TOP STORIES
U.S. Tells Iran It Is Ready to Meet and Negotiate a Deal | Axios
The Trump administration has told Iran through multiple channels that it's open to meeting to negotiate a deal, a senior U.S. official tells Axios. . . . Turkey, Egypt and Qatar are working to organize a meeting between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Iranian officials in Ankara later this week, two regional sources tell Axios. . . . White House officials say Trump hasn't made a final decision on a strike against Iran and remains open to a diplomatic solution.
Trump’s Armada Is Getting in Place. Now He Must Decide What to Do With Iran | Wall Street Journal
As warships and planes reach the region in growing numbers, administration officials said they are debating whether the main aim is to go after Iran’s nuclear program, hit its ballistic missile arsenal, bring about the collapse of the government—or some combination of the three. Trump has asked aides for quick and decisive attack options that don’t risk a long-term war in the Middle East, officials said. The ideal option would be one that hits the regime hard enough that it has no choice but to accede to U.S. nuclear demands and lay off dissidents, they said. There have been discussions about a punishing bombing campaign that could topple Iran’s government, the officials said. Trump and his team have also weighed leveraging the threat of military force to extract diplomatic concessions from Iran.
Military Strike on Iran Now ‘Virtually Certain,’ Western Source Says | Iran International
Decision-making circles in the United States and Israel have moved past diplomacy with Iran, viewing military action as effectively decided, with only the timing still under debate, a Western source familiar with coordination talks told Iran International. According to the source, the key question in current meetings is no longer whether an attack will take place, but when an appropriate operational and political window will emerge—a window that could open in the coming days or take shape over the course of several weeks. . . . The source told Iran International that recent assessments identify the primary objective as delivering a decisive blow to maximally weaken and ultimately collapse Iran’s governing structure; a scenario that, in his words, is not comparable in scale or intensity to anything Iran has experienced so far.
UANI IN THE NEWS
UANI Policy Director Jason M. Brodsky Assesses a Potential U.S. Attack on Iran | i24
Brodsky: “I think at the end of the day we are headed towards military action against Tehran.”
UANI Policy Director Jason M. Brodsky Discusses the Latest on Iran | i24
Brodsky: “I think President Trump is alternating between his usual conciliatory and confrontational rhetoric towards the Islamic Republic. It’s meant as a psychological operation to confuse the adversary’s decision-making process. But I think at the end of the day we are headed to military action against Tehran.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio banned senior Iranian officials and their relatives from being in the US, the State Department confirmed on Thursday. “As the people of Iran continue to fight for their basic rights, Rubio took action this week to revoke the privilege of Iranian senior officials and their family members to be in the United States,” the State Department wrote on X/Twitter. “Those who profit from the Iranian regime’s brutal oppression are not welcome to benefit from our immigration system,” the social media post added. . . . Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), commented that this was an important step that UANI has “long advocated for.”
MILITARY & DIPLOMATIC MATTERS
Before Any Strike on Iran, U.S. Needs to Bolster Air Defenses in Mideast | Wall Street Journal
American airstrikes on Iran aren’t imminent, U.S. officials say, because the Pentagon is moving in additional air defenses to better protect Israel, Arab allies and American forces in the event of a retaliation by Iran and a potential prolonged conflict.
Donald Trump Says Iran Negotiating ‘Seriously’ on Nuclear Weapons | Financial Times
“I hope they negotiate something that’s acceptable,” [President] Trump told reporters as he travelled from Washington to Florida on Saturday night. He added that Tehran should embrace an agreement “with no nuclear weapons. . . . I don’t know that they will, but they are talking to us, seriously talking to us,” Trump said.
Iran President Orders Talks with US as Trump Hopeful of Deal | Agence France-Presse
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said Monday, after US leader Donald Trump said he was hopeful of a deal to avert military action against the Islamic republic.
Saudi Defense Minister Says Trump Not Bombing Iran Would Embolden Regime | Axios
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (KBS) said in a private briefing on Friday in Washington that if President Trump doesn't follow through on his threats against Iran, the regime will end up stronger, four sources in the room tell Axios. . . . This is a reversal from the public Saudi talking points cautioning against escalation and from the deep concern Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) expressed to Trump three weeks ago. That warning was one reason Trump decided to delay a strike.
