The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Muhammad Deif, a military commander of Iran-backed EU- and U.S-designated terrorist group Hamas, alleging they committed crimes against humanity.

All three are accused of committing war crimes connected to the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, part of Tehran's network of proxies in the Middle East, and Israel's subsequent military intervention in the Gaza Strip.

Iran's backing of and Hamas and Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of the southern part of Israel's neighbor, Lebanon, has sparked fears that the war in the Gaza Strip will engulf the Middle East.

The court said the warrants had been classified as "secret" to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations.

Israel, which claims it killed Deif in July, blasted the move as "a dark moment for the ICC."

Hamas, which has never officially acknowledged Deif's death, called the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant an "important step toward justice."

The ICC said it had issued the arrest warrant for Deif as the prosecutor had not been able to determine whether he was dead.

“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both [Israeli] individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024,” the ICC said in a statement.

"This finding is based on the role of Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal," it said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar called the move against Netanyahu and Gallant "absurd" in a post on X, saying it was an attack of Israel's right to self-defense.

"A dark moment for the ICC in The Hague, in which it lost all legitimacy for its existence and activity," Sa'ar said.

Tehran has yet to comment publicly on the warrants.

Neither the United States nor Israel have recognized the ICC's jurisdiction. The court said Israel's acceptance of the court's jurisdiction was not required.

However, the court itself has no law enforcement levers to enforce warrants and relies on cooperation from its member states.

Autocratic states have long used allegations of mental illness to discredit and imprison their critics.

In Iran, the authorities are increasingly branding women who violate the country's hijab law -- a key pillar of the Islamic system -- as psychologically unstable.

The move has coincided with unprecedented protests against Iran's clerical establishment and growing calls for greater social and political freedoms.

Experts say the Iranian authorities are employing punitive psychiatry -- the misuse of psychiatric diagnoses, treatments, and institutions to punish, control, or repress individuals -- to go after government critics.

"In countries like ours, being mentally ill is taboo, so the authorities use mental health allegations to raise public sympathy to justify their human rights violations," Medis Tavakoli, an Iranian psychotherapist and rights activists based in Europe, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

'Labeling Healthy People As Sick'

In July 2023, for the first time, judges diagnosed three prominent actresses sentenced for not wearing the hijab as "mentally ill."

The unprecedented move was condemned by top Iranian psychologists who said the judiciary was abusing its authority.

Now, the authorities have announced the creation of a rehabilitation center in Tehran for women who do not wear the mandatory head scarf.

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The Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said on November 12 that the center will offer "scientific and psychological treatment" to women who refuse to follow the Islamic dress code. No other details were provided.

In response, Iranian psychologists have raised the alarm about the consequences of "labeling healthy people as sick."

Earlier this month, a young woman who took off her clothes outside a university in Tehran in apparent protest against harassment was committed to psychiatric care -- a move deemed "illegal" by rights activists.

The political abuse of psychiatry is well-documented, and was prominently used in the Soviet Union against dissidents. In recent years, the authorities in countries like China, North Korea, and Russia have labeled their domestic critics as mentally ill.

Iran has been increasingly using mental health allegations and other "hateful statements" against women who oppose the hijab since unprecedented protests in 2022, according to Amnesty International.

Months of antiestablishment protests erupted across Iran in September 2022 after the death in custody of a young woman who was arrested for violating the hijab law.

Women were at the forefront of the protests, which snowballed into one of the most sustained demonstrations against Iran's theocracy, with some protesters calling for an end to clerical rule.

"Governments alone cannot get rid of all of their critics," Tavakoli said. "One method is to lob accusations and labels against critics. So, when they get rid of their critics, society thinks that bad actors were weeded out."

'Alternative' Punishment

The authorities' decision to establish a rehabilitation center for violators of the hijab law has caused uproar in Iran.

Mojgan Ilanlou, a documentary filmmaker and women's rights activist based in Tehran, said she felt "pity" for those who come up with "such brilliant ideas."

"They themselves know better than anyone how much these things make people laugh," she told Radio Farda.

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In recent years, the authorities have taken several measures to enforce the hijab on women in a society that is increasingly shunning head scarves.

The Hijab and Chastity law went into force last month, mandating fines and sentences of up to 10 years in prison for those who are deemed to be dressed "inappropriately" in public.

Iranian authorities have said the "treatment" center in Tehran can serve as an "alternative" punishment.

But Ilanlou said the opening of the clinic showed that the authorities "are losing the fight" to enforce the hijab.

