92% of Iranians dissatisfied with state of the country - poll

Fars News Agency said the photos showed Farahnaz Ghollasi, deputy head of Iran’s National Standards Organization, seated at the same table as Gilad Golub, chief executive of Israel’s Standards Institution, during the Kigali conference held from October 6 to 10. It said the images, later removed from the ISO website, were verified through its own checks.

The outlet called the encounter “unprecedented” under Iranian policy, noting that law prohibits any contact or cooperation with Israeli institutions and can lead to imprisonment or permanent dismissal from public service. It also recalled that Iranian athletes have long refused to compete against Israelis in international events.

Fars added that the episode came shortly after the June war between Iran and Israel and noted that the sister of Farzaneh Ansari, who led Iran’s delegation to the ISO meeting, was among those killed in Israeli strikes during the conflict.

The agency also repeated earlier conservative criticism of Ghollasi’s appearance at international gatherings, saying she had previously been reprimanded for dress code violations.

Golub’s office told Iran International that he had sat at a shared conference table as part of a multilateral discussion and that “no direct meeting took place.”

It added, “We did not know the woman sitting opposite was Iranian, head covering does not necessarily indicate nationality."

Iran and Israel have no diplomatic ties, and Iranian delegates are typically instructed to avoid any engagement with Israeli representatives. The ISO annual meeting in Kigali brought together officials from more than 160 member states to discuss emerging global standards.

Joe Bennett said his mother, Lindsay Foreman, and her husband, Craig, were arrested in January while traveling through Iran on a world tour. Both are being held in Tehran’s Evin prison and deny the charges.

“My family can’t carry on like this,” Bennett said. “This can’t be normalised. Silence is complicity.”

He said Mrs. Foreman is isolated and surrounded by people who do not speak English, while her husband is suffering from an untreated tooth abscess. “Every day is a waiting game, not knowing if she’s okay,” he said. “It’s a nightmare that never ends.”

The UK Foreign Office said it is providing consular support and continues to raise the case with Iranian officials.

The Foremans were tried in October, when relations between London and Tehran hit new lows after Britain and its European partners reimposed sanctions on Iran over nuclear concerns. Family members told the BBC they were not allowed to attend the hearing.

France reports release of detained nationals

In recent weeks, Bennett said he has watched France secure the release of its detained nationals and urged British leaders to act. “The French didn’t wait,” he said. “Their president spoke up and their citizens came home. Why hasn’t Britain done the same?”

Iran freed two French citizens, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, earlier this month after more than three years in custody. President Emmanuel Macron said the pair had left Tehran’s Evin prison and were en route to the French Embassy, calling it “a first step” in ongoing dialogue between Paris and Tehran.

Earlier, Bennett told the Daily Telegraph the family was open to appealing for help from US President Donald Trump, who has recently signaled a willingness to re-engage diplomatically with Tehran. The family met Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper last month to press for progress.

Rights groups have described the case as part of a wider pattern of “hostage diplomacy” by Tehran, which denies detaining foreigners for political leverage.

Viewers submitted text, voice and video messages to Iran International documenting the adversity they face in getting a consistent supply of water.

Messages from Tehran, Karaj and Hamadan to Ahvaz and cities in Sistan and Baluchestan paint a picture of worsening water access and sharp criticism for what many view as poor management.

The responses indicate that in many Iranian cities, people are facing nightly outages and notable reduction in water pressure.

Inflow to Tehran’s reservoirs has dropped by 43 percent compared with the previous water year, Behzad Parsa, managing director of the Tehran Regional Water Company, told state media this week.

Parsa described the situation as unprecedented in decades, attributing it to a 100% decrease in rainfall in Tehran province compared with long-term averages.

Pressure Drops

"If the pump doesn't work, not a drop of water comes. The pressure in upper floors is very low, and everyone has the same problem," a resident in Tehran said.

"Since last night, water has been cut off, and no media - neither domestic nor foreign - has reported it," another message said.

Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi on Sunday called the nightly pressure cuts a temporary management tool to stabilize the city’s aging water network and reduce leakage. Similar steps taken during the summer, he said, conserved significant volumes.

"Sometimes we have no water for two full days. Summers it was electricity. Now it's water's turn," one resident of Pardis in Tehran said.

Other messages from different cities in Tehran and Karaj shared reports with the same theme: "Low pressure and frequent outages; nightly shortages repeat."

A video shows a group of students from Al-Zahra University in Tehran protesting water outages on Sunday, saying water has been rationed due to frequent cuts.

President Masoud Pezeshkian warned last week that if rainfall does not resume by the end of autumn, Tehran will face water rationing, adding, “If it still doesn’t rain, we will have no water and will have to evacuate the city.”

North, Northwest and West

Some messages from different parts of Iran echo the same issues with lower pressure and continuous shortages.