Top US, Israeli Generals Meet at Pentagon amid Soaring Iran Tensions | Reuters
The top U.S. and Israeli generals held talks at the Pentagon on Friday amid soaring tensions with Iran, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The officials did not offer details about the closed-door discussions between U.S. General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Eyal Zamir, the Israeli armed forces chief of staff.
Trump Says Iran Already Has US Terms as Military Strike Clock Ticks | Fox News
Asked whether Iran faces a deadline to make a deal, [President] Trump suggested the timeline already had been conveyed privately. “Only they know for sure,” he said, confirming when pressed that the message had been delivered directly to Iranian leaders. Trump also tied the growing U.S. naval presence in the region explicitly to Iran, saying American warships “have to float someplace” and “might as well float near Iran” as Washington weighs its next steps.
Trump Predicts Iran Will Seek Deal to Avoid U.S. Strikes | Agence France-Presse
“I can say this, they [the Iranian regime] do want to make a deal,” [President] Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked if he had given Iran a deadline to enter talks on its nuclear and missile programs, Trump said “yeah, I have”, but refused to say what it was. “We have a large armada, flotilla, call it whatever you want, heading toward Iran right now,” Trump said, referring to a U.S. naval carrier group in waters off Iran. “Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we do make a deal, that’s good. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll see what happens.” Trump cited what he said was Iran’s decision to halt the executions of protesters—after a crackdown in which rights groups say more than 6,000 people were killed and which triggered the latest round of threats between the long-time foes—as evidence to show Tehran was ready to negotiate.
‘‘Well, we can’t tell [America’s Gulf allies] the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan — it could be worse, actually,’’ Trump said. ‘‘But, look, the plan is that [Iran is] talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something. Otherwise, we’ll see what happens. . . . We have a big fleet heading out there, bigger than we had—and still have, actually—in Venezuela.’’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Warns Any US Attack Would Spark ‘Regional War’ | Associated Press
“The Americans must be aware that if they wage a war this time, it will be a regional war,” [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei] said. . . . Khamenei also hardened his position on the demonstrations after earlier acknowledging some people had legitimate economic grievances that sparked their protests. . . . “The recent sedition was similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,” he said.
Top Iranian Official Says Progress Made Towards Launching Negotiations with the U.S. | Axios
“Contrary to the artificially manufactured media war narrative, the formation of a framework for negotiations is progressing,” the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Larijani wrote on X. . . . On Saturday, Larijani met in Tehran with the Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has been trying to mediate between the U.S. and Iran.
Turkey Claims Israel Pressuring US into Striking Iran | Agence France-Presse
Turkey’s top diplomat on Friday claims Washington is being pressured by Israel to launch a military strike on Iran and urges it to resist doing so, warning it would cause “great harm” to a fragile region. “We see that Israel is trying to persuade the US to launch a military attack on Iran . . . We hope the US administration will act with common sense and not allow this to happen,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tells a joint press conference in Istanbul with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Children Were Arrested in Iran’s Brutal Crackdown on Protests | New York Times
Iran said for the first time Friday that children were among those arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests in recent weeks. A “number” of students under 18 were arrested during the protests, the deputy chairman of Iran’s parliamentary education commission, Farshad Ebrahimpour, told the semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency. He did not specify how many were detained, nor how long they would remain in custody. Rights groups monitoring unrest in Iran say at least 300 children, adolescents and students were detained.
‘Finish the Job’: Accounts Point to Iran’s Executions of Injured Protesters | Iran International
Accounts from grieving families, medics and rights groups point to a grim pattern in Iran’s crackdown: wounded protesters were not just denied care but deliberately shot again in hospitals or removed alive and later killed.
Through the Eyes of Iranian Protesters, Glimpses of Disorder, Disarray and Death | Associated Press
Days before a hospital night shift, [a] physician said, she had attended protests in the northeastern city, hearing gunfire from a distance and feeling tear gas burn her eyes. She saw graffiti on walls and buildings afire, even mosques believed to be used by government forces as rally points. Once she clocked in at the hospital, Iranian security forces had escalated their response. “I was not afraid for myself," the doctor said. “I was afraid for others.” She didn't work in the emergency room but tried to see what was going on as ambulances and protesters delivered bodies. Colleagues told her 150 bodies were brought in that night. As she tried to move in closer, she managed a glimpse at some of them, she said: a boy and a young woman lying on stretchers, bearing gunshot wounds. Security agents in the hospital, both in uniform and plainclothes, took over the command of the hospital emergency room, the doctor said. Doctors protested, she said of the colleagues' account, but they were told to stop speaking or asking questions. “They were standing over their (ER workers) heads with a gun, telling them not to touch (the wounded),” the doctor recalled of the experience relayed by one colleague. It was “as if they wanted those injured people to die on their own.”
