TOP STORIES
Australia is expelling the Iranian ambassador to Canberra after the country’s intelligence agency found that Iran was behind at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil. Australia’s Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had linked Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to two arson attacks last year, targeting a Jewish-owned restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference. “These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said. The Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three other diplomatic staff have been given seven days to leave the country, Albanese said. . . . Albanese said Iran’s IRGC—an elite wing of the Iranian military considered instrumental in crushing dissent at home and projecting Iran’s power abroad by funding militia across the Middle East—would also be listed as a terrorist agency.
Iran, European Powers Meet in Geneva as Threat of Sanctions Looms Large | Reuters
Senior officials from Iran and Europe's top three powers are due to meet in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the Westerners' demand that Iran revive nuclear inspections and diplomacy or face the reimposition of sanctions that were lifted under a 2015 deal. . . . "We are going to see whether the Iranians are credible about an extension or whether they are messing us around. We want to see whether they have made any progress on the conditions we set to extend," one E3 official said. Those conditions are the resumption of inspections, including accounting for Iran's large stock of enriched uranium, and engaging in diplomacy, including with the United States. Iran has repeatedly ruled out direct talks with Washington.
Russia Drafts UN Resolution to Delay Snapback of Iran Sanctions | Iran International
Russia has circulated a UN Security Council draft resolution to extend the implementation period of Resolution 2231 by six months in a bid to postpone the looming reimposition of sanctions on Iran under the resolution's snapback mechanism.
UANI IN THE NEWS
UANI Policy Director Jason M. Brodsky Discusses Iran | i24NEWS
Jason M. Brodsky appears on i24NEWS to discuss the reimposition of snapback sanctions on Iran in the context of ongoing nuclear talks between European countries and their Iranian counterparts.
NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Ex-Iran Official Calls Bomb Comment Personal After Trump Shares His Video | Iran International
Iran’s former deputy parliament speaker on Monday dismissed his past remarks about pursuing a nuclear bomb as a personal opinion, after U.S. President Donald Trump shared a video of the comments and state media criticized him as “inconsiderate.” On Sunday, Trump shared a video on his Truth Social platform showing Ali Motahari saying in a 2022 interview that Tehran’s initial goal in pursuing nuclear activities was to build a bomb. “When we first entered nuclear activities, our real goal was to build a bomb. No point denying it… the whole system, everyone who started this. We had started and we wanted to go all the way. If we could keep it secret and test the bomb, it would be over,” Motahari said in the widely shared video interview in April 2022. On Monday, Motahari responded to Trump’s post, saying he had held no official role in parliament or Iran’s nuclear decision-making team at the time.
SANCTIONS, SHIPPING, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Iran Says Negotiating with ‘All Our Might’ to Prevent Sanctions Snapback | Al Arabiya English
Iran said Tuesday it was making every effort to prevent a sanctions snapback, which European powers have threatened to impose under the moribund 2015 nuclear deal. “Our focus is on preventing actions or incidents that may be costly for the country,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a weekly press conference.
PROTESTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Moves 6 Prisoners to Solitary Confinement for Execution | IranWire
Six prisoners convicted on drug-related charges were transferred to solitary confinement on Monday at Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj in preparation for execution, according to Iranian human rights groups. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that the prisoners were moved for execution, though their identities have yet to be confirmed. All six had been sentenced to death by revolutionary courts.
U.S. Funding Break Imperils Internet Freedom Projects in Iran | Washington Post
The State Department has not signed off on new funding for programs that help Iranian citizens evade government restrictions on the internet and communications, potentially crippling a policy that has bipartisan support and aligns with the Trump administration’s strategy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran. The programs were first affected by a broad pause on foreign assistance that President Donald Trump enacted when he entered office in January. But even after that halt was lifted, solicitations for Iran-based projects, which would typically have gone out in the spring and been awarded by the State Department in the summer, are yet to be issued amid accounts of dysfunction and mismanagement within the agency, three people familiar with the process said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Ventilation Chutes Let US Bombs Pierce Iran Nuclear Sites, Trump Says | Iran International
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the ventilation shaft Iran had installed at its underground nuclear facility in Fordow worked to America’s advantage, ensuring the success of June’s airstrikes.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Iranian Threat to US Homeland Continues to Loom in Wake of 12-Day War, New Report Finds | Algemeiner
The prospect of Iran attacking the US homeland remains a serious threat as it maintains many avenues to pursue should the Islamic regime in Tehran seek to retaliate against Washington for bombing Iranian nuclear facilities in June, according to a new report by a top counter-terrorism analyst. In the August 2025 issue of CTC Sentinel, a publication of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, Matthew Levitt, the Fromer-Wexler senior fellow and director of the Reinhard program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, detailed the nature of the threat. “The 12-day Iran war [with Israel] may be over, but the threat of Iranian reprisal attacks now looms large, and will for the foreseeable future,” Levitt posted Friday on X, summarizing his findings. “Potential pathways for an Iranian attack on the US include deploying Iranian agents, criminal surrogates, terrorist proxies, or actively seeking to inspire lone offenders to carry out attacks within the homeland.”
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran’s Top Judge Threatens to Prosecute Reformists over Call for US Talks | Iran International
Iran’s judiciary chief on Monday warned of legal action against Tehran moderates advocating direct talks with the United States over the nuclear program, a day after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused them of sowing discord in the country.
Iran's Political Crisis Deepens as Reformists Face 'Coup' Accusations | IranWire
Iranian reformists are facing widespread condemnation after publishing a political statement calling for the suspension of nuclear enrichment, free elections, and negotiations with the United States. The 11-point statement, released on August 17, has drawn sharp criticism from government officials, hardline media, and religious institutions, who accuse the reformists of betraying Iran's national interests amid heightened tensions with Israel and the West. Senior officials have labeled the document a “surrender letter” and demanded legal action against its authors. Some critics even compared it to foreign-backed coup attempts.
Iranians Who Lost Homes in Israeli Strikes Protest Housing Delays | IranWire
Iranian citizens who lost their homes during the 12-day war staged protests outside government buildings on Tuesday. They demanded housing assistance and the fulfillment of compensation promises, according to local media. The demonstrators first gathered at the Judiciary's Public Communications Center before moving to the presidential office.
ISRAEL & IRAN
How Deep Did Israel's Mossad Infiltrate Iran? | New Arab
Four years ago, while Iran’s leadership and Revolutionary Guard commanders boasted that Israel would never dare attack the country, Ali Younesi, Minister of Intelligence from 1999 to 2006, warned of Mossad’s deep reach inside Iran’s leadership. “The influence of Mossad in various sectors is so extensive that every official of the Islamic Republic should fear for their life. Ignoring Mossad allowed them to infiltrate and strike. Today, we have every reason to be worried about everything,” Younesi said at the time. His warning in 2021 was dismissed and even mocked by some commanders at Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Israel Used WhatsApp to Target Iran Officials During War, Ex-Minister Says | Iran International
Iranian officials with sensitive information on their phones were easy targets for Israeli cyber operations during June's 12-day war, Iran’s former communications minister said, adding that Israel exploited platforms such as WhatsApp to track them.