"In Rasht, the city of rain, sometimes water is cut off from sunset or pressure drops severely. Since most homes have pumps, many don't notice," one message said.

"With people's efforts and no government help, we secured drinking water. No support from the government."

"No shortages yet, but they say reservoirs are 40% down. Probably soon they'll cut water like in Tehran," a messages from Saqqez mentioned.

"The water situation in Asadabad is very bad," one message from Western Iran read. "For years, we've been bringing water from the mountains because the city's water quality is terrible."

South, Southeast and Northeast

In Khuzestan, complaints are not just about water shortages in some areas but also very poor quality in others.

"Water is there but either smells of chlorine or is muddy. When it's cleaner, it smells like rotten eggs. Pressure was very low for a few days too," a message read from Ahvaz.

"Bottled water for drinking, 20-liter jugs for cooking, tankers for usage. Curse this regime, the clerics, and the Islamic Republic," one message said.

In Sistan and Baluchistan Province, conditions are reported as more critical than elsewhere, where drinking water is supplied by jerry cans and tankers as in past years.

"No rain, and the Golestan Dam has no water. Farmers in our area no longer have the energy to plant wheat and barley; the situation is disastrous," a message from the city of Gonbad-e Kavus in Golestan Province said.

"Water is so scarce that the water heater doesn't boil. We wash dishes with lukewarm water, and for showers at night, we fill buckets from the heater. It's disastrous," one message from Mashhad said.

Some messages spoke of increased water bill amounts, lack of official accountability, and complete distrust of the government.

"They've made bills three to four times more expensive," one message said. "For three years, they've been stringing people along; now in polluted air, we're dying, and we have no water."

“The most important objective is starting on building the relationship between Syria and the United States, because in the past 100 years, it wasn’t a very good relationship,” he said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Al-Sharaa said his country is in talks with Israel with support from President Donald Trump and other international partners.

“Israel has always said it has concerns about Syria because it is afraid of the threats that the Iranian militias and Hezbollah represent,” he said. “We are the ones who expelled those forces out of Syria.”

He said Syria’s negotiations with Israel have made progress. “We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement,” al-Sharaa said. “But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders.”

“The United States is with us in these negotiations,” he said. “Today, we found that Mr. Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”

• 

  US lifts some Syria sanctions, keeps curbs on Iran and Russia business

• 

  Israel says Syria raids detained Revolutionary Guards-backed militants

On the idea of creating a demilitarized zone south of Damascus, al-Sharaa said, “To talk about an entire region demilitarized, it will be difficult, because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it? And at the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory.”

Al-Sharaa seeks pragmatic ties with Russia

Turning to Russia, al-Sharaa said Syria fought Moscow’s forces for a decade but now seeks a working relationship with it as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. “We need Russia because it’s a permanent member of the Security Council,” he said. “We need their vote to be on our side in some issues, and we have strategic interests with them.”

He added that the issue of former president Bashar al-Assad, who is in Russia, remains unresolved. “The issue of Bashar al-Assad is troublesome for Russia, and our relationship with them — we’re still in the beginning,” he said. “We will preserve our rights as Syrians to call for bringing Assad to justice.”

His remarks came as the United States suspended most sanctions on Syria for 180 days while keeping curbs on business tied to Iran and Russia, the Treasury said on Monday. The decision extends partial relief under the Caesar Act but maintains restrictions on transactions involving the two governments or their goods, technology or financing.

The step followed al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington, the first by a Syrian head of state, where he met Trump for talks on rebuilding ties. Washington removed al-Sharaa from its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists before the visit, according to US officials.

Zibakalam said the Islamic Republic had hidden behind anti-US and anti-Israel slogans while deceiving the world about its nuclear goals. “You have shouted death to America all your life and done all you could to destroy Israel. Your talks were fake. You were wasting time. You are after a nuclear weapon,” he said in the program released by the ON news media.

“If you take away their hostility toward America, they have nothing to tell the people,” he said.

Tehran repeats call for peaceful deal

His comments came a day after a senior Iranian diplomat said Tehran still wanted a “peaceful” nuclear agreement with the United States but would not compromise its national security. The deputy foreign minister accused Washington of sending “contradictory messages” through mediators and betraying diplomacy.

The two countries held five rounds of talks before a 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel, during which US forces struck Iranian nuclear sites. President Donald Trump said in October that Washington’s “hand of friendship” remained open if Tehran was ready to make a deal.

Zibakalam, who has faced several court cases and jail terms for his outspoken remarks, was charged in January after a speech in Doha angered authorities. Judiciary media said he was sentenced to prison for “propaganda against the system” and “spreading false information.”

Former senior official Mohammad Javad Larijani meanwhile said Iran can build a nuclear bomb in less than two weeks but has chosen not to. He said Tehran’s nuclear doctrine treats the capability as deterrence while forbidding weaponization under the guidance of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.