Suspicious In-Custody Injections Feared Linked to Deaths of Iran Protesters | Iran International
Detainees in Iran are being forcibly injected with unknown substances inside detention facilities, according to eyewitness testimonies, informed sources and human rights monitors who warn of a growing pattern of deaths among current and former prisoners.
Crackdowns continued. Momentum ebbed. Iran remains cut off from the world. For some, rage and grief over the violence have grown. “What I fear is that these events will be treated as something ordinary by the world, that people will simply move on and no one will pay attention,” [a] doctor said. “The fact that the voices of so many of those who were killed never reaches anyone is truly the most painful thing for me.” She described observing a family arrive at the hospital to retrieve the body of a relative— a young woman. Agents refused to hand over her body, the doctor said, unless the family gave them her national identification and let them identify her as a Basij volunteer and government supporter. An argument started, and her family was arrested, the doctor said, and the woman’s body was taken to the cemetery with the others.
Iran’s President Blames US, Israel and Europe for Fueling Violent Protests | Politico
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday accused the U.S., Israel and Europe of exploiting Iran’s economic crisis to incite unrest and “tear the nation apart,” following nationwide protests over soaring inflation and rising living costs. . . . Pezeshkian added that the unrest was not merely a social protest but a coordinated effort to sow division.
Iranian Protester Erfan Soltani Released on Bail, Reports Say | BBC News
A 26-year-old Iranian man who was reportedly sentenced to death in connection with anti-government protests last month has been released on bail, reports say. Erfan Soltani was arrested on 8 January in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran, as protests swept across the country, prompting a deadly crackdown by Iranian authorities.
One of the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of the Iranian drama “It Was Just an Accident” has been arrested in Tehran just weeks before the Academy Awards. Representatives for the film on Sunday said that Mehdi Mahmoudian was arrested Saturday. No details on the charges against Mahmoudian were available. But his arrest came just days after Mahmoudian and 16 others signed a statement condemning Islamic Republic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators. Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also arrested.
Iran’s Gen Z Helped Propel the Protests. They Paid With Their Lives | Wall Street Journal
On Jan. 7, Parviz Afshari received the last messages his son, Sam, would ever send him: “I’m planning to join the protest tomorrow / But don’t tell Mom.” Relatives found the boy’s body four days later, among rows of corpses laid out on a morgue floor in the Iranian city of Karaj, his father said in a phone interview from his home in Germany. Sam, who had just turned 17, is one of an expanding list of teenagers and other young people emerging as victims of the brutal crackdown on protests in Iran, a country where almost half of the population is under 30. Among the dead were athletes, artists and students whose photographs and brief biographies have since flooded social media, creating a digital memorial of young lives snuffed out under an internet blockade.
Mockery of Protest Victims on State TV Sparks Fury in Iran | Iran International
A mocking segment aired on Iran’s state television about the bodies of protesters killed in January has sparked public outrage and renewed calls, including from Islamic Republic loyalists, for the removal of the head of the national broadcaster. The public anger erupted after a host on Ofogh TV, a channel operated by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB and affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, referred to reports that thousands killed during the January 8–9 crackdown were transported in refrigerated trailers. Addressing viewers, he asked sarcastically: “What type of refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic keeps the bodies in?” He then offered mock multiple-choice answers, including a “side-by-side fridge,” an “ice cream machine,” and a “supermarket freezer,” before adding a fourth option in a joking tone: “I’m an ice seller—don’t ruin my business.”
Disconnected and Afraid: Iran’s Internet Blackouts Leave Lasting Scars | Iran International
When Iran cuts off internet access, millions are plunged into more than digital silence. Mental health experts say the blackouts intensify anxiety, isolation, and trauma in a society already under extreme strain. . . . [U.S.-based psychotherapist Azadeh] Afsahi said prolonged digital silence creates a dangerous psychological cycle: after days or weeks of isolation, people are suddenly exposed to graphic images and devastating news once access is partially restored. The abrupt flood of information, she said, can overwhelm the nervous system, triggering panic attacks, dissociation, intrusive thoughts, trauma-related symptoms resembling PTSD, and an increased risk of suicide.
