Tehran faults UN nuclear watchdog over response to Israeli, US attacks

Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage, says Camp Wilayah has “clear and troubling ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Regime.”

The camp, set to be held for boys and girls aged nine to 14 is run by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM).

In a section on the camp's official website called "hijab and segregation," organizers said the genders would be separated and hijabs will be mandated for the girls.

Several local branches of Reform UK sent a letter to the managers of Phasels Wood Activity Centre in Hertfordshire outside London, urging them to cancel the event.

The center is run by The Scout Association, the largest mixed-gender youth organization in Britain which is a branch of the worldwide Scout Movement.

“The decision to host Camp Wilayah at this site is not just inappropriate – it is a grave betrayal of everything the Scout movement stands for," Reform UK Hertfordshire branch chair Keith Steers wrote in a letter.

"Camp Wilayah is not an innocent cultural gathering. It is the ideological outreach arm of AIM. By offering sanctuary to Camp Wilayah, you align yourselves ... with tyranny.”

Reform UK has been gaining in popularity in recent months with its sharp criticism of established political parties and illegal immigration which critics have branded xenophobia.

AIM fired back in a post on their website.

“Camp Wilayah is not a space for indoctrination or radicalization. It has never promoted hatred of any kind, and no incident has ever been cited nor any evidence presented to suggest a problem at the camp."

"We have no relationship with the government of Iran or any other foreign country."

A search of the AIM website shows it promotes books written by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In social media posts, the AIM has repeatedly praised Khamenei, calling his books “an excellent source of knowledge and a great read.”

AIM has also praised Qasem Soleimani — the former Quds Force commander killed in a 2020 US drone strike — as a “great hero.” One of its social media posts features a photograph alongside a Khomeini quote about exporting the Islamic Revolution.

The group has faced similar criticism in the past. In July, John Woodcock, Baron Walney , the UK government’s former extremism adviser, said: “We cannot allow propaganda and influence from this theocratic dictatorship to be spread to children in the UK."

"It is deeply alarming that schoolchildren are being taken to these camps. This raises ­further questions about the influence of Iran here in the UK,” he added.

UK-based human rights lawyer Omid Shams told Iran International that AIM operates under the umbrella of the Ahlul Bayt World Assembly, an Iran-based organisation whose leaders are appointed in Tehran and have historically been close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He says former head Mohammad Hassan Akhtari — a onetime Iranian ambassador to Syria and representative of the Quds Force — and other senior figures “are the closest people to Khamenei,” making AIM part of a wider network advancing Iran’s “soft power” abroad.

"There is no way, under any circumstances, that you would say that these organizations are not affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran," Shams said.

AIM did not immediately respond to request for comment but posted on their website "to be absolutely clear: AIM has never been affiliated with any organisation called the “Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.” We are not a branch, partner, or member of that body. These claims are entirely false."

The latest dispute comes a month after the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee warned of a growing threat of physical attacks by Iran in the UK, including targeting British Jews and Iranian dissidents.

The Intelligence Ministry said that the return of so-called snapback sanctions will include a ban on arms sales, freezing of assets and foreign currency accounts of companies abroad.

“Re-sanctioning of legal and natural persons active in industries such as oil, petrochemicals, banking, shipping, insurance and sensitive technologies will be activated,” the document said.

Potential fallout could roil markets and exacerbate unemployment and deepen popular discontent, the ministry added.

“Severe currency fluctuations, reduced purchasing power, increased unemployment, layoffs and heightened social discontent are to be expected,” the Intelligence Ministry said.

The snapback mechanism is part of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed a 2015 deal over Iran's disputed nuclear program called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Under Resolution 2231, any party to the accord can file a complaint accusing Iran of non-compliance. If no agreement is reached within 30 days to maintain sanctions relief, all previous UN sanctions would automatically “snap back,” including arms embargoes, cargo inspections and missile restrictions.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry also pointed to potential alternative partners for the Islamic Republic to evade the sanctions.

“Identify alternative suppliers in countries like China, Russia, Iraq, etc., which will be less affected by sanctions,” the statement said.

The guidance also warned of renewed threats to national security including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

“Increased targeted cyberattacks on economic infrastructure, focusing on supply chains, automation, and financial management, as well as efforts by foreign intelligence services to infiltrate through third parties, contractors, or organizational applications, will be some of the threats,” the statement said.

France, the United Kingdom and Germany told Iran they would restore UN sanctions unless it reopened talks on its nuclear program immediately and produced concrete results by the end of August.

Iranian diplomates last met representatives of the three European countries in Istanbul on July 25.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei described the meeting with Britain, France and Germany as a “test of realism” for the E3 powers, calling it a chance for them to correct past positions.

The network is run on behalf of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), a Defense Ministry body established in 2010 which the United States calls a successor to Iran’s alleged pre-2004 nuclear weapons program.

Western governments have sanctioned SPND for years, citing its role in the potential proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The network purchases dual-use and military-grade equipment, including in the field of neutronics—a highly sensitive discipline vital to controlling chain reactions in nuclear reactors and, in a military context, producing or controlling neutrons for weapons design, a source familiar with its activities said.