Iran-based political activist Pouran Nazemi said that "women have been putting up a fight."

"I doubt [the authorities] can continue resisting what society wants," she told Radio Farda.

Roya Karimi Majd of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report

Iranian authorities are using executions as "a tool of fear," particularly directed at ethnic minorities, dissidents, and foreign nationals, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on November 20.

The rights watchdog highlighted a recent surge in capital punishment sentences against these groups, noting that the verdicts are handed down amid rampant violations of due process.

According to Iran Human Rights group, in the first 10 months of this year, at least 651 people were executed in Iran -- 166 people in October alone.

HRW noted the case of Kurdish political prisoner Varisheh Moradi, sentenced to death by Iran’s revolutionary court in Tehran on November 10 on the charge of “armed rebellion against the state."

Moradi, a member of the Free Women’s Society of Eastern Kurdistan, was arrested in the city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan Province in August last year and kept for five months in solitary confinement in the infamous Evin prison where she was tortured. Her family has not been allowed to visit her since May, the group said.

Moradi was not allowed to defend herself, and the judge did not permit her lawyers to present a defense, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported.

“Iranian authorities use the death penalty as a tool of fear, particularly targeting ethnic minorities and political dissidents after unfair trials,” said HRW's Nahid Naghshbandi. “This brutal tactic aims to suppress any opposition to an autocratic government through intimidation,” she said.

Five other Kurdish men were sentenced to death in recent weeks on charges of “espionage for Israel," HRW said.

Four Arab prisoners from Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, are at risk of imminent execution, after being sentenced to death by a revolutionary court with two other individuals for their alleged involvement in the killings of two Basij members, a law enforcement officer, and a soldier.

The four -- Ali Majdam, Moein Khonafri, Mohammadreza Moghadam, and Adnan Gheibshavi (Musavi) -- were arrested in 2017 and 2018, according to human rights groups.

Afghan citizens in Iran have been targeted, in particular, by death sentences, HRW noted, adding that according to human rights groups, at least 49 Afghan nationals have been executed in Iran this year, 13 in the past month alone.

“Iran’s revolutionary courts are a tool of systematic repression that violate citizens’ fundamental rights and hand out death sentences indiscriminately, leaving legal protections meaningless,” Naghshbandi said.

“The international community should categorically condemn this alarming trend and pressure Iranian authorities to halt these executions,” she added.

Mai Sato, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, has also voiced concern about the "alarming" increase in the number of executions.

"In August 2024 alone, at least 93 people were executed, with nearly half in relation to drug offences," Sato said on November 1.

No charges have been brought against the Iranian woman who disrobed in an apparent protest outside her Tehran university, a spokesman for the judiciary said, adding that she had been released from the hospital to her family.

"Given that she has been sent to the hospital and it has been determined that she is sick, she has been handed over to the family and they are currently taking care of her," Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told a news conference on November 19.

The spokesman added that "no judicial case has been filed against this student." It wasn't immediately clear if the comments meant that the case had been permanently closed.

The woman was identified as Ahoo Bahari, a student from the science and research department of Tehran Azad University.

She took off her clothes in public on November 3 in an apparent protest at the university and was arrested shortly afterward.

The circumstances that led to her taking off her clothes remain unclear, but witnesses say she was harassed by the university's security officers over what she had been wearing. One video showed officers violently forcing the unidentified woman into a car.

Reports in Iranian media later alleged she was suffering from mental illness and that she was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

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Video footage posted online raised concerns of the woman's safety from international rights groups, who condemned her treatment and demanded her immediate release.

Amnesty International said it had previously published evidence of the government's crackdown on protesters under the pretext of "mental disorders" that needed to be "treated."

Rights groups and Iranian activists have long assailed the government of the conservative Muslim nation for attacks on protesters, often targeting those who challenge strict laws governing women’s dress in public.

New laws increase prison terms and fines for women and girls who breach the dress code in the wake of the mass Women, Life, Freedom protests that followed the death of a young woman while in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.

Iranian rights activist Hossein Ronaghi was held for several hours after being detained following a sit-in protest in central Tehran, his family said on November 18. "Ronaghi was violently arrested by a large number of armed officers at 5 p.m. at Vali-e Asr Square" before being released at his front door at 9 p.m., his brother Hassan said on Telegram. Ronaghi had announced the protest on Telegram, saying it was to honor Kianoosh Sanjari, a journalist and political activist who jumped to his death from a Tehran building on November 13 to protest the numerous arrests and interrogations of himself and other political activists.

