Iranians rattled by Israeli strikes as cash runs short and fear spikes
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Iranians rattled by Israeli strikes as cash runs short and fear spikes
Iranians fear another deadlier, even more destructive phase of the conflict could loom. The government, for instance, has imposed a near-total blackout of the internet. Food prices have soared, cash is in short supply, and the wait for fuel can be up to five hours. Iranian security forces have erected additional checkpoints on roads and deployed more plainclothes officers, Iranians said.. Iranian authorities have announced the arrests of dozens of people accused of spying for Israel after reports emerged that it had covert teams on the ground in support of the initial wave of attacks, including by using drones to damage Iranian missile launchers. “That’s very important to push against the psychological messages of regime change,” said Sanam Vilak, director of the Middle East program at Chatham House, a British think tank.“We are no means at a point where law and order is breaking down, but of course, there are challenges,’’ Vilk said.
“People are terrified. They don’t know exactly what is happening,” said Alireza, a 40-year-old man from northern Tehran who decided to flee the capital this week. On his way out of Tehran, he said, he encountered chaotic scenes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. Once outside the city, he saw a thick layer of smoke from the airstrikes hanging over the skyline.
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Inside Tehran, people described in interviews a daily struggle for basic needs. Electricity and water are still available, but cuts have become more frequent. Food prices have soared, cash is in short supply, and the wait for fuel can be up to five hours at some gas stations. Some of the Iranians interviewed spoke on the condition that only their first names be published while others spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from the regime.
As at other moments of crisis, Iranian authorities have responded by clamping down. The government, for instance, has imposed a near-total blackout of the internet, and the country has been disconnected from the global internet since the middle of this week, according to NetBlocks, a monitoring group that tracks internet outages.
While the blackout may be designed to prevent Israel from exploiting the internet for intelligence and military targeting, the loss of communications has compounded people’s anxiety as they struggle to reach family members and friends, and to share information about what places remain safe, Iranians said. With residents cut off from one another and the outside world, rumors have become rampant.
Iran has previously restricted internet access during times of upheaval such as nationwide protests. As before, Iranian officials are encouraging people to use Iranian government messaging apps that still work, but the platforms are less secure and probably allow the government access to any information sent over them. Amir Rashidi, an internet security and digital rights activist, said most people he knows inside Iran have previously refused to use the government apps, but this time is different.
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“Out of desperation, people are moving into these platforms. I never saw this,” he said. “Every single time in previous internet shutdowns, people would launch a campaign to say: ‘Don’t join those platforms.’ But now, it’s completely opposite.”
Iranian security forces have also erected additional checkpoints on roads and, in some neighborhoods, deployed more plainclothes officers, Iranians said. This heightened security presence signals that the government remains in control, but many residents say the additional forces are menacing.
Niusha, 30, a personal trainer from west of Tehran, said “thugs” appear in the streets during unsettled times to “scare people.”
She said a friend was beaten by a group of men in plain clothes while taking video of the aftermath of an airstrike. “Three motorcyclists attacked her, took her phone away, deleted its memory and pushed her against a water canal,” Niusha said. “They were shouting things like ‘Zionist spy’ when they were pulling and hitting her.” The friend remains in the hospital, she said.
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Iranian authorities have announced the arrests of dozens of people accused of spying for Israel after reports emerged that it had covert teams on the ground in support of the initial wave of attacks, including by using drones to damage Iranian missile launchers.
Immediately after the initial Israeli attacks, Iranian state television focused on their impact, but by the end of this week, broadcasts were promoting the line that ordinary life inside Iran was continuing. “Who says there is shortage of bread?” asked a woman in a supermarket interviewed by a state media reporter. “I just bought five loaves. But I won’t buy more either. There will be bread tomorrow, too.”
“The system is trying to show that it’s functioning and has capacity, and that’s very important to push back against the psychological messages of regime change,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East program at Chatham House, a British think tank. “That’s important for internal cohesion. We are by no means at a point where law and order is breaking down, but of course, there are challenges.”
