage is listed on the government’s “Bargh-e Man” (“My Electricity”) app, with the second – often in the early evening – occurring without warning.

Reports sent by residents to Iran International and posts on social media also described prolonged water cuts in some areas, compounding the hardship as much of the country swelters in extreme heat.

Authorities in 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces ordered all government offices, banks and public institutions closed on Wednesday due to the soaring temperatures, sparing only the provinces of Ilam, Hamedan and Lorestan.

Industrial groups have warned that rolling blackouts since May could cut annual steel output by 33%, while also hitting cement and petrochemical production.

Motion against energy minister

Lawmakers have blamed years of underinvestment in power plants and refineries for chronic shortages in both electricity and fuel.

Over 100 members of parliament have signed a motion to impeach Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi.

Critics, including senior members of the energy and infrastructure committees, accused him of making unrealistic promises, such as saying in February that with sufficient fuel he could supply electricity to neighboring states, including Iraq.

“The 20,000-megawatt electricity shortfall and structural problems in the industry will not be solved just by providing more fuel,” said Mohammad Bahrami Seyfabadi, deputy head of parliament’s energy committee.

Mojtaba Yousefi, a member of the construction committee, called the repeated blackouts “theft from people’s pockets,” saying energy shortages have raised production costs and hurt livelihoods.

The energy ministry maintains that planned household outages should not exceed two hours a day and be scheduled outside night-time hours. But residents in parts of Tehran and other cities say the four-hour cuts are now routine, with little or no warning.

Vadi, who held a doctorate in reactor engineering, had co‑authored a 2011 research paper with senior Iranian nuclear experts later killed during the June conflict with Israel, according to his Google Scholar profile.

According to the Telegram channel of Amir Kabir University, Vadi was a doctoral graduate of the university. He co-authored a paper with Abdolhamid Minouhchehr and Ahmad Zolfaghari, two prominent nuclear specialists killed during the 12-day war.

The judiciary said he was convicted of transferring classified information about one of the scientists killed in those attacks to Mossad.

Its official outlet Mizan reported that Vadi “knowingly and deliberately” cooperated with Israel’s intelligence service.

'Paid crypto'

Officials alleged he was recruited online, vetted by a Mossad officer using the alias Alex, and later assigned to a handler known as Kevin.

After his evaluation, Mossad allegedly determined that Vadi’s workplace and level of access made him a high‑value source,according to the judiciary.

He was then introduced to “one of Mossad’s top divisions.” At his request, payments were made monthly via a cryptocurrency wallet rather than a reward‑per‑mission system.

According to the case file, Vadi was instructed to buy a dedicated phone, laptop, and two flash drives to establish secure communications. After receiving technical training, he was tasked with gathering and transmitting sensitive and classified materials.

Widespread crackdown

Iran would “deal decisively and legally with spies,” referring to ongoing investigations following the June conflict with Israel, Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Tuesday during a visit to North Khorasan Province.

Ejei recently said that more than 2,000 people had been arrested during and after the 12-day war, some of whom face the death penalty on charges of “organizational collaboration with the enemy.”

Amnesty International condemned the surge in executions and warned of further imminent deaths.

Iran Human Rights reported that 21 people were executed during the June conflict period, including six men charged with spying for Israel.

Among earlier executions was Mohammad-Amin Mahdavi-Shayesteh, accused of leading a Mossad-linked cyber group.

According to Amnesty, Iran was responsible for 64 percent of all recorded executions worldwide in 2024, and has carried out 612 hangings in the first half of 2025 alone.

Meetings in Vienna

Following initial data transfers, Vadi was reportedly sent to Vienna, where he had previously attended professional training, to meet Mossad officers in person.

On five occasions, he allegedly met them in Austria’s capital under what Iranian authorities described as “high‑level security protocols,” including multiple location changes, vehicle swaps, body searches, and use of “special meeting clothing” before talks began.

During these meetings, Vadi underwent psychological testing and a polygraph exam to assess loyalty and information accuracy. He was then re‑tasked to provide weekly updates on organizational developments and answer technical questions, with payments adjusted accordingly.

The judiciary said Vadi resisted instructions to send large batches of data all at once but ultimately transferred a collection of classified material, including information on the slain nuclear scientist.

Arrest and trial

Iran’s intelligence services said they placed Vadi under surveillance after one of his trips to Vienna. He was eventually arrested in Tehran, and prosecutors charged him with “espionage and intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime in exchange for a specified payment.”

The court, citing Article 6 of the Law on Combating Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime Against Peace and Security, along with other articles of the Islamic Penal Code, sentenced him to death for “extensive crimes against domestic and foreign security” and for “causing serious disruption to public order.”

The Supreme Court upheld the verdict, and the sentence was carried out on August 5, 2025.