The U.S.-based PEN America free-speech watchdog has asked the UN Human Rights Council to intervene in the case of imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who it said is in "urgent need of medical care." In an open letter, PEN urged the UN “to call on the Iranian authorities to grant Mohammadi a medical furlough on humanitarian grounds so that she is able to receive comprehensive and essential care for a range of serious medical conditions." Mohammadi, 52, has been in and out of prison for the past 20 years. She is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Tehran's Evin prison for "spreading propaganda," allegations that she, her family, and supporters reject.

The EU has widened its sanctions against Iran over the country's support of the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine, the European Commission said on November 18, targeting firms, ports, and individuals involved in the transfer of ballistic missiles and drones to Russia for use on the battlefield.

Included in the new sanctions are the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) -- which will see its assets frozen -- and measures targeting the activities of Iranian ports on the Caspian Sea linked to listed entities and individuals.

The EU said it decided to "widen the scope of the EU framework for restrictive measures in view of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and to armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region."

It said the new measures target "the use of vessels and ports for the transfer of Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles, and related technologies and components."

The United States, Britain, France, and Germany have accused Iran of sending ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia for use against Ukraine, sparking consultations among European allies on the matter.

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Ali Safaei, chief of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, rejected the "European accusations," calling them "baseless," according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

"It is regrettable that some delegations, including the U.S., have once again disseminated false and misleading information to advance their political agendas," Safaei said.

The IRISL headlined the list of the newly sanctioned entities.

"IRISL is Iran's national maritime carrier, and for years its ships have been involved in shipping drones on behalf of the EU-listed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy," the EU said.

IRISL director Mohammad Reza Khiabani is also targeted in the sanctions.

The measures include "access to facilities of the ports and locks, such as Amirabad and Anzali, and the provision of any services to vessels," it said, adding that exceptions will be made for vessels in need of assistance for safety for humanitarian purposes.

The EU also listed three Russian shipping companies -- MG Flot, VTS Broker, and Arapax -- whose vessels are involved in transporting Iranian-made weapons and ammunition, including UAV components, across the Caspian Sea to resupply Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

The November 18 announcement is a continuing of a wide-ranging strategy by the West of targeting Iranian entities and individuals over rights abuses, aid to extremist allies and proxies in the region, and weapons transfer.

EU foreign ministers on October 14 approved new sanctions against seven individuals and seven entities linked to Iran after Kyiv's Western allies accused Tehran of sending ballistic missiles to Russia to aid in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Those sanctions, first reported in an exclusive by Radio Farda, targeted companies and individuals accused of being involved in the transfer of the weapons to Russia, including the country's flagship carrier Iran Air, as well as airlines Saha Airlines and Mahan Air.

Those targeted are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban to the European Union. Additionally, the provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, with those listed is prohibited.

Iran Air has direct flights to several cities in Europe, including Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Paris, and Milan.

Overall, the EU said sanctions have been imposed on 227 individuals and 42 entities in Iran in response to "human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation activities, and military support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on November 16 that there remains a "limited opportunity" for nuclear negotiations with the West, according to Iranian state media.

Relations between Tehran and the United States have been especially tense since then-President Donald Trump withdrew unilaterally from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and global powers and reimposed tough U.S. sanctions on Iran.

"There is still an opportunity for diplomacy, although this opportunity is not much. It is a limited opportunity," Araqchi was quoted as telling state television.

Western concerns at Iranian actions have soared amid the yearlong war in the Gaza Strip after U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist organization Hamas carried out a brutal attack in Israel in October 2023, with Iranian allies including Huthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon attacking Israel in support of Hamas.

With Trump poised to return to the White House in January following his election victory earlier this month, reports circulated of possible informal contacts, including claims that Trump ally Elon Musk met last week in New York with Iran's envoy to the United Nations.

After days of silence, Tehran on November 16 "categorically denied" that any such meeting took place.

This week, Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), urged Iran and its global partners to achieve "concrete, tangible, and visible results" in talks over Tehran's nuclear program as the return of Trump could mean the window for diplomacy is closing.

The 2015 deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), had given Iran some limited relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program designed to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

After Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran expanded its nuclear program and restricted IAEA inspections of its nuclear sites.

U.S. President Joe Biden entered the White House in 2017 pledging to try to revive the deal but made no breakthroughs.

Trump's announced pick for secretary of state, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, is generally regarded as an advocate of tough action to counter Iranian influence through a return to a "maximum pressure" policy.