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Vakil described the Israeli attacks that killed four members of Iran’s senior-most military leadership in the space of a day as “a shock” to the system but one the regime will probably survive.
Many senior Iranian officials have gone into hiding but remain defiant. Unable to make a public address, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recorded a video to declare “the Iranian nation is not one to surrender.”
“Oftentimes people underestimate the Iranian system’s governance structure,” Vakil said. “It’s institutional, and there is a massive bureaucracy underneath the supreme leader that is made up of ordinary and oftentimes nonideological people that are just doing their jobs.”
Arash Azizi, an Iranian author based in the United States, said there’s a heightened sense of national unity even among people who describe themselves as anti-regime activists. “There is a real solidarity. Solidarity for the aid workers, for people killed, and even for the soldiers killed, the air defense workers. Because at the end of the day, they’re all in this together,” he said.
But Azizi said this solidarity does not reflect greater support for the ruling system. “I don’t think they’re supporting the regime. I think they’re actually blaming the war on the regime, but they’re helping each other.”
Iranian officials are promoting this sense of solidarity. Speaking on state television Friday, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf urged, “Today, all people from all walks of life and groups, even those who may not accept the Islamic republic, stand up and defend our beloved Iran.”
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Saba, a 42-year-old university professor who resides just outside Tehran, said that after living through a week of conflict, she feels a deep sense of injustice.
“What exactly are the United States and Israel expecting the Islamic republic to do right now? I mean, yes, this regime is pretty ideological, stubborn and irrational, and they won’t negotiate for peace. But what the heck do they expect them to do? I don’t understand,” she said.
Saba said she has strongly supported anti-government protests in the past but, unlike some other Iranians, has not welcomed the Israeli strikes or threats to violently remove Iran’s leadership.
“I was not happy from the beginning. Yes, some people were. But I knew that nothing good has ever come out of a war,” she said.
Israel hits Iranian nuclear research facility as war continues into second week
Iran launches a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel, but there are no immediate reports of damage. Israel says it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he was open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking. Israel’s defense minister says that the military had killed a commander in Iran’S paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and financed the Hamas attack on Israel in Gaza in 20-month long war. The Israeli military estimates it has now taken out more than 50% of the Iranian launchers, and estimates that the Iranian regime still has capabilities, an Israeli military official says. The ongoing fighting comes after talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
The target was two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel’s goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.
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Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province’s deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility but said there had been no human casualties.
Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official called it a “small barrage” that was largely intercepted by Israel’s defenses.
The official said part of the reason that Iran’s overnight attack had been relatively small was that the military had been targeting its launchers, and estimates it has now taken out more than 50% of them.
“We’ve been able to take out a large amount of their launchers, creating a bottleneck — we’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said. “Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.”
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Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said Saturday an Iranian drone hit a two-story building in northern Israel, but there were no casualties.
Talks in Switzerland fail to produce diplomatic breakthrough
The ongoing fighting comes after talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
European officials expressed hope for future discussions, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,” he told reporters.
No date was set for the next round of talks.
Iran warns against U.S. becoming militarily involved
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the conflict, which Araghchi said Saturday “would be very unfortunate.”
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“I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone,” he said in Istanbul, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13 , with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defenses , but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation in Iran would continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles.
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But Netanyahu’s goal could be out of reach without U.S. help. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs . Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel’s air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks .
Israel continues targeted attacks on Iranian military commanders
In Israel’s opening attack, it killed three of Iran’s top military leaders: one who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard , Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
The targeted killings of senior commanders continued, with Israel’s defense minister saying Saturday that the military had killed a commander in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza.
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Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the Iranian Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran, and that he was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom.
Iranian officials did not immediately confirm the death, but the Qom governor’s office did say there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed.
