Israeli forces ready for new strike on Iran if needed, military chief says

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.

“Currently, about half of tenants’ income is spent on rent, and to buy a house worth five to six billion tomans ($54,000 to $64,000), one would need to save for approximately 80 years,” Kianoosh Goodarzi said.

“The price per square meter of housing in northern Tehran has dropped by 30 to 50 million tomans ($321 to $535), but the 12-day war has had no impact on this price decline or the ongoing recession, which began during the COVID-19 period,” ISNA news agency cited Goodarzi as saying.

The costs of even basic items such as food continue to soar and the value of the Iranian currency continues to fall. The rial has lost over 90% of its value since US sanctions were reimposed in 2018.

Sanctions, corruption and economic mismanagement have contributed to the widespread economic hardship.

At least a third of the country is now forced to live below the poverty line, and the vast majority of Iranians are dissatisfied with the government’s economic policies, according to a poll by the country’s leading economic newspaper Donya-ye Eqtesad.

The poll results published on Monday showed that 89% of respondents were dissatisfied with the economic policies implemented by the Islamic Republic.

According to April statistics from the International Monetary Fund, unemployment in Iran now stands at 9.5%, up from 7.8% last year.

Impact of war

Asked if the 12-day war between Iran and Israel played any role in the real estate recession, Goodarzi said the downturn began long before that.

“The property market is very large, and the current recession is not due to the war, as we were already in recession beforehand."

He said suggested prices have dropped by 30 to 50 million tomans per square meter, but there have been no changes in contract agreements.

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. The airstrikes killed over 1,000 people according to official statistics.

Iran’s political establishment views negotiations with the United States as the only way to avoid further escalation and existential peril, the report said citing its sources.

Iran’s leadership has now leaned towards talks as "they’ve seen the cost of military confrontation,” the report quoted one Iranian political insider as saying.

The report comes two months after 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.

The Israeli strikes began on June 13, on the eve of the sixth round of negotiations with the United States.

On the ninth day of fighting, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites which US President Donald Trump has consistently said "obliterated" the country's nuclear program.

Trump has warned that he would not hesitate to strike Iran again if the country resumes uranium enrichment.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain set an informal end-August deadline for a new nuclear deal, warning that failure would prompt the E3 to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran using the so-called "snapback" mechanism.

European officials have warned Tehran that unless it fully cooperates with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the mechanism could be activated, restoring UN sanctions this fall.

In a meeting assessing the situation after the 12-day war between Israel and the Islamic Republic, Iran's former president Hassan Rouhani told advisers that easing tensions with global powers, including the US, is necessary for the country.

“If we can reduce tensions with Europe, our neighbors, the East and West, and even the United States in favor of national interests, not only is there nothing wrong with it, but it is necessary and obligatory,” Rouhani said.

Tehran moderates are increasingly openly signaling readiness for a return to nuclear talks, hinting at accepting some restrictions on its activities.