With additional reporting by AFP

Tehran has "categorically denied" U.S. reports suggesting that billionaire Trump ally and adviser Elon Musk met with Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani in New York last week, contradicting reporting by The New York Times and AP asserting that Tehran sought the meeting in an apparent effort to ease tensions with President-elect Donald Trump. Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying those are "false reports." In his first term, Trump withdrew from a major nuclear accord with Tehran and global powers and reimposed tough sanctions that walloped Iran's currency and economy. Trump has pledged close if informal cooperation with Musk, who has boasted that he has "top-secret clearance" and said he looks forward to a role as "first buddy" to the next U.S. president. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, on November 15 asked Iran to help secure a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and whose military wing is blacklisted by the European Union.

He also appeared to urge Iran to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.

As a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei visited Lebanon for talks, Lebanese officials said an American proposal for a cease-fire deal had been passed on to Hezbollah, aiming to end 13 months of exchanges of fire between Israel and the group.

Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist organization Hamas’s surprise attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, ignited the war in Gaza.

Iran backs any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a cease-fire with Israel, a senior Iranian official said on November 15, signaling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and whose military wing is blacklisted by the European Union. Israel launched air strikes in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, flattening buildings for a fourth consecutive day. Israel has stepped up its bombardment of the area this week, an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in U.S.-led diplomacy toward a cease-fire. Senior Iranian official Ali Larijani, asked whether he had come to Beirut to undermine the U.S. truce plan, said: "We are not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems."

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has visited Iran’s key underground uranium enrichment sites at Fordow and Natanz, Iranian state media reported on November 15, without offering details. Iran has restricted inspection of its nuclear sites and barred several IAEA inspectors from visiting its enrichment facilities. Grossi is in Iran to push for diplomacy, warning that the “space for negotiation…is getting smaller” over Iran’s advancing nuclear program. Tehran insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful. The visit comes ahead of an upcoming meeting of the IAEA's Board of Governors, where some nations are pushing for action against the Islamic republic.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been bitter rivals for decades, vying to lead competing branches of Islam and standing on opposing sides of conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

But Tehran and Riyadh have taken major steps to de-escalate tensions and boost cooperation, a move that appeared unthinkable until recently.

The rapprochement has coincided with growing fears of an all-out war in the Middle East, where U.S. ally Israel is engaged in wars against Iranian-backed groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The detente process has intensified since Donald Trump's decisive victory in the U.S. presidential election earlier this month. The president-elect has pledged to bring peace to the region.

"I don't view this as a warming of relations but rather as a cautious detente," said Talal Mohammad, associate fellow at the Britain-based Royal United Services Institute.

Reassuring Iran

The first signs of a thaw came in March 2023, when Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations after more than seven years following a surprise Chinese-brokered agreement.

But it was Israel's invasion of Gaza in October 2023 -- soon after the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel -- that gave real impetus to Iran-Saudi rapprochement efforts.

Since the war erupted, Iran and Israel have traded direct aerial attacks for the first time. The tit-for-tat assaults have brought the region to the brink of a full-blown conflict.

Saudi Arabia is "concerned that these escalating tensions between Israel and Iran could spiral out of control and lead to a broader regional conflict that may impact their interests," said Hamidreza Azizi, fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Azizi adds that Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shi'a-dominated Iran are still "far from friends," despite the recent rapprochement, and they remain rivals vying for influence.

Over the past year, Saudi Arabia has stopped conducting air strikes in neighboring Yemen against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Riyadh has also made attempts to negotiate an end to the 10-year conflict pitting the Huthis against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

The Huthis have also ceased cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia. In 2019, the rebels managed to shut down half of the kingdom's oil production.

The Trump Factor

Trump's victory in the November 5 presidential election has injected more urgency to the Iran-Saudi rapprochement, experts say.

Saudi Arabia's top general, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, made a rare trip to Iran on November 10 to meet Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Baqeri in what Iranian media dubbed "defense diplomacy."

The following day, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman accused Israel of committing "collective genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza and explicitly condemned Israel's attack last month on Iranian military sites.

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Azizi says there are fears in the region that Trump's electoral victory will embolden Israel to intensify its attacks on Iran and Tehran's interests.

During Trump's first term in office from 2017 to 2021, his administration pursued a campaign of "maximum pressure" on Iran that included imposing crippling sanctions against Tehran.

