Iran

US president says at inaugural Board of Peace summit that Washington and Tehran should make a ‘meaningful deal’.

Donald Trump has renewed his threats against Iran, suggesting that Tehran has about 10 days to reach a deal with Washington or face further military strikes.

Speaking at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday, the United States president reiterated his argument that the joint Israeli-US strikes against Iran in June of last year paved the way to the “ceasefire” in Gaza.

Trump argued that without the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the “threat” of Iran would have prevented countries in the region from agreeing to “peace in the Middle East”.

“So now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not,” Trump said. “Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”

Trump’s comments come days after the US and Iran held a second round of indirect talks.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said the two sides made “good progress in the negotiations” in Geneva and “were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles” for an agreement.

But the US has continued to amass military assets in the Gulf region, including two aircraft carriers and dozens of fighter jets.

Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, has said it would agree to curbing its uranium enrichment and placing it under rigorous international inspection.

But the Trump administration has said that it would oppose any Iranian enrichment. Washington has also sought to place limits on Tehran’s missile arsenal, but Iranian officials have ruled out any concessions over the issue, which they say is a non-negotiable defence principle.

On Thursday, Trump said his diplomatic aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have had “very good meetings” with Iran’s representatives.

“We have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise, bad things happen,” he said.

Last week, Trump said the US and Iran should come to an agreement “over the next month”, warning Tehran with “very traumatic” consequences.

But Iranian officials have expressed defiance against the US president’s threats.

“The Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship toward Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote on X on Thursday.

“However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea.”

Tensions between the Washington and Tehran have been escalating since late 2025, when Trump – while hosting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December – vowed to strike Iran again if attempts to rebuild its nuclear or missile programmes.

Days later, antigovernment protests broke out in Iran. Trump encouraged the demonstrators to take over state institutions, promising them that “help is on the way”.

Trump appeared to step back from the brink of attacking Iran last month, saying that the country agreed to halt the execution of dissidents under US pressure.

The two countries later renewed negotiations with the first round of talks since the June war taking place in Oman on February 6.

But threats and hostile rhetoric between Washington and Tehran have persisted despite the ongoing diplomacy.

In 2018, during his first term Trump nixed the multilateral nuclear deal that saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against its economy.

Feb. 19 (UPI) — The United States has put military forces in place in the Middle East for a potential strike on Iran but President Donald Trump has not decided whether to attack or continue negotiations on Thursday.

A strike could occur as early as this weekend, with naval and air forces quickly coming into place. National security officials met in the Situation Room on Wednesday to discuss courses of action against Iran.

U.S. armed forces have been assembling in the Middle East in recent weeks as the United States and Iran have negotiated a scaling back of Iran’s nuclear program. The latest conversations took place in Geneva on Tuesday, sans Trump who said he would be involved “indirectly.”

The negotiations between the United States and Iran ended without a resolution on Tuesday. Trump has called for Iran to end its nuclear program.

Iranian officials said they agreed with U.S. negotiators on a “set of guiding principles.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said to expect more details about these negotiations to come forward in the weeks to come. She did not say whether Trump would take action before that happens.

“I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the president of the United States,” she said.

In recent weeks, the United States has moved warships to the Indian Ocean while Trump warned Iran over the killings and detainments of thousands of protesters against the Iranian regime.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an interest in Iran drawing down its missile capabilities as well. Israeli forces have been on alert over the possibility of an open conflict as tensions have continued to heighten.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slated to meet with Netanyahu in Israel on Feb. 28, to provide an update on the negotiations with Iran.

The United States launched strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities in June, causing what Iranian officials called “serious and significant damage.”

Newly released satellite images show that Iran has recently built a concrete ‌shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, advancing work at a location reportedly bombed by Israel in 2024 amid soaring tensions with ⁠the United States and the threat of regional war.

The images also show that Iran has ⁠buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by Washington during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last year – which the US joined on Israel’s behalf – fortified tunnel entrances near another, and has repaired missile bases struck in the conflict.

They offer a rare glimpse of Iranian activities at some of the sites at the centre of tensions with Israel and the US.

Some 30km (20 miles) southeast of Tehran, the Parchin complex is one of Iran’s most sensitive military sites. Western intelligence has suggested Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations there more than 20 years ago. Iran has always denied seeking ⁠atomic weapons and says its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes.

Neither US intelligence nor the UN nuclear watchdog found any evidence last year that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.

Israel reportedly struck Parchin in October 2024. Satellite imagery taken before and after that attack shows extensive damage to a rectangular building at Parchin, and apparent reconstruction in images from November 6, 2024. Imagery from October 12, 2025, shows development at the site, with the skeleton of a new structure visible and two smaller structures adjacent to it.

Progress is apparent in imagery from November 14, with what appears to be a metallic roof covering the large structure. By February 16, it cannot be seen at all, hidden by what experts say is a concrete structure.

The Institute for ‌Science and International Security (ISIS), in a January 22 analysis of satellite imagery, pointed to progress in the construction of a “concrete sarcophagus” around a newly built facility at the site, which it identified as Taleghan 2.

ISIS founder David Albright wrote on X: “Stalling the negotiations has its benefits: Over the last two to three weeks, Iran has been busy burying the new Taleghan 2 facility … More soil is available and the facility ⁠may soon become a fully unrecognizable bunker, providing significant protection from aerial strikes.”

The institute also reported in late January that satellite images showed new efforts to bury two tunnel entrances at the Isfahan complex – one of the three ⁠Iranian uranium-enrichment plants bombed by the US in June during the war. By early February, ISIS said all entrances to the tunnel complex were ⁠”completely buried”.

Other images point to ongoing efforts since February 10 to “harden and defensively ⁠strengthen” two entrances to a tunnel complex under a mountain some 2km (1.2 miles) from Natanz – the site that holds Iran’s other two uranium enrichment plants.

This comes as Washington seeks to negotiate a deal with Tehran on its nuclear programme while threatening military action if talks fail.

On Tuesday, US and Iranian representatives reached an understanding on main “guiding principles” during a meeting in Geneva, but felt short of achieving any breakthrough. The meeting in the Swiss city came after a first round of talks in Oman on February 6.

Reports suggest that Tehran would make detailed proposals in the next two weeks to close gaps. Among the many hurdles in the negotiations is the US push to widen the scope of the deal to include restrictions on Iran’s ballistic arsenal and support for its allies in the region.

That is fuelled by Israel’s demands and regional narrative, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly pressing US President Donald Trump to shift from nuclear-only parameters.

Tehran has insisted that these provisions are non-negotiable but that it is open to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

A previous negotiating effort collapsed last year when Israel launched attacks on Iran, triggering the 12-day war that Washington joined in by bombing key Iranian nuclear sites.

As diplomacy forges a path, both parties are ramping up military pressure.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) held a series of war games on Monday and Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for “potential security and military threats”.

On Wednesday, Tehran announced new joint naval drills with Russia in the Sea of Oman. Rear Admiral Hassan Maqsoudlou said the exercises were aimed at preventing any unilateral action in the region, and enhancing coordination against threats to maritime security, including risks to commercial vessels and oil tankers.

The US has also escalated its military build-up in the region. Trump has ordered a second aircraft carrier to the region, with the first, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its nearly 80 aircraft, positioned about 700 kilometres (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, according to satellite imagery.

The Trump administration also issued new threats against Tehran with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on Wednesday that “Iran would be very wise to make a deal” with the US. Trump escalated his rhetoric on social media.

“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal,” the US may need to use an Indian Ocean airbase in the Chagos Islands, “in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime”, he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has said Iran would be “wise” to make a deal, as the United States surges further military assets to the Middle East.

Her statement came as part of a series of veiled threats from officials under US President Donald Trump, a day after US and Iranian representatives held a second round of indirect talks this month.

The two sides appeared to offer differing accounts of the talks. Iranian officials said both parties had agreed on “guiding principles”, but US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had yet to respond to all of Washington’s “red lines”.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Leavitt articulated the Trump administration’s position that Iran needs to accede to US demands.

“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with his administration,” she told reporters.

Trump, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military action in response to its crackdown on protests last month, also referenced a possible escalation in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday.

The post warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom against a deal agreed to last year that would see London cede control of the Chagos Islands, strategically located in the centre of the Indian Ocean.

