Revolutionary Guards say Oct. 7 attacks caught them unawares

An Islamic Revolutionary Court had originally sentenced Morteza (Calvin) Faghanpour Sassi, Abolfazl (Benjamin) Ahmadzadeh Khajani, Hossam al-Din (Yahya) Mohammad Joneydi, and two others whose names were not disclosed.

The defendants have chosen Christian names for themselves.

Each was given seven years and six months for “deviant educational and propaganda activities contrary to and disruptive of Islamic Sharia, involving foreign connections,” plus an additional seven months for “propaganda against the system,” according to the Christian outlet Mohabbat News.

Faghanpour Sassi received an extra 17 months for “insulting the leadership.”

The court cited reports from the Intelligence Ministry, defendants’ statements and evidence of house churches, Christian promotion, enrollment in foreign online universities, training trips to Turkey and efforts to recruit others as grounds for upholding the convictions.

The defendants were pressured to sign statements renouncing their faith in exchange for reduced sentences, while “at least one of them, Morteza Faghanpour Sassi was subjected to physical torture,” according to the advocacy group Article 18.

Iran has shut down Persian-language churches and frequently raids homes and house-churches. Converts often face accusations such as promoting “Zionist Christianity,” membership in groups opposed to the Islamic Republic or attempting to convert Muslims - charges that can lead to lengthy imprisonment often without substantial evidence.

Under Iranian law, only ethnic Armenians and Assyrians born into Christianity are recognized as Christians. Conversion from Islam is prohibited.

Renaz Ebrahimi, 34, holds Finnish citizenship - one of the many nationalities represented on board the so-called Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes participants from various countries including Spain, Italy, Turkey and Malaysia.

In a video transmitted on Instagram, she appears to narrate the moment of her detention by Israeli forces while labeling its incursion into Gaza a genocide.

Israel denies the charge and has accused the activists of performing propaganda for Hamas militants.

She was aboard the Polish-flagged Marinette with six crew members, which was stopped 49 miles from Gaza's coastline.

On social media, Ebrahimi identifies herself as a journalist and activist, with a series of videos in Finnish about the recent flotilla movement to Gaza.

The Israeli navy stopped the flotilla, detained those on board on charges of attempting to cross a blockade, and is currently in the process of deporting them.

The flotilla launched in July 2025 as a humanitarian aid mission to break Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave. It started with 44 vessels, all of which have now been stopped by Israeli forces.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has organized several such missions since 2008, released a statement upon the interception by the Israeli navy, vowing to continue their efforts.

“We stand with every human rights defender aboard. Their courage is part of our shared struggle to end Israel’s deadly siege,” the statement said.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, was also among those detained.

Israel imposed a land, air and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas took control of the territory. The aim was to prevent weapons smuggling and restrict Hamas’s military capabilities.

Prosecutors said that the man, identified as 27-year-old Maor Kringel, was arrested in August after more than a year of carrying out espionage missions for Iranian agents.

According to the indictment, Kringel had been in contact with individuals acting on behalf of Tehran from mid-2024 until his arrest.

Prosecutors allege he knowingly worked under the direction of Iranian agents, receiving payments in cryptocurrency in exchange for carrying out tasks.

Court documents allege he documented dozens of sensitive sites across Israel — including ports, shopping centers, private homes, municipal buildings and government institutions.

The Iranian handler also offered him $30,000 to assassinate his own commander but he did not carry out the assignment.

However, prosecutors say the reservist used his military position to provide Iranian handlers with the locations of army bases and also photographed the Shin Bet headquarters to pass on to them.

Kringel is officially charged with aiding an enemy during wartime, 26 counts of sharing intelligence that could assist the enemy and 12 counts of sharing intelligence with the enemy with the intent to harm national security, according to Israeli media.

Israeli security forces have also arrested Kringel's associate Tal Amram, 26. He was recruited by Kringel and connected with Iranian agents. Prosecutors say the two Holon residents even burned IDF uniforms together in a grove in the city.