At the same time, Trump struck a close relationship with Riyadh. He helped facilitate normalization between several Arab states and Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords.

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Before Israel launched its devastating war in Gaza, Saudi Arabia was reportedly on the verge of a historic deal to normalize relations with Israel.

Experts say that the Huthis' attacks in 2019 on Saudi oil facilities convinced Riyadh that Washington will not come to its aid if it is attacked.

"Given Trump's tendency toward unpredictable shifts in policy, Saudi Arabia may seek to play an influential role by encouraging Trump to adopt a balanced approach that ensures regional stability without triggering escalation with Iran," Mohammad said.

"By subtly guiding U.S. policy toward calibrated sanctions rather than aggressive pressure, Saudi Arabia could help maintain regional security while avoiding the risks of open confrontation," he added.

Israeli Normalization

Normalization talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel have been indefinitely postponed. Saudi officials have recently said that a deal was off until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Mohammad says Riyadh has significant strategic incentives to normalize relations with Israel, including security and economic cooperation as well as access to U.S. nuclear and defense technology.

But analysts say Saudi Arabia will only resume talks when the Gaza war is over, given the current public sentiment in the Muslim world toward Israel.

"Normalizing relations without achieving tangible rights for Palestinians could weaken Saudi Arabia's normative influence within the Islamic world -- a position they are keen to maintain," Azizi argued.

The Saudis will also have to take into account Iran, which staunchly opposes Saudi normalization with Israel.

"Riyadh may consult with Tehran and seek assurances that normalization with Israel would not heighten hostilities or undermine the balance achieved through recent diplomatic outreach to Iran," Mohammad said.

Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has urged Iran and its global partners to achieve "concrete, tangible, and visible results" in talks over Tehran's nuclear program as the return of Donald Trump to the White House may mean the window for diplomacy is closing.

Speaking to journalists in the Iranian capital on November 14 after a meeting with Iran's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, Grossi said pressure was building for movement toward a solution with Iran-backed proxies at war with Israel and Trump, known for his hard-line stance against Tehran, taking over the U.S. presidency in January.

"We know that it is indispensable to get, at this point of time, to get some concrete, tangible, and visible results that will indicate that this joint work is improving (the) situation, is bringing clarification to things, and in a general sense it is moving us away from conflict and ultimately war," Grossi said.

“The fact that international tensions and regional tensions do exist...shows that the space for negotiation and diplomacy is not getting bigger, it is getting smaller," he added.

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Grossi's visit takes place about two months ahead of the inauguration of Trump, who during his first term in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The 2015 deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), had given Iran some limited relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program designed to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Grossi also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran on November 14.

Araqchi, Iran's chief negotiator during the negotiations to reach the JCPOA deal, which barred Tehran from enriching uranium above the level of 3.65 percent, said on X that the talks with Grossi were "important and straightforward."

He vowed to continue Iran's cooperation with the IAEA on nuclear nonproliferation "with courage and good will" and reiterated Tehran's longstanding assertion that its nuclear program was "peaceful."

Araqchi added, however, that Iran would not negotiate "under pressure."

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After Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran expanded its nuclear program and restricted IAEA inspections of its nuclear sites.

The IAEA and the international community have voiced alarm at reports that Tehran has substantially increased its stocks of uranium enriched to 60 percent -- considerably closer to the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear weapon.

Nuclear expert Eric Brewer told RFE/RL that the IAEA's lack of access to Iran's nuclear sites heightens the risk of it producing more enriched uranium.

"I suspect that to get Iran to provide some information on that front is at the top of Director-General Grossi's list," Brewer said.

He added that while the trip had been scheduled since before the U.S. election, Trump's re-election "will hang over the conversations."

The IAEA chief is expected to hold talks with Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian later in the day.

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Senator Marco Rubio to be his top diplomat as the incoming administration prepares to navigate an increasingly perilous world, with wars raging in Europe and the Middle East and competition heating up with China in the Asia-Pacific.

In choosing Rubio -- a senator known for taking a tough line on many foreign policy issues -- the president-elect is seeking someone who largely shares his views on the most pressing international topics, says Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"Rubio is someone who has ideological and political alignment with Trump on several key national-security issues like great-power competition, countering China, countering the Islamic [Republic of] Iran, and reinstating the maximum-pressure campaign," Taleblu told RFE/RL.

In a wide-ranging interview last week with media before being tapped as secretary of state, Rubio said the decades-long period of unchallenged U.S. global dominance following the collapse of the Soviet Union had ended, replaced by a new Cold War-like era. He warned that the United States can't stretch itself too thin with global commitments, saying Washington must be "pragmatic" in its pursuits abroad.