Israel also said it had killed the commander of the Quds Force’s weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed in his car while traveling in western Iran, the military said.
A commander of Iran’s drone force was also killed overnight, the Israeli official who briefed reporters said.
Iran threatens head of U.N. nuclear watchdog
On Friday, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council against attacks on Iran’s nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
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“I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency . “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.”
Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the U.S., France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% — and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
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Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
Leaders in Iran have blamed Grossi’s statements about the status of Iran’s nuclear program for prompting Israel’s attack.
On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said in a brief social media post without elaboration that Iran would make Grossi “pay” once the war with Israel is over.
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Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi says 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad’s fall. About another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period, he says. But there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region. Grandi: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe,” he says, referring to the U.S. decision to suspend all foreign assistance to Syrian refugees. He says he has urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.’ ‘We have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran – they’re out of bunkers because of the bombs,’ he adds.
“How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don’t move again because they don’t have a house or they don’t have a job or they don’t have electricity?” Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and spoke with returning refugees.
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“What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,” he said.
Syria’s near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of of 23 million.
Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad’s fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period.
However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region — including the new Israel-Iran war — and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon.
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“The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,” Grandi said, adding: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.”
Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad’s fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former insurgent groups together into a national army.
There have also been outbreaks of violence , notably in March, when hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and government security forces on the Syrian coast. Some 40,000 new refugees fled to Lebanon following that violence.
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Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and “provide them with basic assistance.”
“This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,” he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.”
The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again.
The U.N. does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said.
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“We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,” he said. “And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran – they’re working out of bunkers because of the bombs.”
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Putin says he won’t allow Russia to fall into recession amid warnings
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has had sparse attendance from Western investors this year. It is an indication of the drastic transformation that the Russian economy has undergone since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Putin said that Russia needs to move away from dividing companies “into purely defense-industrial and enterprises operating exclusively in the civil segment” Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov warned that the nation’s economy was headed for a recession.“So far, I do not see any companies that could return to Russia in the current geopolitical situation,” VTB Bank chairman Andrey Kostin told the Russian newspaper Izvestia, blaming U.S. and European Union policies that “pressure” businesses to stay away.’ “The Russian and Ukrainian people are one people, [so] in this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,’ he said, adding that ‘wherever a Russian soldier’s foot steps, that’s ours.�’
“Some specialists and experts point to the risks of stagnation and even recession. This, of course, should not be allowed in any case,” Putin said during the plenary session, noting that Russian economic growth for the first four months of the year had been 1.5 percent. “We must achieve moderate inflation and low unemployment.”
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With an economy firmly focused on the war, Putin said that Russia needs to move away from dividing companies “into purely defense-industrial and enterprises operating exclusively in the civil segment.” He called for combining the defense industry with the civil sector.
Putin also maintained his hard line on the Ukraine war. “The Russian and Ukrainian people are one people, [so] in this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,” he said, adding that “wherever a Russian soldier’s foot steps, that’s ours.”
Early in the forum, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov warned that the nation’s economy was headed for a recession.
“The numbers indicate cooling, but all our numbers are a rearview mirror,” he was quoted as saying by the RBC business daily. “Judging by the way businesses currently feel and the indicators, we are already, it seems to me, on the verge of going into a recession.”
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“I said that we are on the verge,” he added, when asked how this could be avoided. “Then everything depends on our decisions.”
Sky-high interest rates of around 21 percent have failed to rein in rampant inflation at around 10 percent, and business owners have warned they are facing bankruptcy and being forced to delay investment plans as they can’t afford to raise capital or pay their debts.
In previous years at the forum, Putin held public meetings with foreign investors, but no such events were announced this year. Asked whether that format had been abandoned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the Russian leadership had moved these contacts behind closed doors to protect the businesses from sanctions.