The deal nevertheless allows the UK and US to continue to lease and operate a joint airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime,” Trump wrote.

“An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries.”

Meanwhile, speaking from the sidelines of an International Energy Agency (IAE) meeting in Paris, France, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that Washington would deter Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons “one way or the other”.

“They’ve been very clear about what they would do with nuclear weapons. It’s entirely unacceptable,” Wright said.

Military buildup

The threats come as the US appears to be surging more military assets to the Middle East, raising the spectre of escalation.

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon had one aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships in the region, with an anonymous US official telling the AFP news agency more were on the way.

That includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, which is en route from the Atlantic Ocean.

The US has also sent a large fleet of aircraft to the Middle East, according to open-source intelligence accounts on X and flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

That deployment appears to include F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, F-15 and F-16 warplanes, and the KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft that are needed to sustain their operations, according to the trackers.

The US had previously surged aircraft and naval vessels to the region ahead of strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in June of last year, which came at the end of a 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

Iran does ‘not want war’

For his part, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that the country did “not want war” but would not give in to US demands.

“From the day I took office, I have believed that war must be set aside. But if they are going to try to impose their will on us, humiliate us and demand that we bow our heads at any cost, should we accept that?” he asked.

Pezeshkian spoke shortly after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched exercises on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, in a show of military might.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously warned that any new US strikes would lead to wider regional escalation.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that its top diplomat Abbas Araghchi had spoken by phone with the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi.

Grossi “stressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s focus on drafting an initial and coherent framework to advance future talks” on its nuclear programme, according to the statement.

Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Iran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, during his first term in 2018. In the years since, he has imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign that includes new sanctions.

Efforts to strike a new nuclear deal have repeatedly stalled since Trump’s first term.

Tehran has called for the latest round of talks to focus solely on its nuclear programme, which it maintains is used only for civilian purposes. It has also indicated it is willing to make concessions in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

Washington has pushed for wider demands that are considered non-starters for Iran, including limits on its ballistic missile programme, although its demands during the latest round of talks were not immediately clear.

In the past two days, the U.S. Air Force has sent six of its 16 E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) radar planes to bases in Europe. Two of those jets are now headed to the Middle East, and the others will likely follow, as a massive buildup of U.S. airpower continues ahead of potential strikes on Iran. The deployment of nearly 40 percent of all Air Force E-3s underscores how critical the aircraft remain, but also the challenges of meeting intense operational demands with a rapidly aging and shrunken-down fleet. It also further calls into question a puzzling Pentagon move to axe the purchase of replacement E-7 Wedgetail jets, which Congress has now reversed.

Readers can first get caught up on the full scope of the U.S. buildup around the Middle East in our recent reporting here.

As of yesterday, a pair of E-3s had arrived at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom after traveling from their home station at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. Four more AWACS jets from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma had also touched down at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Online flight tracking data shows that the E-3s at Mildenhall have now departed and are headed toward the Middle East. There is widespread expectation that those aircraft, as well as the ones at Ramstein, will eventually make their way to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

As noted, the U.S. Air Force currently has just 16 E-3s remaining in its inventory, roughly half the size of what it was just a few years ago. Six aircraft represent 37.5 percent of the total fleet. However, not all Sentry radar planes are available for operational tasking at any one time. For example, the average mission-capable rate for the E-3 fleet during the 2024 Fiscal Year was 55.68 percent, according to a story last year from Air & Space Forces Magazine. At the time of writing, this appears to be the most recent readiness data the Air Force has released for the E-3s. As such, the six forward-deployed AWACS jets represent an even larger percentage of the aircraft that can actually be sent out on real-world missions. This includes providing radar coverage for alert scrambles of fighter jets defending the homeland. This happens in some circumstances in the lower 48 states, but it is standard practice in Alaska, where there are usually a couple of E-3s typically stationed, with one on alert to launch in support of the fighters, which happens regularly. This is something we will come back to later on.

As TWZ has already noted, the deployment of E-3s to the Middle East is one of the clearest indicators that the final pieces for a major air campaign against Iran are falling into place. We made a similar observation about the appearance of AWACS aircraft flying close to the Venezuelan coast last December in the lead-up to the operation to capture that country’s dictatorial leader, Nicolas Maduro.

The E-3 is best known as a flying radar station, with its array contained inside a spinning dome mounted on top of the rear of the fuselage. From its perch, the Sentry can track hostile and friendly air and naval movements across a broad area of the battlespace. Its look-down radar capability offers particular advantages for spotting and tracking lower flying threats, including drones and cruise missiles. Kamikaze drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, would be a central feature in any Iranian retaliatory attacks on American assets on land and at sea in the Middle East.

However, each Sentry, which typically flies with 13 to 19 mission specialists onboard in addition to a four-person flight crew, is much more than just its radar. It has other passive sensors and an advanced communications suite. Its combined capabilities make it a key battle management node during operations, and not just in the aerial domain.

E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning & Control System. Take-Off, Landing, Interior Shots

“The radar and computer subsystems on the E-3 Sentry can gather and present broad and detailed battlefield information. This includes position and tracking information on enemy aircraft and ships, and location and status of friendly aircraft and naval vessels. The information can be sent to major command and control centers in rear areas or aboard ships,” according to the Air Force. “In support of air-to-ground operations, the Sentry can provide direct information needed for interdiction, reconnaissance, airlift and close-air support for friendly ground forces. It can also provide information for commanders of air operations to gain and maintain control of the air battle.”

Altgoether, E-3 crews run the air battle, and also serve as a key battle management node during operations outside of the aerial domain. These command and control functions would be key in any future offensive operations against Iran, as well as for defending against any retaliation.

At the same time, the Air Force has been open for years now about the increasing challenges involved in operating and sustaining the E-3 fleet. The last new production Sentry aircraft were delivered in 1992, and were also some of the last derivatives of the Boeing 707 airliner to ever be produced. Air Force E-3s have received substantial upgrades since then, but the underlying aircraft are still aging and are increasingly difficult to support. Between 2023 and 2024, the Sentry fleet notably shrank from 31 aircraft down to its present size, in part to try to help improve overall readiness. The fact that U.S. E-3s are powered by long-out-of-production low-bypass Pratt & Whitney TF33 turbofans has been cited as a particular issue.

“The first thing I would offer is there’s already – whether there’s 31 airplanes or 16 airplanes – there’s a gap today,” now-retired Gen. Mark Kelly, then head of Air Combat Command, told TWZ and other outlets at the Air & Space Forces Association’s main annual conference in 2022. “There’s a reason why there’s exactly zero airlines on planet earth that fly the 707 with TF-33 engines.”

“The last airline was Saha Airlines in Iran,” Kelly added at that time. “We basically have 31 airplanes in hospice care, the most expensive care there is. And we need to get into the maternity business and out of hospices.”

As already noted, the remaining E-3 fleet has continued to struggle with readiness issues amid consistently high demand. These issues have been compounded by resistance over the years to acquiring a direct replacement. When the Air Force finally did decide to supplant at least a portion of the Sentry fleet with newer and more capable E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft, that effort turned into a protracted saga.

The Air Force officially started down the road of acquiring E-7s in 2022, but the program became mired in delays and cost overruns. Last year, the Pentagon revealed its intention to axe the Wedgetail purchases in favor of an interim solution involving buying more of the U.S. Navy’s E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning and control planes. That, in turn, would serve as a bridge to a longer-term Air Force goal of pushing most, if not all, airborne target tracking sensor layer tasks into space. Questions about the survivability of the E-7 were also cited as having contributed to the decision.

Questions were immediately raised about the new plan, especially about the viability of the E-2, a lower and slower flying aircraft designed around carrier-based operations, to meet Air Force needs, as TWZ has explored in the past. The service has also said that it does not expect new space-based capabilities to be operational before, at best, the early 2030s. Traditional airborne early warning and control aircraft are expected to continue playing important roles even after that milestone is reached.

“I have been concerned. We have E-3 capability up north, of course, but we were all counting on the E-7 Wedgetail coming our way. We’re kind of limping along up north right now, which is unfortunate. And the budget proposes terminating the program,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, had said during a June 2025 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, where the E-7 cancellation plans first emerged publicly. “Again, the E-3 fleet [is] barely operational now, and I understand the intent to shift towards the space-based – you call it the ‘air moving target indicators’ – but my concern is that you’ve got a situation where you’re not going to be able to use more duct tape to hold things together until you put this system in place. And, so, how we maintain that level of operational readiness and coverage, I’m not sure how you make it.”