“This network purchases dual-use and military-grade equipment, including neutronics and other sensitive components, on behalf of SPND,” the source said.

Such capabilities can be used for reactor safety, protection from radiation and can have military applications for producing nuclear weapons.

Isatis group and SPND links inside Iran

Inside Iran, the procurement effort is anchored by companies operating under the Isatis name. Corporate and academic records link two SPND personnel, Hadi Zakeri Khatir and Ebrahim Haji-Ebrahimi, to Isatis Danesh Tolid Tajhiz, one of the group’s entities.

Zakeri Khatir, a faculty member at a university linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, serves as vice chairman of the board. Haji-Ebrahimi is listed as a technical engineer with a background in nuclear fusion studies.

Isatis presents itself online as a holding company with multiple subsidiaries in steel, cement and industrial equipment.

However, Iran International found that some of these firms—such as Isatis Foolad Tajhiz and Isatis Siman Tajhiz—remain unregistered in official records, suggesting the size and activities of the firm are not readily transparent.

Isatis Holding did not respond to requests for comment by Iran International.

European hub in Vienna

The network’s overseas hub is Vienna, according to the informed source and company registration documents obtained by Iran International.

Austrian commercial records show that Mohammad-Amin Kharazmi, son of Isatis co-founder Saeed Kharazmi, manages Better Way GmbH, a company registered in 2018 at a residential address in Vienna’s Margareten district.

Mohammad-Amin Kharazmi told Iran International: “I categorically deny any commercial or other activities connected, directly or indirectly, to Iran’s nuclear program.” He said he never had any legal or actual role in those entities.

The same address is used by two other firms—Pioneer Bio Instrument GmbH, a registered medical equipment supplier, and Petrophoenixx Handels GmbH—both with Iranian nationals in management roles.

Neither company responded to requests for comment by Iran International.

Kharazmi said many Iranian firms provide foreign addresses just to exaggerate their profile.

Better Way lists no website or contact details. Its declared business is online retail, with reported assets of roughly €420,000 at the end of 2023. On its own website, Isatis Danesh Tolid Tajhiz names Better Way as a European partner.

Legal cover, strategic depth

Israeli strikes during a 12-day war in June targeted SPND sites and killed multiple nuclear scientists.

The United States has repeatedly sanctioned SPND and affiliated companies, citing their role in “dual-use research and development activities applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”

SPND’s work has drawn repeated censure from the International Atomic Energy Agency, and US sanctions target more than 30 of its scientists and multiple front companies.

In 2024, Iran’s parliament passed a law granting SPND official recognition under Iranian law. The act placed the organization directly under the authority of the Supreme Leader, exempted its budget from parliamentary oversight, and allowed it to form academic and commercial entities with legal protection.

"I suggest to the Iranian dictator Khamenei that when he leaves the bunker, he occasionally look up at the sky and listen carefully to every buzz," Katz wrote on X Monday.

"The participants of the 'red wedding' are waiting for him there," he added referring to the codename of an Israeli campaign starting on June 13, 2025, in which a series of coordinated strikes killed several of Iran’s most senior military leaders.

The operation, named after a massacre scene in the Game of Thrones TV series, targeted top figures including Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, chief of staff of armed forces Mohammad Bagheri, and senior general Gholam Ali Rashid.

Katz's warning followed the release of an assassination list by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Telegram channel Saberin News amid continued tensions between Israel and Iran despite a US brokered ceasefire on June 24 which ended the 12-day conflict.

Last week, the new intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tehran views the ceasefire with Israel as merely a pause to an ongoing war, as Iran's security establishment doubled down on confrontational rhetoric toward its arch-nemesis

“We can agree to have limits on our nuclear program and in return the sanctions must be lifted,” Majid Takht-e Ravanchi told Kyodo News in an interview on Saturday.

“Iran can be flexible on the capacities and limits of enrichment, but cannot agree to stop enrichment under any circumstance because it's essential, and we need to rely on ourselves, not on empty promises,” he added.

Takht-e Ravanchi said one obstacle to renewed talks with Washington was the need for clarity over past US actions.

“The United States should explain to us about the reasons it resorted to the use of force against us. If we want to have a genuine dialogue, everybody has to be transparent. The United States in fact tricked us. They pretended that they wanted to talk, but they decided to go for the military option.”

He said Tehran remained open to discussions but would not set a timeline. “Iran remains prepared to engage in dialogue, but we cannot put an exact time on the dialogue.”

“There have been messages going back and forth between Iran and the United States through intermediaries,” he said.

Iran and the US held five rounds of talks between April and May this year in Muscat, Oman, and Rome, Italy. A sixth round was scheduled to take place in Muscat on June 15, but was indefinitely suspended after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran two days earlier.

The ensuing 12-day conflict in June included US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow, and Israeli strikes that destroyed critical infrastructure, killing several senior military and scientists as well as hundreds of civilians. Iran responded with missile strikes that killed 32 Israelis.