Nasrin Sotoudeh: The World Must Uphold International Law in Iran | IranWire
Nasrin Sotoudeh, the prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, spoke with IranWire about the conditions facing citizens inside Iran in recent days. She said society is in a state of shock and disbelief, with people questioning one another about the scale of the violence. According to Sotoudeh, the images circulating of bodies piled at the Kahrizak forensic center and blood flowing through the streets will remain etched in the public memory. Sotoudeh noted that many people who have been “pushed to the brink” are now waiting for a US military strike. “When a society finds itself powerless in the face of a despotic government,” she said, “it begins to look toward formal powers.”
NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran Says It Won’t Negotiate with the U.S. While Under Threat | New York Times
Iran will not engage in direct negotiations with the United States unless President Trump stops threatening it, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Friday. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Istanbul, Mr. Araghchi said that talks to calm tensions between Iran and the United States had to be based on a “fair and equitable” approach and could not begin with threats. . . . “Just as we are ready for negotiations, we are ready for warfare,” Mr. Araghchi said.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
US Imposes Sanctions on Iran’s Interior Minister, Businessman | Reuters
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and a businessman it said helped launder money for Tehran, as President Donald Trump's administration ramps up pressure on the Islamic Republic. The Department of the Treasury, announcing the move, said Momeni was responsible for a brutal security crackdown in Iran this month as he oversees law enforcement forces it said were responsible for the deaths of thousands of peaceful protesters.
Iran Rolls Out 5 Million-Rial Banknote, About $3.10 at Market Rate | Iran International
Iran’s central bank has begun distributing the country’s largest banknote, a 5 million-rial (about $3.10) Iran-cheque, as the national currency continues to weaken and cash transactions require ever-higher denominations.
Why Iran Cannot Stop Its Currency Collapse | Mohamad Machine-Chian for Iran International
The rial’s free fall is not merely a temporary crisis; it reflects deep structural failures in Iran’s economy. Sustainable currency stability would require reforms spanning foreign policy, fiscal discipline, and the restoration of public trust. Instead, Iran’s central bank has shifted away from monetary discipline toward currency-market arbitrage and large-scale gold auctions. These measures may buy time or temporarily suppress prices, but they contradict basic principles of monetary governance and expose the extent to which the central bank has been reduced to a tool for managing budgetary and political failures. As trust in the rial as a store of value and unit of account erodes, economic actors will increasingly rely on foreign currencies, further hollowing out the national currency’s role. Without fundamental change, the trajectory points toward dollarization.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran Says It Will Not Negotiate with US on Ballistic Missiles | Financial Times
“Negotiations are different from diktats,” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday at a press conference in Istanbul. “The outcomes of negotiations are determined at the negotiating table, not in advance.” Araghchi, who was on an official visit to Turkey, added: “Iran’s defence capabilities and missile programme will never be a subject of negotiation.”
HOSTAGES
Iranian Police Detain Four Unspecified Foreigners over Unrest | Reuters
Iranian police have arrested four foreigners over last month’s unrest, Iranian state media reported on Monday, without specifying their nationality. State media quoted Iranian police as saying the four foreigners had been arrested “in a raid inside their hideout.” Four homemade sound grenades had been found in one of their bags.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Explosions in Iran Spread Jitters amid Anticipation of Foreign Attacks | New York Times
A deadly explosion that rocked an apartment building in southern Iran on Saturday and that officials said had most likely been caused by a gas leak spread panic in a country on edge about a potential outside attack. The explosion, at an eight-story apartment building in the port city of Bandar Abbas, killed at least one person and injured at least 14 others, according to Fars, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. . . . As news of the damage emerged, unsubstantiated social media reports claimed that the explosion had been the result of a U.S.- or Israeli-led assassination of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri. But in a statement, the Guards denied that Commodore Tangsiri had been killed, calling the speculation “psychological warfare” spread by Israeli intelligence. Neither Israel nor the United States commented publicly on the claims. . . . Reports of other explosions and fire-related episodes in the country added to the panic on Saturday. Five other people were killed and two others injured in what the local authorities said had been a “domestic gas explosion” in the southern city of Ahvaz, according to the government’s Islamic Republic News Agency. A local official said the blast did not have a “security or sabotage origin.”