Congress has since taken action to save the E-7, but the program may now be even more delayed as a result of the impasse over the past year. Legislators have also taken steps to block any further E-3 retirements, at least through the end of Fiscal Year 2026.

Still, the truncated E-3 fleet clearly remains under immense strain. Sen. Murkowski’s comments last Summer also remain particularly relevant in light of the fact that two of the six E-3s recently sent across the Atlantic came from Elmendorf in Alaska. Recent tracking data suggests that there may only be one Sentry at Elmendorf now to meet operational needs in and around the High North, a part of the world that has only grown in strategic significance in recent years.

There is also a question now about the availability of E-3 coverage should a crisis break out somewhere in the Indo-Pacific. If a major contingency were to emerge in the region tomorrow, the Air Force would be faced with a situation compounded not just by low availability rates and high demand elsewhere globally, but also the so-called ‘tyranny of distance.’ The sheer expanse of the Pacific, much of which is water, presents additional requirements when it comes to total coverage area and sortie generation rates to maintain a steady flow of aircraft on station around designated operating areas. Just getting to those areas and back could take many hours. Any future conflict in the region could occur over a massive total area, as well, which would be problematic for such a tiny fleet. All this is exacerbated by the age of the airframes and copious amount of maintenance to keep them flying in the best of conditions, let alone when deployed to the Pacific.

As a point of comparison, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which would be fighting from its home turf during a major conflict in the Pacific, has made significant investments in a diverse and still growing array of airborne early warning and control aircraft. The Chinese see a force-multiplying need for these aircraft, and for large numbers of them to be able to cover a lot of territory at once, as you can read more about in this past TWZ feature.

Moving capabilities into space is an admirable goal, and has many advantages in theory, but the capabilities are not available now. Further, while some of the sensing can be distributed to other platforms and leveraged via advanced networking, there still is a place for an integrated and powerful airborne early warning and control solution, at least till the ‘all-seeing’ space layer is actually in place. Saving money now by leaving such a glaring gap, especially in the current security environment globally, appears bizarrely short-sighted.

It does remain to be seen whether or not the United States ultimately launches a new major air campaign against Iran. U.S. and Iranian officials have now met twice to try to reach some type of diplomatic agreement, with the focus largely on the latter country’s nuclear ambitions. At the same time, the ongoing build-up in U.S. airpower around the Middle East, and not just limited to the E-3s, aligns with recent reports that assets are being positioned at least for possiblity of a sustained, weeks-long operation.

“The boss [President Trump] is getting fed up,” an unnamed Trump adviser said, according to a report today from Axios. “Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks.”

“One thing about the negotiation I will say this morning is, in some ways it went well. They agreed to meet afterwards,” Vice President J.D. Vance said during an interview on Fox News yesterday following the second round of negotiations. “But in other ways it was very clear that the President has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

VP VANCE on negotiations with Iran: “One thing about the negotiation I will say this morning is, in some ways it went well. They agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to… pic.twitter.com/AbgH9t3lY0

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 17, 2026

For its part, Iran has continued to threaten major retaliation in response to any new U.S. strikes.

Regardless, as mentioned, the deployment of the six E-3s is one of the strongest signs that the last pieces needed for a new major operation against Iran are increasingly in position. All of this puts a particular spotlight on the critical capabilities that the AWACS aircraft provide, but also the new strain that has been put on such a highly in-demand, but shrinking fleet, as well as the puzzling decision to slow-roll or entirely eliminate their replacement.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

A large wave of American airpower is heading toward the Middle East to bolster forces already there as U.S. President Donald Trump considers an attack against Iran. Online flight trackers are showing F-22 Raptors, F-16 Fighting Falcons, E-3 Sentry radar planes and a U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane either in transit across the Atlantic or newly arrived in Europe. In addition, a seventh Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, the USS Pinckney, has recently deployed to the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility (AOR) as well, a U.S. Navy official told us.

While we don’t know whether Trump will decide to attack Iran, these are exactly the movements we’ve been expecting, but so far not seeing, in advance of a sustained operation, both defensive and offensive. The U.S. aircraft heading east represents the most intense phase of a force plus-up that began after Trump started threatening Iran over its harsh treatment of anti-regime protesters. Taken together, the force now assembling in the Middle East, combined with the Israel Air Force’s capabilities, including hundreds of fighter aircraft, as well as USAF ‘global airpower’ bomber flights, would be enough for a major operation that could last weeks not days. We will likely see additional assets deploy in the coming days.

This intensifying buildup comes against the backdrop of another round of peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran that wrapped up Tuesday morning Eastern Time with future discussions being planned. You can read more about that later in this story.

Online flight tracking data shows that at least a dozen F-22s have left Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at about 5 a.m. Eastern, heading east. Their first destination is most likely Lakenheath Air Base in the U.K., a major transit hub for aircraft moving between the U.S. and Middle East. However, we don’t know that for sure and CENTCOM has declined to talk about aircraft, ship and troop movements.

F-22s are primarily America’s most capable air-to-air fighter, but they can also be used to destroy enemy air defenses and strike other ground targets. Raptors helped protect B-2A Spirit stealth bombers during last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. It should be noted that four days before Midnight Hammer, F-22s made a similar transit across the Atlantic and took part in the mission.

I’m just going to say that they don’t forward deploy F-22s to leave them hanging around for ages.

For Midnight Hammer there was a 4 day gap between the F-22s leaving CONUS and the operation.

— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) February 17, 2026

At least 36 F-16s appear to be on the move toward the Middle East as well. This reportedly includes 12 each from Aviano Air Base in Italy, Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany and McEntire Joint National Guard Base (JNGB) in South Carolina. As with the Raptors, these jets could be used in a defensive air-to-air role against drones and missiles or in an air-to-ground role. There are a limited number of USAF F-16s already in theater.

Large USAF fighter deployment underway toward Middle East: 36× F-16 (12 Aviano, 12 Spangdahlem, 12 McEntire JNGB) and 12× F-22 TREND51 from Langley, supported by multiple tanker waves staging via Europe and the Atlantic toward regional bases.

Details:

USAFE: KC-135 LAGER 12/13… pic.twitter.com/sKmFSluKQm

— Shah Faisal AfRidi (@Sfaisalafridi) February 17, 2026

Two E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control Systems (AWACS) jets landed at Mildenhall Air Base in the U.K. shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time (about 5:30 a.m. Eastern), aviation photographer Stewart Jack told us. With look-down radar and its advanced communications suite, as well as passive sensors, these jets would play a critical role managing the allied air battle and tracking Iranian threats, especially drones and cruise missiles.

There is also at least one U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane on the way to the region as well. As we have previously noted, the U-2 can provide high-altitude surveillance in addition to serving as a communications link between F-22s and F-35 Lighting II stealth fighters.

Yesterday, 18 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters left Lakenheath Air Base in the U.K. headed for Muwaffaq Salti, in central Jordan, which has become a central hub for U.S. tactical jets and other aircraft. As we have explained in the past, these types of jets played a key role in Midnight Hammer, suppressing and destroying Iranian air defenses. They were also the first tactical aircraft in and the last ones out.

These movements follow previous flights of F-35A Lighting II stealth fighters, F-15E Strike Eagles, E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare jets and other aircraft to Muwaffaq Salti, where they joined tactical aircraft, including Strike Eagles, Growlers, and A-10 Thunderbolt II close support jets, already deployed. MQ-9 Reapers and special operations MC-130s and other U.S. assets are also hosted there. The Jordanian base is becoming increasingly crowded, raising questions about where additional aircraft could go. All these assets are deploying to Muwaffaq Salti despite statements from Amman that it would not allow its airspace to be used for any attack against Iran.

Taking these assets out of the fight, or not allowing overflights by other aircraft, reduces the U.S. and allies’ ability to strike targets in Iran. It is unlikely to factor into the possibility of defending against the large number of missiles and drones Iran could fire in retaliation for any attack.

There is also the possibility that Jordan issued its statement for consumption by a home audience wary of war with Iran, especially if that means fighting on the side of the Israelis. It’s also possible that messaging is intended to keep them from being struck by Iran in a massive retaliatory strike, but U.S. access to basing and airspace may be clandestinely allowed, even if to a limited degree. We just don’t know.

Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, hosting F-15Es, A-10s, ISR drones, THAAD/PATRIOT and potentially F-35s, is a key CENTCOM hub. In conflict, Iran could strike with MRBMs or long-range drones to degrade U.S. regional power and ISR capabilities. pic.twitter.com/3f2TyWnlld

— Mohammad Hassan Sangtarash (@MHSangtarash) February 16, 2026

On the sea, with the addition of the Pinckney, the Navy now has 12 surface combatants in the area, including the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and its three Arleigh Burke class escorts, three independently deployed Arleigh Burke class ships in the CENTCOM region and two in the Mediterranean, and three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) also now in the CENTCOM area. There are also nuclear submarines there, with at least one accompanying each CSG, as well as likely guided missile submarines (SSGN), but the Navy does not disclose the location of those boats.

In addition, the Gerald R. Ford CSG is now in the 6th Fleet region, a Navy official told us. The carrier and its three Arleigh Burke escorts were ordered by Trump to head to the Middle East from the Caribbean, where it took part in the mission to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. There are also more than 30,000 U.S. troops in bases across the Middle East.

Having two carriers, with F/A-18E-F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, and one with F-35Cs, all escorted by Aegis-equipped, missile carrying Arleigh Burkes add a significant amount of mobile firepower that gives U.S. planners increased flexibility.

As the U.S. boosts its assets, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has closed off the Strait of Hormuz for a live-fire exercise, state media reported. It marks the first time Iran has shut parts of the Strait since Trump threatened Iran with military action in January.

Dubbed “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz,” the drills began Monday and include firing anti-ship cruise missiles at targets and IRGC naval drone and submarine units carrying out operations originating from the three Iranian islands, according to Iranian media.

“The armed drones used in the exercise—capable of engaging both air and sea targets—are among the IRGC Navy’s newest strategic platforms and are deployed in significant numbers, though their names and technical specifications remain classified,” the official Iranian FARS News outlet claimed.

An official from CENTCOM, which had previously warned against Iranian actions in the Strait, declined comment on Tuesday.

You can read more about how Iran could shut down the Strait, a stragetically important chokepoint through which about 20% of the world’s crude oil passes, in our analysis of the possibility here.

⚡️BREAKING

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards fired Anti-Ship Missiles into the Strait of Hormuz

Parts of the Strait are now closed for military activity pic.twitter.com/ZkJuthNLaD

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) February 17, 2026

The Tasnim news agency released footage of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards holding drills in the Hormuz Strait a day before the US and Iran resume nuclear negotiations pic.twitter.com/QkVsYLNJ0i

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 16, 2026

In a speech Tuesday morning, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Sayed Khamenei issued a threat against U.S. warships.

“We constantly hear that they have sent a warship towards Iran,” Khamenei said. “A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it.”

The Iranian leader offered no details about what weapon.

Khamenei to Trump:

‘They keep saying we sent an aircraft carrier towards Iran. Well, an aircraft carrier is certainly a dangerous tool, but more dangerous than the aircraft carrier is the weapon that can send this warship to the bottom of the sea’ pic.twitter.com/uzpyUPibzV

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) February 17, 2026

Meanwhile, as both sides rattle sabers, the indirect negotiations in Switzerland, moderated by Oman, ended on Tuesday with an agreement on a “set of guiding principles,” according to Iran’s foreign minister. Abbas Araghchi said both sides had agreed to exchange drafts on a potential deal. However, Araghchi “was as positive as he was vague, providing little clarity on what had been discussed or when the next round of discussions might be held,” The New York Times noted.

“American officials did not immediately comment publicly on the talks, but one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said the two sides had made progress,” the publication added. “The official said the Iranians would provide more detailed proposals in the next two weeks to address some of the gaps between the United States and Iran, but did not provide any specifics.”

“We now have a clear path ahead, which in my view is positive,” he said.

Araghchi told Iranian state television that the talks had been “more constructive” and had made “good progress” compared with a previous round of negotiations in Oman this month.

Still, there remains a wide gap between Washington and Tehran. Trump does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them while Araghchi “has emphasized that Iran’s right to use peaceful nuclear energy is inherent, non-negotiable, and legally binding,” according to the official Iranian IRNA news outlet.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said the Trump administration is willing to negotiate, but noted what Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday that “it would be a very bad day for Iran” if it decides not to reach an agreement.

US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker: President Trump is “willing to give real diplomacy a chance to solve this peacefully, but if it doesn’t, as he said, it will be a very bad day for Iran.” pic.twitter.com/rZh6D3wWql

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) February 17, 2026

Though these talks may be progressing to another round, remember that three days before Midnight Hammer, the White House said Trump would decide “within two weeks” about whether to strike or keep negotiating.

While Trump’s ultimate intentions toward Iran remain a mystery, this latest influx of U.S. air and sea power gives him greater options, and above all else, far more credibility that an attack could do massive damage to the Iranian regime, which could factor heavily in negotiations.

The bottomline here is that we are finally seeing the exact force mix coalesce that would be expected of a major air campaign against Iran, especially if Israel intends to play a central role with all its assets already in the region.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Oil prices climbed on Tuesday as Iran partially closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping path, to conduct military drills.

Fars, an Iranian news agency, cited “security precautions” as the reason for the closure, with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will fully open again.

About 13 million barrels of crude oil were transported through the strait each day in 2025, making up about 31% of oil shipments by sea. It is the main seaborne export route for Middle Eastern oil shipping to Asia.

Iranian naval forces began the drill “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz,” on Monday.

The drill involves deploying drones capable of striking aerial and maritime targets and is “focused on enhancing operational readiness, strengthening deterrence, and reinforcing multilayered defense,” Fars reported.

Tuesday is the first time that Tehran has closed any part of the Strait of Hormuz since President Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran in response to the killings of protesters.

The United States has posted warships on the Indian Ocean as Trump attempts to negotiate with Iran to scale back its nuclear program.

The United States and Iran held a second round of negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday. Trump was not present for those negotiations but said he would participate “indirectly.”

Feb. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he would participate “indirectly” in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks due to resume in Geneva on Tuesday.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Monday night, Trump said the negotiations were very important and he believed Tehran wanted to reach a deal, saying the fallout of not doing so would be very bad news, referencing U.S. air and missile strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities in June, following failed negotiations.

“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal. We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s [stealth bomber aircraft] in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s. I hope they’re going to be more reasonable,” said Trump, who acknowledged that they were tough to negotiate with.

Similar optimism for its own prospects emanated from the Iranian side on Monday with the foreign ministry in Tehran saying it believed the United States’ position had shifted to “a more realistic one,” regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Following a meeting in Geneva on Monday with International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi on “technical matters,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was heading into the talks with “real ideas” to achieve a fair and just agreement, vowing Iran would not be coerced.

“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” he wrote in a post on X.

On Friday, Trump announced he was dispatching a second carrier strike group, the USS Gerald Ford, to the region to join an already substantial U.S. naval armada in the Arabian to ratchet up pressure on Tehran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and a deadly crackdown on protesters that began in late December.

Trump said he was deploying the world’s largest carrier to join the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group sent last month because if Iran didn’t “make a deal, we’ll need it.”

The Gerald Ford and its battleships and associated vessels, currently deployed in the Caribbean, are expected to arrive in the Arabian Sea in three to four weeks.

Tuesday’s negotiations pick up from talks in Oman on Feb. 6 where a U.S. team led by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, met with the Iranian’s led by Araghchi, although proceedings were mediated by Omani officials and the two sides did not talk face-to-face.

As well as agreement on curtailing Iran’s enrichment of uranium, the Trump administration wants the talks to include its ballistic missile arsenal, a recent brutal crackdown on public protests and backing of regional proxies Hamas and Hezbollah.

Tehran has been pushing back, insisting it is only willing to discuss reining in its nuclear program — in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran launched naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, state TV reports, ahead of US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday. Video shows Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, overseeing the drills.

The latest tranche of the Epstein files contains more than three million documents – the largest release of its kind. In what appears to be a clumsy attempt at a cover-up by the US Department of Justice, the sloppily redacted names of high-profile perpetrators have failed to conceal the intricate web of global elites spanning politics, royalty, Hollywood and tech.