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"We're the most powerful [country], but we too have limited resources…so we have to invest both our time and our money on things that serve our core national interest," Rubio said in a November 7 interview with EWTN, a U.S.-based cable network.

Rubio, a Cuban-American, played an influential role in shaping Trump's policy on Venezuela during the latter's first term as president from 2017 to 2021. The New York Times described Rubio at the time as Trump's "virtual secretary of state for Latin America."

The three-time Florida senator, who challenged Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, comes to the job with ample foreign policy experience, having served on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee.

If ultimately confirmed by the Senate, Rubio, 53, would be the first Latino to serve as secretary of state.

And while Latin America will certainly be an important focus for Rubio, it will take a back seat to more pressing U.S. foreign policy concerns, namely China's global rise, Iran's threat to the Middle East, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Priority No. 1: China

When it comes to demands on U.S. military, political, and financial resources, Rubio wants the focus to be on China.

"I think the future of the 21st century is going to largely be defined by what happens in the Indo-Pacific. And I think China would love for us to be bogged down in Europe in a conflict and not focused on what's happening in the Indo-Pacific," Rubio said on November 7.

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Rubio, who served as a co-chairman of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, has consistently advocated taking a hard line on China.

He led efforts to arm Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing. He called for direct shipments of U.S. munitions and advanced military technologies in hopes of deterring China from attacking the island.

Rubio has also been vocal about Beijing's human rights record, pushed for a U.S. industrial policy to better compete with China, and backed tariffs on Chinese goods.

He sought to ban imports of Chinese goods made with forced labor by Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western China and prevent China from circumventing Trump-era tariffs by relocating production to Mexico.

NATO And Ukraine

Rubio has repeatedly supported Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in its defensive war against Russia and described Ukrainians as "incredibly brave and strong."

In February 2022, immediately following Russia's full-scale invasion, he co-sponsored the NYET Act in the Senate, which aimed to "bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities" and impose sanctions on Russia.

However, Rubio has also said Russia's war against Ukraine has reached a "stalemate" and "needs to be brought to a conclusion."

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He was among a minority of senators who, earlier this year, opposed a foreign-assistance bill that included $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. The bill eventually passed in April, bringing total U.S. aid to Ukraine since February 2022 to almost $175 billion -- about as much given by all of Europe combined.

Rubio has highlighted that imbalance, emphasizing that Washington should push Europe to take a larger role in handling its own security issues in order to allow the United States to prioritize challenging China in the Indo-Pacific.

In last week's interview with EWTN, Rubio said it was "unrealistic" to expect the United States to approve tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine every 10 months. He said European members of NATO need to step up their contributions to the alliance.

"Every day in our own country, [we are] grappling with [the question of] how do we provide assistance to Americans, even as we have these defense requirements that we're spending a lot of money on, and these [European NATO] countries are not making that choice," he said.

While Rubio sees Russia as a threat to U.S. security and backs Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, he said Kyiv will have to negotiate an end to the war. Rubio said Russia has just too many resources at its disposal, including weapons and men, to allow it to continue the fighting despite suffering extraordinary losses.

Iran: 'No Appeasement'

In the Middle East, Rubio has long taken a tough stand on Iran, describing its theocratic government as a "terrorist regime" for financing groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated terrorist organizations by the United States.

As a senator, he was a fierce critic of U.S. President Barack Obama's 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), which restricted Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.

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Critics of the deal argued it empowered Iran, offering too much relief from sanctions without guarantees it wouldn't someday produce a nuclear bomb. In 2018, Trump, who was then president, pulled the United States out of the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

More recently, Rubio co-authored three bills punishing Iran that were signed into law this year. The bills authorize placing sanctions on Iranian oil exports and top Iranian leaders for human rights abuses, as well as foreign entities and governments supporting Hamas. An Iranian client, Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, triggering a regional war that threatens to engulf more states.

Rubio in September criticized the Biden administration for dragging its feet on enforcing the Iranian oil sanctions, which are aimed at crippling the government's finances. It has also failed to move forward on the human rights sanctions.

Depending on what the incoming administration is faced with in Iran when it takes office, analyst Taleblu says -- noting the volatile situation in the Middle East -- he would expect a Rubio-led State Department to make good on enforcement of the sanction bills.

