US condemns Iran death sentences for Woman, Life, Freedom protesters

"As part of the exercise, complex scenarios were practiced in order to examine the IDF's competence, processes for transitioning from routine to emergency, and the functioning of the General Staff and regional commands," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Taking place just ahead of the two-year anniversary of the surprise Hamas attacks in which thousands of members of the militant group attacked Israel from air, land and sea, the drill aimed to "implement the lessons of October 7," the military added.

In one day, Hamas killed around 1,200 people mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages to Gaza, sparking the worst round of Gaza war since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.

Israel's incursion into the enclave has killed 61,000 Palestinians according to Gaza health officials. Humanitarian organizations have warned famine looms for the population there, most of which has been displaced by Israeli military action.

"The Chief of Staff also conducted situation assessments in the Air Force and Navy together with the commanders," the statement added.

The exercises came two months after Israel launched a surprise military campaign against Iran on June 13, targeting military and nuclear sites and killing hundreds of military personnel, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Iran responded with missile strikes that killed 31 civilians and one off-duty soldier, according to official figures published by the Israeli government.

"The IDF will continue and initiate a series of audit activities across all commands, branches, and units in order to improve their competence and readiness," the military added.

During a press conference this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in the wake of the Iran war, the country must remain “fully alert”.

“We are prepared for every scenario. The Iranians are preparing for different scenarios - and I won't go into detail,” he said.

According to Israeli daily Maariv, the military was woken up to what they were told was a mutli-faceted attack on the country.

Threats they were told they were facing included rocket fire at rigs, infiltration from the Jordanian border in three locations, attacks by armed groups on settlements in the occupied West Bank and missile fire from Iran’s military allies the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the Houthis continue to fire ballistic missiles and drones at Israel regular basis, almost all intercepted by Israel’s air defenses before reaching Israeli territory, Maariv also reported that Iran is working to incite the Houthis as well as militias in southern Syria, in addition to others in Jordan.

The Israeli military has recently carried out a series of bombings on the de facto authorities in Syria, accusing its ex-jihadist president of posing a threat to the country and Syria's Druze minority.

“With this year’s low rainfall, surface and underground water resources have declined and the situation is not favorable,” Hossein Haghighi, head of Tehran Water and Wastewater Region 4, told the semi-official ISNA news agency. “If it does not rain, we expect even tougher conditions in autumn.”

Haghighi said authorities had adopted a “multi-layer” approach that included reducing water pressure in some areas, public awareness campaigns and promoting low-flow devices to curb household use.

New buildings are required to install storage tanks and pumps before connecting to the network, he said. Tariffs are structured to heavily subsidize low users, while “bad consumers” – the highest tier – pay sharply higher rates. “After three warnings, we cut water to heavy users for 12 hours,” Haghighi said.

'Day zero' warnings disputed

Haghighi’s remarks followed a stark warning from Mohsen Dehnavi, spokesman for Iran’s Expediency Council, who said the water crisis “has passed the warning stage and entered a critical phase.”

“Continuing this trend could bring some areas of the capital to day zero in the coming weeks – a day when drinking water is cut off in many neighborhoods and the daily life of millions is disrupted,” Dehnavi said in a post on the social media platform X.

He blamed “five years of drought, overuse of underground aquifers, rapid urban population growth, high per-capita consumption and structural weaknesses in water management” for pushing Tehran’s reservoirs towards dangerous depletion.

He called for “strict conservation policies, renovation of ageing networks, industrial consumption controls and the adoption of smart, real-time resource management systems.”

Isa Bozorgzadeh, spokesman for Iran’s water industry, rejected the “day zero” assessment, saying that with further reductions in demand the crisis could be “acceptably managed.”

“If Tehran reduces its consumption by another 12%, the capital will pass through this crisis without severe disruption,” he said. Bozorgzadeh added that July saw a 13% drop in use compared with last year, and consumption so far in August was down more than 14%.

Drought, heatwaves, and blackouts

The water crisis comes after months of extreme heat that has triggered rolling blackouts and the temporary shutdown of government offices in several provinces to conserve energy.

Iran’s meteorological organization says the country has faced a near-constant drought for more than two decades, with rainfall down sharply this year and snowpack levels at historic lows.

Environmental activists have long warned that Iran’s sprawling capital – home to nearly 10 million people – is acutely vulnerable to water shortages due to inefficient infrastructure, leaky pipes, and limited investment in modern conservation technologies.

Climatologist Nasser Karami told Iran International earlier in August that the water crisis in Iran transcends drought and is a product of government mismanagement, militarized agriculture and deliberate manipulation.

According to Haghighi, Tehran’s average household water use is more than twice the international standard.

“Changing consumption habits is no longer optional – it’s a necessity,” Haghighi said. “If every household reduces just 10% of its water use, the capital can avoid the most severe restrictions.”