The fallout in Europe has resulted in a string of resignations, but in the US, there has been limited accountability for the politicians named in the files, including Donald Trump.

Contributors:
Mehdi Hasan – Editor-in-chief and CEO, Zeteo News
Chris Hedges – Host, The Chris Hedges Report
Nikki McCann Ramirez – Politics reporter at Rolling Stone
Danielle Moodie – Host, The Danielle Moodie Show

On our radar:

It’s been a month since Iranian authorities imposed a total internet blackout during a violent crackdown on antigovernment protesters. Since then, the state has ramped up the targeted repression of journalists and progressive politicians in Iran.

The limited information that has managed to make it out of the country, via Elon Musk’s Starlink, is now struggling against what experts say are internet filtering technologies from Chinese companies.

Tariq Nafi reports on Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown.

From choreographed flyovers to flags stretching the length of the field, no other sports league has marketed patriotism as aggressively or successfully as the United States’ National Football League, the NFL.

Militarism is embedded in sports and entertainment in the US, but, under the Trump administration, more state institutions are trying to get in on the act.

Ryan Kohls reports on the power and the spectacle of the Super Bowl.

Featuring:
Howard Bryant – Sports journalist and author
Kavitha Davidson – Podcast host, Sportly
Gregory Daddis – Professor of history, Texas A&M University; retired colonel, US Army

Iran’s top diplomat says he hopes to ‘achieve a fair and equitable deal’ before high-stakes talks are held on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Geneva for high-stakes second round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed at reducing tensions and avert a new military confrontation that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned could turn into a regional conflict.

“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” Araghchi wrote on X on Monday. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”

Iran and the US renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their ⁠decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme as US deploys warships, including a second aircraft carrier, to the region as mediators work to prevent a war.

Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday, after saying his team nuclear experts for a “deep technical discussion”.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has been calling for access to Iran’s main nuclear facilities that were bombed by the US and Israel during the 12-day war in June. Tehran has said there might be a risk of radiation, so an official protocol is required to carry out the unprecedented task of inspecting highly enriched uranium ostensibly buried under the rubble.

Speaking to state-run IRNA news agency on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the IAEA will play “an important role” in upcoming mediated talks between Iran and the US. But he also renewed Tehran’s criticism of Grossi for the director’s refusal to condemn military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that are protected under agency safeguards as part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Araghchi also said he would meet his Omani counterpart, Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, who mediated the first round of talks between Iran and the US since the war earlier this month.

Iran has repeatedly emphasised that it will not agree to Washington’s demand for zero nuclear enrichment, and considers its missile programme a “red line” that cannot be negotiated.

Meanwhile, the US continues to build up its military presence in the region, with President Donald Trump saying a change of power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” and sending in a second aircraft carrier.

Trump is again likely to send his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to represent the White House in the Geneva talks. Brad Cooper, the most senior US military commander in the region, had unexpectedly joined the US delegation during the Muscat talks on February 6.

The talks also come over a month after Iran’s deadly crackdown against nationwide protests, with Iranian officials claiming “terrorists” and “rioters” armed and funded by the US and Israel were behind the unrest.

The UN and international human rights organisations have blamed Iranian authorities for the widespread use of lethal force against peaceful protesters, which killed thousands, mainly on the nights of January 8 and 9.

But the hardliners in Tehran are more concerned about any potential concessions that could be given during upcoming talks with the US.

Addressing an open session on Monday, one of the most hardline lawmakers in Iran’s parliament cautioned security chief Ali Larijani against giving inspection access to the IAEA befire ensuring Iran’s territorial integrity, the security of nuclear sites and scientists, and use of peaceful nuclear energy for civilian purposes under the NPT.

“When US warships have opened their arms to embrace Iranian missiles, US bases have opened arms to take our missiles, and the homes of Zionist military personnel are anticipating the sound of the air raid sirens, it is obvious that such conditions cannot be met at the moment,” said Hamid Rasaei, a cleric close to the hardline Paydari (Steadfastness) faction.

In the other diplomatic track pursued in Switzerland on Tuesday, officials will be discussing ways of ending the Ukraine war, which is approaching the end of its fourth year after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

But no immediate breakthrough appears in sight, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday that Kyiv has “too often” been asked to make concessions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has outlined the conditions he considers necessary for any prospective deal between the United States and Iran, including the dismantling of all of Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure.

His comments on Sunday came as Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi headed to Switzerland for a second round of nuclear talks with the US.

Speaking at the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu said he was sceptical of a deal, but had told US President Donald Trump last week that any agreement must include several elements.

“The first is that all enriched material has to leave Iran,” he said.

“The second is that there should be no enrichment capability – not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place”.

The third, he said, was resolving the issue of ballistic missiles.

Netanyahu also called for sustained inspections of Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“There has to be real inspection, substantive inspections, no lead-time inspections, but effective inspections for all of the above,” he said.

Iran and the US resumed nuclear negotiations in Oman on February 6, months after previous talks collapsed when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last June, which started a 12-day war.

The US joined in the attacks, bombing three Iranian nuclear sites.

Netanyahu’s comments mark the first time he has spoken publicly on the discussions with Trump in Washington, DC, last Wednesday. The meeting was their seventh since Trump returned to office last year.

Trump told reporters afterwards that they had reached no “definitive” agreement on how to move forward with Iran, but that he had “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a deal can be consummated”.

According to a report by Axios, the two leaders agreed to intensify economic strangleholds on Iran, mostly on its oil sales to China. More than 80 percent of Iranian oil exports current go to China.

The report, which cited US officials, said Netanyahu and Trump agreed in their meeting on the necessary end state: an Iran without the capability to obtain nuclear weapons. But they disagreed about how to get there.

Netanyahu told Trump it would be impossible to make a good deal, while Trump said he thought it was possible. “Let’s give it a shot”, Trump said, according to Axios.

Iran has long denied any intent to produce nuclear weapons, but has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its atomic programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. It has ruled out linking the issue to missiles, however.

The CBS broadcaster, meanwhile, reported on Sunday that Trump had told Netanyahu during a meeting in Florida in December that he would support Israeli strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile programme if the US and Iran could not reach a deal.

The network cited two sources familiar with the matter.

There was no immediate comment from the US or Israel on the CBS report.

The renewed push for diplomacy comes after Trump threatened new attacks on Iran and sent a US aircraft carrier to the region, citing a deadly crackdown on antigovernment protesters in January.

Tensions in the region remain high, meanwhile.

On Friday, Trump said he was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, and openly discussed changing Iran’s government.

Asked if he wanted a government change in Iran, Trump responded that it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen”.

Asked why a second aircraft carrier was headed to the Middle East, Trump said: “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it … if we need it, we’ll have it ready.”

For its part, Iran has promised to retaliate to any attack, saying it will strike US bases in the Middle East.

The continued tensions have sparked fears of a wider regional war.

Foreign minister says regional powers have been ‘far more effective’ than European countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has derided the Munich Security Conference as a “circus”, accusing European powers of “paralysis and irrelevance” in efforts to revive nuclear negotiations with the United States.

Iranian officials were not invited to the annual security meeting in the German city.

“Sad to see the usually serious Munich Security Conference turned into the ‘Munich Circus’ when it comes to Iran,” Araghchi wrote on X on Sunday.

“The paralysis and irrelevance of the EU/E3 is displayed in the dynamics surrounding the current talks over Iran’s nuclear program. … Once a key interlocutor, Europe is now nowhere to be seen. Instead, our friends in the region [the Gulf] are far more effective and helpful than an empty-handed and peripheral E3.”

The E3 – which included France, the United Kingdom and Germany – were key players in the previous round of nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran. That process culminated in 2015 with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a landmark agreement aimed at limiting the scope of Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The US under the first administration of President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and ramped up sanctions on Iran. Since then, the process has largely stalled. Still, the E3 maintained a role as a go-between with Tehran and Washington.

But since negotiations resumed last year, Gulf countries, such as Oman and Qatar, have taken the lead in facilitating talks between the US and Iran.

Araghchi made the remarks before leaving Tehran to lead a diplomatic and technical delegation to Geneva for a new round of nuclear talks with the US. The talks follow last week’s indirect negotiations in Oman, which is mediating the process, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During his visit, Araghchi is expected to meet his Swiss and Omani counterparts, as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and other international officials.

Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, said Araghchi’s comments “indicate a policy shift from the Iranian side that the E3 mechanism … is no longer a valid channel for resolution”.

“This nuclear mediation has moved from Europe to the region, and now the heavy lifting in diplomacy is done by regional players,” he said.

On Tuesday, Oman is to host talks between the US and Iran in Geneva after previous indirect negotiations in Muscat on February 6. Those talks were attended by US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

US and Iranian officials previously held several rounds of talks in the Omani capital to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme last year. But that process was halted as Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, which the US briefly joined by bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities.

The new rounds of negotiations come as tensions in the region remain high, with Trump moving more US military assets to the Middle East. On Friday, the US president said he was sending a second aircraft carrier to the region while openly talking about a change in Iran’s government.

Despite the new push for diplomacy, the two sides have maintained their positions. Iran has shown flexibility in discussing its nuclear programme, but the US wants to widen the talks to include Iran’s ballistic missiles and its support for regional armed groups – two issues that Tehran says are nonnegotiable.

Tehran, Iran – Iran says it will continue efforts to get out of a blacklist of a prominent global watchdog on money laundering and “terrorism” financing despite “20 years of obstruction” from domestic opponents.

The statement by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Iran’s Ministry of Economic Affairs on Sunday came two days after the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) renewed its years-long blacklisting of Iran, according to a report by the official IRNA news agency.

The FATF also ramped up measures aimed at isolating Iran from global financial markets with a particular focus on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and cryptocurrencies.

It recommended member states and financial institutions around the world to:

• Refuse to establish representative offices of Iranian financial institutions and VASPs or consider the noncompliance risks involved.
• Prohibit financial institutions and VASPs from establishing offices in Iran.
• On a risk basis, limit business relationships or financial transactions, including virtual asset transactions, with Iran or people inside the country.
• Prohibit financial institutions and VASPs from establishing new correspondent banking relationships and require them to undertake a risk-based review of existing ties.

Even the flow of funds involving humanitarian assistance, food and health supplies as well as diplomatic operating costs and personal remittances are recommended to be handled “on a risk basis considering the “terrorist” financing or proliferation financing risks emanating from Iran”.

What does the FATF move mean?

Iran has been blacklisted by the FATF for years and is currently on the list in the company of just two other countries: North Korea and Myanmar.

Since October 2019, Iran has had “heightened measures” like supervisory examination and external audit requirements recommended against it and has been subject to “effective countermeasures” since February 2020.

This contributed to making access to international transactions increasingly difficult or impossible for Iranian banks and nationals and made the country more dependent on costlier shadowy third-party intermediaries for transactions.

The new countermeasures emphasise existing frameworks but also specifically cite virtual assets, signalling an increased focus.

The fact that the FATF also urges countries and global institutions to remain wary of risks of having any dealings with Iran may mean even more limited transaction opportunities for Iranian entities and nationals.

Small banks maintaining old correspondent relations with Iranian counterparts may also reconsider after being recommended to re-evaluate existing links.

The isolation has hobbled state-run or private income streams and contributed to the continuous depreciation of the Iranian rial over the years.

Links with Iran’s nuclear dilemmas

The FATF, formerly known by its French name, was established by the Group of Seven (G7) countries in 1989 to combat money laundering but later had its mandate expanded to countering financing of “terrorism” and weapons of mass destruction.

It has been formally raising concerns about Iran since the late 2000s, which is also when it started calling for countermeasures as international tensions grew over Iran’s nuclear programme and the country was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.

But a year after Iran signed a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that lifted the sanctions, the FATF also acknowledged a “high-level political commitment” from Iran and agreed to an action plan for the country to address its compliance requirements.

The centrist government of President Hassan Rouhani, who had clinched the deals, pressed ahead with ratifying several laws needed to fulfil the action plan despite opposition from hardliners who were firmly against the increased financial transparency and international supervision.

But United States President Donald Trump unilaterally reneged on the nuclear deal in 2018, imposing a “maximum pressure” campaign that has remained in effect until today. The move empowered the argument from the hardliners in Tehran, who succeeded in blocking the ratification of the rest of the FATF-linked legislation, leaving the issue dormant for years.

Washington has retained the sanctions over the years with some of the latest – including the blacklisting in January of two United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency exchanges – allegedly connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The UN Security Council sanctions were also reinstated against Iran in September when Western powers triggered the “snapback” mechanism of the nuclear accord. They include an arms embargo, asset freezes and travel bans as well as nuclear, missile and banking sanctions that are binding for all UN member states.

Support for ‘axis of resistance’

The Iranian hardliners railing against any progress on FATF-related legislation have presented two main concerns.

They assert that fully adhering to the watchdog’s guidelines would curb Tehran’s ability to back its “axis of resistance” of aligned armed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Palestine. The axis lost its base in Syria with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Hardliners have also suggested that Iran’s ability to circumvent US sanctions may be significantly compromised by disclosing all the information required by the FATF.

Iran has been selling most of its oil to China at hefty discounts, using a shadow fleet of ships that turn their transponders off to avoid detection in international waters. The country has also for years been forced to rely on a capillary network of currency exchanges and intermediaries, some of them based in neighbouring countries, such as Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.

To assuage some of the domestic concerns, two FATF-related laws ratified by Iran in 2025 were passed with special “conditions” and reservations infused in the text.

One of the main conditions was that the ratified regulations must not “prejudice the legitimate right of peoples or groups under colonial domination and/or foreign occupation to fight against aggression and occupation and to exercise their right to self-determination” and “shall not be construed in any manner as recognition of the Zionist occupying regime”, a reference to Israel.

Iran also said it would not accept any referral to the International Court of Justice and asserted that its own Supreme National Security Council would determine which groups qualify as “terrorist” outfits.

Those conditions were rejected by the FATF, leading to the increased countermeasures.

The watchdog also said it expects Iran to identify and freeze “terrorist assets” in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions. Some of Iran’s nuclear and military authorities are among individuals sanctioned by those resolutions.

Tehran, Iran – Iran and the United States are presenting clashing views before expected talks as diaspora Iranians rally across the world to demand action after thousands were killed during last month’s nationwide protests.

Amid reports that a second round of mediated talks may take place over the coming days, Washington has maintained it wants to limit Iran’s missile programme and end all its nuclear enrichment. Iran has consistently rejected both demands, saying it could dilute highly enriched uranium – all said to be buried under rubble after being bombed by the US in June – in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

US President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday that he is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding that “regime change” in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen”.

Speaking at a conference in Tehran on Saturday aimed at attracting regional investment for railroad projects, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian thanked the leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and others for mediating to prevent a US military attack.

“All of these countries are working so that we can resolve our own problems with peace and calm, and we are able to do this. We do not need a custodian,” Pezeshkian said, warning that a war would impact the entire Middle East.

Major rallies in US, Europe

A large number of Iranians abroad who are opposed to the theocratic establishment governing Iran since a 1979 revolution participated in rallies across the world on Saturday to demand an end to religious rule.

Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran’s US-backed shah who was deposed in the revolution, called on Iranians living abroad to be part of a “global day of action” aimed at “taking Iran back” from the Islamic Republic. He also addressed the Munich Security Conference in Germany and met with leaders such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior US Senator Lindsey Graham.

The three main cities designated for the protests were Munich, Los Angeles and Toronto. Iranians also marched in cities in Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne.

A similar rally last month in Toronto saw more than150,000 people in attendance and no adverse incidents, according to city police. About 100,000 people registered early to attend the Munich rally on Saturday.

The rallies are some of the largest ever held by the Iranian diaspora and the biggest since demonstrations in solidarity with the deadly 2022-2023 nationwide protests in Iran, triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly wearing the mandatory hijab for women improperly.

The latest protests were held days after the Iranian establishment organised demonstrations and burned the flags of Israel and the US to mark the 47th anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

“They killed my innocent girl for a few strands of hair and nobody was held accountable, but now they record women with bare heads and so-called unconventional attire in their official ceremonies and nobody yells that Islam is in danger,” Amini’s father wrote in an Instagram story after state television interviewed a pro-establishment woman without a hijab.

Since the killing of thousands of protesters last month, mostly carried out on the nights of January 8-9, similar rallies have been held to raise awareness in dozens of cities across the globe, including The Hague, Zurich, Rome, Budapest and Tokyo.