A vocal supporter of Israel, Rubio has backed the country's right to defend itself from Iranian threats. Following Tehran's missile strikes on Israel on October 1, Rubio publicly backed an asymmetrical response.

Afghanistan

Rubio has also taken a hard line on the Taliban, arguing the militant Islamist group should be described as a "terrorist organization" by Washington. In March, the Florida senator introduced a bill in the Senate calling for an end to an end to U.S. aid to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, arguing that some of that money could end up with "terrorist groups."

In remarks to the Senate, Rubio said, "A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan poses a direct threat to U.S. national-security interests and to our allies in the Middle East and Central Asia."

Reid Standish contributed to this report

Kianoosh Sanjari, a journalist and political activist, has committed suicide to protest numerous arrests and interrogations of himself and other political activists. A relative of Sanjari confirmed the news in an interview with RFE/RL on November 13. Friends of Sanjari also confirmed his death in posts on X. Since returning to Tehran in 2015 to care for his elderly mother, Sanjari was repeatedly summoned and arrested by the security and intelligence agencies of the Islamic republic. Hours before committing suicide, Sanjari announced his decision to end his life on X. After an ultimatum demanding the Iranian government release four activists and journalists by a specified time was not met, Sanjari tweeted again: "My life will end after this tweet but let's not forget that we die for the love of life, not death. I wish that one day Iranians will wake up and overcome slavery." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged a man for allegedly leaking highly classified U.S. intelligence about Israel's plans for retaliation against Iran, according to U.S. media reports on November 13. The reports said that Asif W. Rahman was indicted earlier this month for willfully transmitting national defense information. He was arrested on November 12 in Cambodia by the FBI and was to appear in court in Guam. Court documents indicate that he was employed by the U.S. government. According to a person familiar with his employment, he was employed by the CIA. This employment gave him a top-secret security clearance and allowed him to access sensitive information. The New York Times, which first reported the story, said that Rahman was indicted on a charge related to the posting of the intelligence on Telegram in mid-October. The documents posted included Israeli plans for moving munitions and Israeli Air Force exercises involving air-to-surface missiles.

Iran says it has measures in place to ensure it will continue producing and exporting oil even if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Tehran once he takes office in January.

During his first term in office in 2017-21, Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sanctions as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.

As a result, Iran’s oil production dropped from 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to 2.1 million bpd, while its exports plummeted to between 200,000 and 500,000 bpd from 2.5 million bpd.

But both production and exports have picked up in recent years despite U.S. sanctions, with Iran’s oil output reaching around 3.2m bpd. Exports, meanwhile, have hit a multiyear high of 1.7 million bpd.

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Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad told reporters on November 13 that Iran has mechanisms in place “to continue selling our oil” regardless of who is in power in the United States.

“We have tried-and-tested methods and don’t have serious concerns about [selling oil],” he said, according to Iranian state-aligned media.

Without offering details, the oil minister said, “necessary measures have been taken by our colleagues in the oil sector in preparation for what is to come and there is no reason to worry.”

Trump is expected to launch a new-look "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic republic once he takes office on January 20, 2025.

Iran boosted its oil sales by circumventing sanctions through a variety of means, exporting mostly to China, which does not recognize U.S. measures against Iran.

The tactic involves the ship-to-ship transfer of oil, middlemen, clandestine money transfers, and the rebranding of the oil to mask its Iranian origin.

Iranian crude makes up about 13 percent of oil imports by China, the world's biggest purchaser of the commodity. Beijing says the purchases conform to international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says another attack on Israel would paralyze the Islamic republic's economy and cost billions of dollars that could be spent to the benefit of ordinary Iranians. In his second video addressed directly to Iranians in the last two months, which was released in English with Farsi subtitles on November 12, Netanyahu said that Iran's October 1 missile attack cost it $2.3 billion dollars, "valuable money that the Islamic republic wasted" as the "damage of that attack on Israel was insignificant." He added that the Iranian government is "obsessed" with the destruction of Israel but its theocracy fears its own people more than Israel. Neither the people of Israel nor ordinary Iranians want war, he said. Some analysts said the video could be a warning that if Iran were to attack again, Israel would hit back hard in an attempt to cause major damage to Iran's economy. There was no immediate reaction to the video from Iran. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Iranian-American human rights activist Masih Alinejad says she derives joy from the failure of alleged plots by the Islamic republic to kidnap and assassinate her.

The U.S. Justice Department on November 8 unsealed criminal charges that include details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill Alinejad and President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election. Iran has rejected the allegation.

