Iran hits back at Netanyahu's video message calling for street protests

“In light of serious threats to the safety of children at the camp, we regret to announce that this year’s Camp Wilayah will not proceed,” the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) said in a statement.

AIM, a charity dedicated to promoting Shi'ite Islam, organizes the annual four-day summer camp for children aged nine to 14.

The event follows specific Islamic rules, such as gender segregation, mandatory hijab for girls, and loose clothing.

The AIM website does not list its leadership or staff, but social media posts from past events show an apparent association with Hasan Ali al-Taraiki, a Shi'ite cleric.

“No evidence of wrongdoing has ever been found at Camp Wilayah, yet our children are being punished simply for their faith,” the AIM statement said. "To attack such a wholesome and positive tradition is shameful, especially when threats are made by the Reform Party to mobilize protests and disrupt children’s camps."

On social media, AIM has repeatedly praised Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promoted his books, and shared his speeches.

“The idea that children should be allowed to attend camps run by ‘supporters of the Iranian regime’ is concerning,” said Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice.

“AIM operates under the umbrella of the Ahlul Bayt World Assembly, an Iran-based organization whose leaders are appointed in Tehran and have historically been close to Ali Khamenei,” UK-based human rights lawyer Omid Shams told Iran International on Monday.

The push to cancel the camp came from the Reform UK party. Its leader, Nigel Farage, said Camp Wilayah has “clear and troubling ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Regime.”

“We will not be intimidated, we will not retreat, and we will continue to build a stronger, fairer society for everyone,” AIM said in another statement.

Security officials have warned of an increasing threat from Iran, saying Tehran has used groups in the UK to expand its influence.

On June 30, a report by The Telegraph accused Iran of conducting a “shadow war” inside the United Kingdom that extends beyond sanctions violations and includes propaganda, financial networks, and digital disinformation campaigns aimed at dividing society

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.”

Two London charities with alleged links to Iran — the Dar Alhekma Trust and the Abrar Islamic Foundation — are currently under investigation by the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. Both deny any wrongdoing.

“We struck Iran and its axis, whose declared aim was our destruction,” chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said at a military colleges change of command ceremony.

“We launched a preemptive war to remove an existential threat that had recently developed, before it became an actual threat."

On June 13, Israel launched land and air strikes targeting senior Iranian military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians, while damaging or destroying Iranian air defenses and nuclear facilities.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israeli cities and military sites. On the ninth day of fighting, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. Iran then struck a US base in Qatar before a US-brokered ceasefire ended the conflict.

Zamir said the campaign in June sent a clear message that Israel "would not allow its enemies to become stronger with capabilities that will endanger its existence and will be willing to pay a heavy price to ensure its existence and future."

"If necessary, we will know how to act again with precision, intensity and lethality."

'War not imminent'

Iran's foreign minister, however, believes the war with Israel is over and another war is not imminent.

“As an international relations expert with 40 years of experience in this field, I do not believe (another) war is imminent," Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday.

"However, the officials responsible for a possible war, the armed forces, and the government should not rely solely on my opinion," Araghchi told the state TV when asked about the possibility of resumed war with Israel.

Less than a week into the 12-day conflict, Kayhan, a newspaper overseen by Supreme Leader Khamenei’s representative, wrote that ending the war required Israel’s complete destruction

After the 12-day conflict in June, both sides claimed victory, with Israel and Washington saying they had significantly degraded Iran’s missile and nuclear programs.

Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly referred to Israel over the years as a “cancerous tumor” that must be removed.

Normalizing relations with Syria is not ruled out and depends on the conduct of the current Syrian government, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani told Hezbollah-affiliated media Al Mayadeen.

Syria’s government barred the plane carrying Larijani from using its airspace en route to Lebanon this week, forcing the aircraft to reroute over Iraq and Turkey, Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported on Thursday.

The reported flight diversion came amid strained ties between Tehran and Damascus following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad late last year. His successor, Ahmed al-Shara, has criticized Iran’s military role in Syria as destabilizing.

Larijani also said the Americans cannot cut off Iran's relations with Arab countries. "Yes, perhaps these relations will not reach their peak, but we can benefit from them."

“We have close relations and strong, strategic friendship with Lebanon and Iraq,” he said.