The United Nations and international human rights organisations said they documented widespread use of lethal force by state forces against peaceful protesters. But the Iranian government rejected all their allegations, claiming “terrorists” and “rioters” armed and funded by the US and Israel were behind the killings across Iran.

Families united in grief, strength

From Kuhchenar county in southern Iran’s Fars province to central Arak and Mashhad in the northeast, families continue to release footage online to commemorate their loved ones killed during the demonstrations.

Behesht-e Zahra, a cemetery in Tehran, was crowded on Friday as people gathered in solidarity with multiple families holding mourning ceremonies to mark “chehelom”, or 40 days since the killing of their loved ones.

Bereaved relatives somberly clapped, played music and showed the “victory” sign in an attempt to express pride, strength and defiance despite their losses.

Among those remembered were Ayda Heydari, 21, a medical student, and Zahra “Raha” Behloulipour, who attended Tehran University. Both were shot and killed with multiple live rounds in separate incidents.

The state-run Mehr news agency reported Heydari was “a victim of Mossad agents in recent riots” and released a short clip of an interview with her family. Heydari’s mother said her daughter was not a “munafiq”, a term the Islamic Republic uses to describe dissidents.

Mohammad-Hossein Omid, head of Tehran University, last week told the semiofficial ISNA news agency that “most” of the people taking part in the nationwide demonstrations were “protesters not terrorists”.

Concerns for prisoners

The Iranian judiciary confirmed on Saturday that a number of senior reformist politicians arrested last week for criticising the establishment were released on bail while others remained behind bars to face previous charges.

Vahid Shalchi, a deputy science minister, cited judiciary officials as saying “a considerable” number of arrested students will be released soon but did not say how many are being held.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested during and after the protests, and human rights organisations said some are in immediate danger of being executed – allegations the Iranian judiciary has rejected.

Amnesty International said 18-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi has been sentenced to public execution in Qom after being forced to make confessions about being involved in the death of a security agent.

Mai Sato – UN special rapporteur on Iran, who previously said more than 20,000 civilians may have been killed during the demonstrations – said three other people face execution and “What is happening now is not new.”

“The same patterns documented in those individual cases are being replicated on a mass scale after the nationwide protests,” she said.

A specific casualty toll from the demonstrations is unknown as information remains extremely limited because of ongoing heavy internet filtering.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. military is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to the Middle East as tensions with Tehran over its nuclear program ratchet up, President Donald Trump confirmed Friday.

Trump told reporters he’s sending the vessel because if the United States and Iran doesn’t “make a deal, we’ll need it,” The Hill reported.

The vessel and its supporting warships, which are in the Caribbean, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln in a trek that’s expected to take about three to four weeks, The Guardian reported.

“We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” Trump said in an interview with Axios on Tuesday.

An unnamed official said Trump made the decision to send the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East after his Thursday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. Southern Command said in a statement to The Hill that it was carrying out “mission-focused operations to counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere.”

“While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not. SOUTHCOM forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region.”

U.S. and Iranian leaders have been involved in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear arms program. Tehran has shown willingness to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions, but has declined to consider requests to scale back its ballistic missile arsenal.

Trump says he believes negotiations with Iran will be ‘successful’ as he confirms USS Gerald R Ford deployment.

President Donald Trump says that he is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the United States increases pressure on Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump confirmed that the USS Gerald R Ford would be leaving the Caribbean for the Middle East “very soon” as tensions remain high following indirect talks in Oman last week.

“If we need it, we’ll have it ready, a very big force,” said Trump, adding that he believed negotiations would be “successful” while warning it would be a “bad day for Iran” if the country failed to make a deal.

Later, Trump said a change of government in Iran would be the “best thing that could happen”.

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives,” he said, in an apparent reference to Tehran’s crackdown on recent antigovernment protests that left thousands dead.

The imminent departure of the Gerald R Ford is part of an ongoing buildup of military hardware in the region, with the Abraham Lincoln carrier, several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft sent in recent weeks.

Trump’s comments come days after he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, with the latter saying a “good deal” was expected while voicing reservations if any agreement did not also curb Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Tehran has publicly rejected US pressure to discuss the missiles.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called for further military action since Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined by attacking three Iranian nuclear sites, in a military operation dubbed “Midnight Hammer”.

Trump at the time said the US attacks had “totally obliterated” the nuclear facilities.

The indirect US-Iran talks were the first to be held since the June conflict, which halted previous rounds of negotiations between Tehran and Washington over potentially replacing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump ditched during his first term in office.

Risk of escalation

The JCPOA, a deal reached between Iran, the US and several European powers, saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018, Tehran subsequently began enriching uranium beyond the limits set out in the agreement, though it has repeatedly denied Western claims it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

Upon taking office for a second time in January, Trump initially sought a new nuclear deal with Iran, but soon adopted a zero-enrichment policy long dismissed by Iranian negotiators as a non-starter.

As the latest attempts at negotiations continue, United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has had trouble getting Iran to agree on inspections of sites targeted in the 12-day war.

Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Munich Security Conference that inspectors had returned to Iran after the 12-day war but had not been able to visit any of the sites targeted.

Grossi said dialogue with Iran since the inspectors’ return last year had been “imperfect and complicated and extremely difficult, but it’s there”.

The US president’s comments on Friday confirm his earlier indication that he was considering sending the Gerald R Ford, which has a nuclear reactor on board and can hold more than 75 military aircraft, to the region.

Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could escalate into another regional conflict in a region still reeling from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

US President Donald Trump says a second aircraft carrier strike group will deploy to the Middle East, increasing pressure on Iran as negotiations over its nuclear programme continue.

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed that Washington engineered a dollar shortage in Iran to send the rial into freefall and cause protests on the streets.

In December and January, Iran was faced with one of the biggest antigovernment protests the country has seen since the Islamic revolution of 1979, prompted by the severe economic crisis.

Protests over soaring prices in Iran began with shopkeepers in Tehran who shuttered their shops and began demonstrating on December 28, 2025, after the rial plunged to a record low against the US dollar in late December. The protests then spread to other provinces of Iran.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s government responded with force. More than 6,800 protesters, including at least 150 children, are thought to have been killed in a sweeping crackdown by the government on the protest movement.

So, how did Washington create a “dollar shortage” in Iran, ultimately causing the rial to tank? And what effect has that had on the Iranian people?

What is a ‘dollar shortage’?

A “dollar shortage” refers to when a country does not have enough US dollars to pay for things it needs from the rest of the world.

The US dollar is the main currency used in global trade, especially for oil, machinery and loan repayments, which means countries need a steady supply of it.

If exports fall and sanctions block access to the US financial system, dollars can become scarce. As a result, the local currency weakens, prices of imported goods rise, and inflation worsens.

In Iran, a “dollar shortage” was engineered by simultaneously blocking the two main channels of foreign exchange (FX) inflow: Oil exports and international banking access, said Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, an economist at Germany’s Marburg University. The US did this by imposing sanctions on Iranian oil, meaning anyone buying or selling it would be subject to punitive measures.

Given Iran’s dependence on oil for revenue, economic sanctions on its oil can create a severe FX constraint.

“By using secondary sanctions to threaten any global entity trading in dollars with Iran, the US traps Iran’s existing reserves abroad and prevents new dollars from entering the domestic market,” Farzanegan told Al Jazeera.

What has US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said?

Replying to a query about dealing with Iran at a Congressional hearing last week, Treasury Secretary Bessent described the US strategy to send the Iranian currency plunging.

“What we [have done] at Treasury is created a dollar shortage in the country,” Bessent said, adding that the strategy came to a “grand culmination in December, when one of the largest banks in Iran went under … the Iranian currency went into freefall, inflation exploded, and hence, we have seen the Iranian people out on the street.

“We have seen the Iranian leadership wiring money out of the country like crazy,” Bessent added. “So the rats are leaving the ship, and that is a good sign that they know the end may be near.”

Before this, speaking with Fox News at the World Economic Forum last month in Davos, Bessent explained the role US sanctions played in driving the recent nationwide protests.

“President Trump ordered Treasury … to put maximum pressure on Iran, and it’s worked,” he said. “Because in December, their economy collapsed. They are not able to get imports, and this is why the people took to the streets.”