Elias Hazrati, head of the government’s information council, said on Tuesday: “Today, the country is in a completely stable situation. There is no crisis, and no war is taking place or about to begin.”

On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a deal at the White House to settle a longtime dispute over the corridor, a strip of land which became a flash point in the two rivals’ decades-long conflict.

The deal gives Washington leasing rights to develop the transit corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave, Nakhchivan. It will be renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).

“In any decision or action, respect for national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of countries must be fully observed,” Araghchi added, according to a readout of the call published by Iranian media.

Earlier in the day, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani dismissed what she called exaggerated claims about the Zangezur corridor, saying it covers only a small area near Iran’s border.

"It is not as if our entire northern border has been lost,” Mohajerani said, but added that that Iran demands stability, territorial integrity, and existing sovereignty to be preserved.

A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, however, vowed to block the establishment of the transit corridor saying it would endanger regional security and alter the region's geopolitics.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” Ali Akbar Velayati said.

Velayati stressed that Iran has always opposed the Zangezur corridor, saying it would alter borders, fragment Armenia, and restrict Iran’s regional access.

Police spokesman Saeed Montazeralmahdi told state media the arrests followed 7,850 reports to the national emergency line 110. “The 41% increase in public calls and the arrest of 21,000 suspects in the 12-day war shows the high level of vigilance and participation of the people in ensuring security,” he said.

Montazeralmahdi said officers had set up more than 1,000 tactical checkpoints across the country during the conflict, deploying over 40,000 police for round-the-clock road and site security.

He said security forces thwarted “field conspiracies by the enemy,” including the disruption of a planned gathering in Tehran’s Palestine Square.

The police spokesman also reported the detention of 127 escaped prisoners during an incident at Evin prison, and the seizure of unexploded bombs.

Authorities detained 2,774 undocumented foreign nationals, finding 30 “special security” cases through phone checks, and arrested 261 people on suspicion of espionage and 172 for alleged unauthorized filming, he added.

However, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had given a far lower figure, saying that “around 2,000 people” were arrested during and after the conflict, some of whom face the death penalty on charges of “organizational collaboration with the enemy.”

“In our law, anyone who cooperates with a hostile state during wartime must be arrested and prosecuted,” Ejei told state TV late in July. He said some detainees had been released after investigations found no evidence of espionage, while others were freed on bail but remain under suspicion.

The judiciary says trials are being fast-tracked under wartime procedures.

UN experts, including the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, have urged Tehran to halt what they called a “post-ceasefire crackdown,” citing the arrests of hundreds of journalists, rights defenders, social media users, foreign nationals – particularly Afghans – and members of Baha’i, Kurdish, Baluchi and Ahwazi Arab minorities.

Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based NGO, said 21 people were executed during the June conflict period, including six accused of spying for Israel.

The arrests come as President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government faces a backlash over internet restrictions imposed during the war and a now-withdrawn cybercrime bill that critics said would have criminalized dissent.

The draft law, “Combating the Dissemination of False Content in Cyberspace,” proposed prison terms, fines and bans for online users, with harsher penalties during “crisis or wartime.”

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said last month the cabinet withdrew the bill “in line with national cohesion and on the president’s directive.” Critics argued its vague language, including phrases such as “distorted, misleading, and harmful to public perception,” would have enabled arbitrary prosecutions.

“Of respondents, 89% rated their agreement with the government’s economic policies as ‘low’ or ‘very low.’ 72% expressed dissatisfaction or strong dissatisfaction with government policies,” according to the poll results published on Monday.

The poll also indicated that the economy is the top priority for 53% of respondents, while 36% prioritized foreign policy.

The poll consisted of three questions, conducted via the paper’s Telegram channel with an average of 2,130 respondents per question.

Iran is currently grappling with water shortages and widespread power outages amid high summer temperatures, while also dealing with recovery efforts following a 12-day war with Israel and its aftermath.

Sanctions, corruption and economic mismanagement have contributed to widespread economic hardship and market instability as Iran's currency the rial has lost over 90% of its value since US sanctions were reimposed in 2018.

Tehran faces another challenge from European countries Germany, France and the United Kingdom who may be poised to trigger United Nations sanctions per the so-called the snapback mechanism.

Snapback refers to a clause in UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the a 2015 deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program dubbed 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 Ministry of Intelligence issued secret guidance on Monday, warning ministries and major companies to prepare for the likely return of punishing United Nations sanctions, documents reviewed by Iran International show.

Iran’s state-run English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported on August 8 that Tehran and Washington may start Norway-mediated indirect talks in August, covering Iran’s nuclear program and compensation demands over its June war with Israel and the United States.

Washington has called Iran’s compensation demand “ridiculous,” urging Tehran to stop funding militias and its nuclear program.