"When the Islamic republic is defeated, disgraced, and embarrassed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], it has no choice but to deny," Alinejad, 48, said in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, or head scarf, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021. In 2022 a man was also arrested with a rifle outside her home.

“The Islamic republic has been disgraced three times…. The humiliation of [Iranian authorities] is truly pleasing,” she said.

The FBI informed Alinejad of the suspected Iranian plot to kill her shortly before the court documents were unsealed, she said, recalling that she was "shocked" to learn about the details.

Two men arrested by the FBI were planning to target Alinejad at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she was scheduled to appear.

The Justice Department alleges the two men spent months surveilling Alinejad and earlier this year traveled to the university campus and took photos of the premises.

"It is shocking how brazenly the Islamic republic can savagely plan to assassinate someone in another country," Alinejad said.

Iran has long been accused of targeting dissidents abroad, either to kidnap them or kill them.

Rights groups say exiled opposition activist Ruhollah Zam was abducted in 2019 before being executed in Iran a year later.

In 2020, Tehran said it had arrested Iranian-German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd and later sentenced him to death. Sharmahd's family insists he was kidnapped while through the United Arab Emirates. Iranian authorities claim Sharmahd died in prison last month before being executed.

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Alinejad, who is visiting Germany and recently met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said her message to Germany, the United States, and all Western countries is to "protect your borders and democracy instead of protecting me so that the Islamic republic's terrorists can't enter and plot assassinations on Western soil."

She said symbolic gestures by the West in support of Iranian protesters and dissidents "is not enough" to dissuade Iranian authorities from targeting critics abroad. Instead, she argued, severing diplomatic ties and "extensive support" for protesters inside Iran would be more effective.

Written based on an interview by Nasrin Afshar of RFE/RL's Radio Farda

The general chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Baqeri, in Tehran during a rare visit on November 10.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said they discussed the development of defense diplomacy and bilateral cooperation without offering any details.

Iranian media said Baqeri had discussed regional developments and defense cooperation with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman al-Saud last year.

Ruwaili is only the second high-profile Saudi official to travel to Tehran since Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations after seven years following Chinese-brokered talks in March 2023. Previously, Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan visited Iran in June 2023.

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Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia severed ties with Shi'a-dominated Iran in 2016 after its diplomatic compounds in Tehran and Mashhad were attacked by protesters over Riyadh's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The trip comes days after the election of Donald Trump, whose second term as U.S. president begins in January. He has pledged to bring peace to the Middle East, where U.S. ally Israel is engaged in wars against Iranian-backed groups in Gaza and Lebanon.

Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the timing of the trip was significant because it comes as various countries are preparing for a second Trump presidency.

He said the Saudis' decision to send their top military official to Tehran "is a signal that they are committed" to the detente process that started last year and that "they don't want Trump's election to jeopardize the recently improving relations with Iran."

Separately, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on the phone and discussed expanding bilateral relations, according to Pezeshkian's office.

Trump had good relations with Persian Gulf Arab states in his first tenure in office and worked on normalizing relations between Arab states and Iran's archfoe, Israel.

Saudi Arabia has not normalized relations with Israel but Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is said to have discussed the possibility of normalization with Saudi Arabia since 2021.

In another sign of warming relations, Saudi Arabia announced last month that it held military drills with Iran in the Sea of Oman.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran on November 13 and start consultations with Iranian officials the following day, state media reported on November 10. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week that he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed nuclear program and that he expected to work cooperatively with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Long-standing issues between Iran, the IAEA, and Western powers include Tehran barring several uranium-enrichment experts from IAEA inspection teams in the country and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Iran has also stepped up nuclear activity since 2019, after then-President Trump abandoned a 2015 deal Iran reached with world powers under which it curbed enrichment -- seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability -- and restored tough U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied U.S. charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump and called on November 9 for confidence-building between the two hostile countries. "A new scenario is fabricated....As a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy," Araqchi said in a post on X. He was referring to an alleged plot Washington said was ordered by Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to assassinate Trump, who won the U.S. presidential election on November 5 and takes office in January.

Iran signaled an openness toward Donald Trump on November 9, calling on the U.S. president-elect to adopt new policies toward it after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to kill him. Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Trump to reassess the policy of "maximum pressure" he employed against the Islamic republic during his first term. "Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past," Zarif told reporters. His remarks came after the United States accused Iran of conspiring to assassinate Trump. The Foreign Ministry on November 9 described the American accusations as "totally unfounded."