In both instances, Bessent referred to his earlier remarks at the Economic Club of New York, in March last year, when he outlined how the White House would leverage President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign to collapse Iran’s economy.

In his address there, Bessent said the US “elevated a sanctions campaign against [Iran’s] export infrastructure, targeting all stages of Iran’s oil supply chain”, coupled with “vigorous government engagement and private sector outreach” to “close off Iran’s access to the international financial system”.

What effect did the dollar shortage have in Iran?

In January, the Iranian rial was trading at 1.5 million to the dollar – a sharp decline from about 700,000 a year earlier in January 2025 and about 900,000 in mid-2025. The plummeting currency triggered steep inflation, with food prices an average of 72 percent higher than last year.

In 2018, during his first presidency, Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal between Iran and global powers limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Since re-election last January, President Trump has doubled down on his so-called “maximum pressure” to cripple Iran’s economy and corner Tehran to renegotiate its nuclear and regional policies. Last month, Trump threatened a 25 percent tariff on countries doing business with Iran.

Through the rigorous blocking of Iran from the global financial system by creating a dollar shortage, the US pushed Tehran towards a severe “import compression, [and as a result, Iran] cannot pay for the intermediate goods and machinery required for domestic production”, said Farzanegan, the economist.

The US strategy, he said, “is particularly devastating because it leverages commercial risk management against humanitarian needs”. In short, Washington’s strategy “makes the small Iranian market a commercial liability” for any company, even if they are only dealing with medicine, for instance, Farzanegan added.

A research paper published by Farzanegan and Iranian American economist Nader Habibi last year found that the size of Iran’s middle class would have expanded by an annual average of approximately 17 percentage points, between 2012 and 2019, if it were not for US action.

In 2019, the estimated size of loss in the middle-class share of the population in Iran was 28 percentage points, the research found.

“People lost their purchasing power, and savings were wiped out,” the economist told Al Jazeera. “This is a long-term destruction of the country’s human capital.”

Besides the US action is the existing vulnerability of Iran’s economic structure, with factors like long-term mismanagement, high rates of corruption and over-reliance on oil revenues making it fragile.

While the US sanctions created external shock, a lack of domestic structural reforms left the government with “no fiscal space to cushion the blow”.

What is the US’s endgame here – and will it succeed?

Bessent’s admission that Washington deliberately created a “dollar shortage” signals the US’s shift towards a total economic warfare narrative.

“This is economic statecraft; no shots fired,” Bessent said at the WEF in Davos last month.

“This admission may complicate the US’s diplomatic standing, as it confirms that the humanitarian channels for food and medicine are often rendered useless if the entire banking system is being targeted for collapse,” Farzanegan said.

Bruce Fein, a former US associate deputy attorney general who specialises in constitutional and international law, told Al Jazeera that this type of economic coercion is “as common as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west”, pointing to economic sanctions against Russia, Cuba, North Korea, China and Myanmar.

However, unlike in other cases where the US has applied economic pressure, Farzanegan said Iran’s case is “a unique experiment due to the duration and intensity of the pressure”.

Unlike Russia, which has a more diversified export base and larger reserves, Iran has been facing varied forms of sanctions for decades since the supreme leader took power in 1979.

“Iran has a sophisticated internal mechanism for sanctions circumvention that makes the ‘dollar shortage’ a game of cat-and-mouse rather than a one-time shock,” the economist said.

With a US armada currently stationed in the Arabian Sea, the US and Iran are in talks to defuse tensions. The US wants three key things from Iran: To stop enriching uranium as part of its nuclear programme, to get rid of its ballistic missiles and to stop arming non-state actors in the region.

Ultimately, observers say, the US wants regime change in Iran.

But Fein said his experience shows that economic sanctions alone “seldom, if ever, topple regimes … Regime change comes externally only with the use of military force.

“Iran’s dollar shortage will not oust the mullahs or Revolutionary Guard,” he said, referring to Iran’s current administrative structure.

The impoverishment of Iranians will diminish, Fein told Al Jazeera, “rather than promote the likelihood of a successful revolution because day-to-day survival will be the priority”.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s authorities have ratcheted up the messaging and reciprocal threats against the United States during state-organised rallies and celebrations commemorating the Islamic revolution across the country, one month after deadly nationwide protests.

Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” rang out on Wednesday in the state-run annual demonstrations, on a day of immense symbolic significance for the Islamic republic that consolidated its power during the 1979 revolution.

Near Enghelab (Islamic revolution) Square in downtown Tehran, authorities propped up five coffins for some of the top commanders in the US military.

The coffins had the US flag painted on them, and included the names and images of Central Command chief Brad Cooper, Chief of Staff Randy Alan George and others.

This year’s festivities are especially important to the theocratic establishment as they follow the 12-day war with Israel and the US in June, the nationwide protests starting in late December, and in defiance of a potentially looming war with the US.

Threatened with assassination by the US and Israel, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not make an appearance in the events. He also missed a highly symbolic annual meeting with army and air force commanders for the first time in his 36-year rule.

The 86-year-old supreme leader released a video message calling on Iranians to “disappoint the enemy” by participating in the revolution anniversary. All other senior political, military and judicial authorities also released similar messages urging supporters to mobilise.

An 81-year-old private businessman who was arrested and had his assets confiscated for observing a strike during the nationwide protests also wrote in a confession letter released by state media this week that he would participate in the rallies.

The Fars news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), released a video of a “symbol of the devil” being burned during a state-organised event in the capital. The burned effigy appeared to depict a man with horns sitting on a pedestal marked with the US and Israeli flags.

People also burned and trampled on US and Israeli flags, while ballistic and cruise missiles capable of reaching Israel and the wreckage of Israeli drones shot down during last year’s war were displayed.

These are the types of missiles that Tehran has called its own red line, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to corral US President Donald Trump into following the Israeli narrative that Iran’s missile programme, as well as its nuclear one, should be on the negotiating table.

State television flew helicopters over designated areas in Tehran and other cities where demonstrations were being held and described another “epic saga”, using a term favoured by Iranian authorities to talk about the annual demonstrations.

Those attending the rallies were hailed as “the dear people of Islamic Iran” who were marching to bolster the security of the country.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for national unity in the face of external threats while insisting that his government is willing to negotiate over its nuclear programme.

Addressing the crowds in Tehran’s Azadi Square, Pezeshkian called for solidarity among Iranians in the face of “conspiracies from imperial powers”.

Competing chants

Huge fireworks exploding around the iconic Milad Tower on Tuesday night to celebrate the revolution anniversary were so loud that they alarmed some residents and hearkened back to the bombing runs of Israeli fighter jets during the 12-day war.

Translation: I was driving when suddenly there was the sound of an explosion and the sky lit up, I thought only that it was war and that I had to be beside my parents. I lifted my head again and saw that it was fireworks – as if they were shooting into people’s hearts to prove it wasn’t war. It was worse, because the elites were celebrating while we’re in mourning for those fallen [during the protests]. In Tehran and across the country, the authorities called on supporters of the establishment to shout “Allahu Akbar” in the streets and from their homes at 9pm local time on Tuesday night. Numerous videos circulating online show some people shouting those words, only to be met by competing shouts of “Death to the dictator” or cursing from their neighbours.

The authorities also discussed the nationwide protests during Wednesday’s events, and celebrated what they described as a triumph over “enemies”.

Ahmad Vahidi, the deputy head of the IRGC, told a state-organised event in Shiraz that Wednesday’s rallies marked a third “great defeat” for the US and Israel over recent months.

He said the 12-day war was the first one, and the second was the state-organised counterdemonstrations held on January 12, days after most of the protest killings were carried out on the nights of January 8 and 9.

Like Vahidi, police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan called the protests another “sedition” and said they were “a great project by the global arrogance” that was quashed.

The Iranian government claims that 3,117 people lost their lives during the unprecedented protest killings, all of them at the hands of “terrorists” and “rioters” armed and funded from abroad.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed about 7,000 deaths so far and is investigating nearly 12,000 other cases. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Sato said more than 20,000 civilians may have been killed but information remains limited amid heavy internet filtering by the state.

The UN and international human rights organisations have accused state security forces of being behind the killings. The UN Human Rights Council last month issued a resolution condemning the killings and calling on the Islamic republic to “prevent extrajudicial killing, other forms of arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence” and other actions violating its human rights obligations.