“The president is having contacts with foreign businessmen on the sidelines of the forum. In particular, yesterday meetings took place. We simply don’t announce them to protect those representatives from crazy lawlessness they are facing in their countries,” Peskov said, referring to the international sanctions placed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
An apparent thaw in U.S.-Russia relations during the first few months of Donald Trump’s presidency fueled rumors that Western companies might be returning to Russia, sparking optimism in the business community that at least some sanctions could be lifted soon. Such hopes began to fade by summer, however, as it became increasingly clear that a resolution to the war in Ukraine would not come within Trump’s promised 24 hours or even his first 100 days in office.
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At the forum, the chairman of Russia’s VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin, said Western companies are unlikely to return anytime soon. “So far, I do not see any companies that could return to Russia in the current geopolitical situation,” Kostin told the Russian newspaper Izvestia, blaming U.S. and European Union policies that “pressure” businesses to stay away.
The E.U. has no intention of softening its stance on Russia, Kostin said, and the Trump administration is still “thinking about where to go next.”
Speaking at another panel, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said that so far no foreign company has applied to come back to Russia and that the government is still receiving dozens of requests each month from businesses seeking to leave.
While there has been a slight slowdown in departures amid the diplomatic rapprochement with the United States, Chebeskov said that Russia’s toughening exit rules — including forcing foreign companies to sell their assets at no more than 40 percent of market value — had done little to stop the exodus.
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What began as excitement around Trump’s presidency has given way to a more protectionist mood, with officials saying that the country cannot rely on foreign money to advance its economy. Russian entrepreneurs, who have quickly moved to fill the gaps left by departing Western firms, are now pushing for policies that would make it harder for those businesses to return and reclaim their former positions.
Oleg Paroev, the CEO of Vkusno i Tochka (Tasty and That’s It), a fast-food chain that replaced McDonald’s in Russia, has been spearheading the lobbying effort to keep Western competition at bay.
At a meeting with Putin in late May, Paroev complained that the return of the original Big Mac would undo the investment and work his company put into rebranding. Putin promised to support the company and joked that while the “not entirely scrupulous partners” technically have the right to buy the company back, “only cowards pay their debts.”
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Efforts to improve relations between the United States and Russia appear to have hit a setback after the Americans postponed talks to address long-standing issues between the countries. Peskov in his news conference admitted that these negotiations were moving “sluggishly.”
“There’s a view among American diplomats that progress on clearing out these irritants must be directly tied to resolving the situation in Ukraine,” he said, reiterating Russia’s stance that engagement with the U.S. should be separate from negotiations on the war in Ukraine. “We, on the contrary, believe that improving bilateral relations will help a speedier settlement in Ukraine.”
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, who has been offering joint deals on rare earth minerals and cooperation in the Arctic to the U.S., said his discussions with American business circles are ongoing, “but of course they will only come to fruition after some political progress” on the negotiations track.
China and Hong Kong national security authorities launch 1st publicly known joint operation
China’s national security authorities in Hong Kong and the city’s police launched their first publicly known joint operation. The six people were suspected of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security. The police did not disclose the identity of the six people suspected of breaking the 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law. Many leading activists have been prosecuted or jailed for national security offenses since the law took effect.
Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong also had requested assistance from the city’s national security police, including in arranging interviews with the people in the case, the police said. But the local force did not elaborate details of their accusations and which organization it was, saying the investigation was still underway.
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Since the 2020 security law took effect, many leading activists have been prosecuted or jailed for national security offenses . Last week, prominent young activist Joshua Wong, who was already convicted and sentenced over a subversion case last year, was charged for the second time under the law. He faces up to life in prison over the fresh charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security.
The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the law was necessary for returning stability to the city following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
In May, Hong Kong enacted subsidiary legislation for a separate, homegrown national security law , which was passed last year. The subsidiary legislation requires public servants, if requested, to provide all necessary and reasonable assistance to Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong. Local public servants must offer such help if the office needs to ascertain whether a case involves a special circumstance that could allow it to have jurisdiction over the case.