CONGRESS & IRAN
Ayatollahs Should Take President Trump’s Words Seriously, US Senator Says | Iran International
“President Trump has been clear: Iran’s terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon,” [U.S. Senator Tom] Cotton said in a post on X. “The Ayatollahs are well-aware of our military’s capabilities and would be wise to take President Trump’s words seriously,” he added.
CHINA & IRAN
The US Threat to Iran Is a Serious Problem for China | Telegraph
When Donald Trump dispatched what he described as a “massive armada” of warships to Middle Eastern waters this week, panic must have bore deep into the Beit-e Rahbari compound in central Tehran—home of Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader. . . . While Khamenei and his Beit-e Rahbari officials are no doubt at risk, there is another player in Trump’s Middle Eastern drama which stands to lose out if the Iranian government is toppled: China. The Chinese are Iran’s largest trading partner, and America’s aggression towards the Iranian regime poses a grave threat to Xi Jinping. The Chinese president could lose a key source of cheap energy as well as suffer public humiliation if China loses a key ally in the Middle East.
EUROPE & IRAN
Starmer Signals Support for Trump’s Aggressive Approach Towards Iran | Guardian
“The goal or the aim here is that Iran shouldn’t be able to develop nuclear weapons and that is hugely important and, of course, we need to deal with the fact they are repressing protesters, killing protesters,” [British Prime Minister Sir Keir] Starmer told the BBC during a series of broadcast interviews in Shanghai. “It is grotesque what is happening so that is where our focus is and we are working with allies to that end,” he said. Pushed on whether Britain would support any more US strikes on the country, he said: “I am saying we support the goal and we are talking to allies about how we get to that goal.”
Iran to Label EU Armed Forces as ‘Terrorists’ over Guards Blacklist | Reuters
Iran plans to designate the armed forces of European Union countries that have blacklisted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as “terrorists,” according to a post by top Iranian security official Ali Larijani on X.
Iran said Monday it had summoned all of the European Union ambassadors in the Islamic Republic to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group. . . . “A series of actions were reviewed, various options are being prepared and were sent to the related decision-making bodies,” [Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail] Baghaei said. “We think that in coming days, a decision will be made about a reciprocal action by the Islamic Republic of Iran toward the illegal, unreasonable and very wrong move by the EU.”
The Islamic Centre Selling Hezbollah Trinkets in the Heart of London | Telegraph
An Islamic centre is under investigation after hosting an event where Hezbollah phone cases and pro-Iranian regime key rings were sold. The Islamic Centre of England, a registered charity, held a “community bazaar” which it described as a “vibrant space for cultural interaction, the exchange of knowledge and experiences, and the strengthening of national and religious identity.” But The Telegraph has obtained a dossier of images showing items on sale at the event, which include phone cases with silhouette photos of Hassan Nasrallah, the former secretary-general of Hezbollah, who was killed by Israel in 2024. . . . Elsewhere at the bazaar were stickers featuring the apparent silhouettes of other Hezbollah commanders, including Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, who was killed in a US air strike in January 2020. Photos of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, were displayed prominently on the walls, along with English translations of books by Iranian heads of state.
IRAQ & IRAN
A U.S. Letter Opposed Iraqis’ Choice of Prime Minister. They Went Ahead Anyway | Washington Post
As some of Iraq’s most powerful political leaders met to formally nominate the next prime minister at a private gathering last weekend, Ammar al-Hakim, an Iraqi cleric and one of the country’s most influential politicians, read out an extraordinary letter he had received from the Trump administration, according to people in attendance. The missive indicated that the Trump administration would oppose the selection of Nouri al-Maliki, the leading candidate, and said it viewed his previous tenure in that position more than a decade ago “negatively.” . . . “The selection of the prime minister-designate and other leadership positions is a sovereign Iraqi decision, and likewise, the United States will make its sovereign decisions regarding the next government in accordance with U.S. interests,” warned the letter, which was reviewed by The Washington Post and confirmed by three meeting attendees. It said the U.S. wanted to see an Iraqi government that “weakens Iranian-backed terrorism” and “dismantles terrorist militias.” Despite the U.S. directive, the leaders of the Coordination Framework pushed ahead with Maliki’s nomination, though several participants abstained. Maliki did not consider the U.S. warning to be serious, attendees said. It did not take long to find out that it was. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump personally escalated the pressure, posting on social media that the United States would “no longer help” Iraq if Maliki returned to the post of prime minister. Trump called Maliki’s policies and ideologies “insane.”