'Hezbollah part of Iran’s security'

During his visit to Beirut, Larijani told Lebanese leaders that Hezbollah is part of the Islamic Republic’s security and sent a warning to those seeking the militant group’s disarmament that Iran remains present and engaged, Al Hadath reported citing informed sources.

The report said Larijani spoke in diplomatic language but with national security rhetoric.

Larijani arrived in Beirut on Wednesday for meetings with senior Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.

The visit came days after Lebanon’s cabinet directed the army to submit a plan by the end of August to disarm Hezbollah, a move Tehran has publicly opposed.

It also comes as Israel's military continues striking the Iran-backed group despite a November ceasefire that ended last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war.

"We call on Iran to immediately cease these threatening actions and to respect the fundamental right to freedom of expression," the State Department said in a post in Persian on X.

“The United States condemns the Iranian regime’s relentless attacks on journalists and the free press, including threats against reporters and their families in the United States and Europe,” the department added.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said in an interview on Thursday that free speech in Iran is under severe attack.

“In Iran, there is no freedom of expression. Critics are tortured and killed in prisons. The number of executions has even been rising on a daily basis. There is hardly a human rights activist in Iran who has not been imprisoned,” Mohammadi said.

According to Reporters Without Borders, “Iran has reinforced its position as one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom, with journalists and independent media constantly persecuted through arbitrary arrests and harsh sentences handed down after unfair trials before revolutionary courts.”

The State Department said attacks against journalists "are a blatant attempt to silence dissent and prevent the world from witnessing the regime’s repressive tactics."

“Targeting those who seek to expose the truth is a hallmark of authoritarianism, and the United States stands firmly with journalists and media outlets working to amplify the voices of the Iranian people,” the State Department said on its Persian account.

Iran has ramped up detentions and pressure on rights activists since the June ceasefire with Israel, and the trend continues.

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

In July, the United States and thirteen allied countries accused Iran of plotting to kill, kidnap, and intimidate individuals in Europe and North America, citing violations of sovereignty and links to international criminal networks.

On August 5, Iran International filed an urgent appeal with United Nations experts urging them to take action against Iran over serious risks to the lives and safety of their journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.

“Death threats are coming from intelligence agents. Their aim was to show that the threats are serious. For them, there are no limits anymore,” Mohammadi said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published on Wednesday.

Last month, Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said in a statement he had received an "urgent phone call" from Mohammadi who said her life was now in danger.

"The clear message, in her own words, is that 'I have been directly and indirectly threatened with 'physical elimination' by agents of the regime'," he said at the time.

In her Spiegel interview, Mohammadi accused Iranian intelligence authorities of intensifying their crackdown on civil society since the June ceasefire with Israel.

“The Islamic Republic is one of the worst regimes in the modern world. We human rights activists have been protesting for years against an apartheid-like system that systematically oppresses women,” Mohammadi said.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate also denounced the wide-ranging repression of free speech and the ongoing pressure on rights activists.

“In Iran, there is no freedom of expression. Critics are tortured and killed in prisons. The number of executions has even been rising on a daily basis. There is hardly a human rights activist in Iran who has not been imprisoned,” Mohammadi said.

According to Reporters Without Borders, “Iran has reinforced its position as one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom, with journalists and independent media constantly persecuted through arbitrary arrests and harsh sentences handed down after unfair trials before revolutionary courts.”

Path to democracy

Mohammadi argued that the Islamic Republic is in a constant state of crisis and has lost its legitimacy.

Referencing the antigovernment protests over the past few years, she said the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that started in 2022 cannot be silenced and will continue.

“We have not bowed our heads, and I am certain that the transition from a religious dictatorship to democracy is possible through the will of the people,” Mohammadi said.

The protests erupted nationwide in 2022 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody for allegedly violating hijab rules. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed and thousands arrested in a sweeping crackdown.

Since then, Iranian authorities have executed 11 people over the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, with many more at risk.

Mohammadi, who is currently on medical furlough from Tehran’s Evin Prison, has refused two official orders to return and said she would not go back voluntarily. “If they want me, they should pay the price and arrest me themselves — I will not go to prison quietly,” she said in a statement on July 7, describing her stance as civil disobedience.

Mohammadi is serving a combined 13-year and 9-month sentence on charges including “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic Republic. While temporarily released, she has continued to speak out in interviews and online events with human rights groups.