Another Israeli citizen charged with spying for Iran

In a separate case, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and police said on Friday an Israeli citizen was arrested on suspicion of gathering intelligence for Iran while working at a hotel near the Dead Sea.

The 23-year-old allegedly photographed the hotel and surrounding areas, the agencies said. Police said the investigation was ongoing.

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  Israeli court finds ultra-orthodox Jew guilty of spying for Iran

The arrests and indictments highlight a growing concern among Israeli authorities over purported Iranian espionage activity.

In the past two years, dozens of suspects have been arrested.

Officials say Kringel’s case is treated as part of a wider campaign by Iran to recruit Israeli citizens and residents for intelligence gathering and sabotage.

Tehran suffered significant intelligence setbacks during the surprise US-Israeli military campaign over the summer, with Israeli-directed drone attacks and air strikes killing nuclear commanders and senior commanders along with hundreds of other military personnel and civilians.

Iran’s intelligence ministry aired a segment on national TV last week displaying information and documents that it says it obtained from Israel’s intelligence apparatus on the Jewish state's nuclear program.

The broadcast featured a series of video files that reportedly contain material from inside Israeli nuclear and other sensitive facilities, including the Dimona site. It also presented alleged details about personnel working on Israel’s nuclear program.

However, the documentary was later criticized and even mocked by both Islamic Republic loyalists and dissidents who said many of the pictures shown in the documentary as original materials were already publicly available.

“Iran must never come into possession of a nuclear weapon,” Wadephul said. He added that while recent US and Israeli military strikes had set back Tehran’s program, “ultimately this is of course to be feared. That is why we are pushing for a negotiated solution to resolve this issue permanently.”

Wadephul said Tehran had shown a lack of credibility and transparency in past talks and that the return of sanctions was unavoidable. He said the decision by Iran’s rulers was a “serious mistake” that hit the Iranian people most.

He said Germany, along with Britain and France, had tried in recent months to prevent the sanctions by urging Iran back to negotiations. “I did not want to be accused of not having tried everything,” he said.

Western powers say Iran left no choice

France, Germany and the United Kingdom said the reimposition of UN sanctions was unavoidable after what they described as Iran’s persistent breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers said the snapback mechanism under Resolution 2231 had been triggered on August 28 and completed on September 27, restoring six previous sanctions resolutions. They said Iran had “exceeded all limits on its nuclear program” and was holding enriched uranium “48 times” the deal’s limit, with stockpiles of highly enriched uranium that “cannot exclude the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device.”

The European Union this week reinstated sweeping sanctions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs, restoring restrictions on oil, banking, transport and trade that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. The EU said Iran had exceeded uranium enrichment limits “48 times” and that the snapback was the only option left.

Iran has rejected the return of sanctions as illegal and without effect. The foreign ministry said any attempt to revive resolutions that ended in 2015 was “null and void.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote this week to Sri Lanka and the Maldives urging them to oppose the sanctions and warning that international law had become “a plaything for the United States.”

Tehran says all nuclear restrictions under Resolution 2231 must expire on October 18, 2025, and that it will not recognize any effort to extend or enforce them after that date.

Fathi said the accident happened around 8 a.m. near the Dehkadeh Sibland complex. He said rescue teams were immediately sent to the site and that the number of victims could rise.

The road links Tehran to Mazandaran province through mountain passes and is one of the busiest intercity routes in northern Iran.

Police road chief Ahmad Karami Asad said the Scania bus, carrying 33 passengers from Qazvin to Mazandaran, overturned in the Aminabad area. He said preliminary checks suggested the driver had been tired and drowsy.

Emergency officials said two of the injured were taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in Firouzkouh, three to Som’e Shaban hospital in Damavand and three were flown by helicopter to Tehran. Other passengers were treated on site. Several of the wounded were reported to be in critical condition.

IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency said some passengers were trapped inside the bus before being freed by rescuers.

Road crashes have become a major public concern in Iran. The Legal Medicine Organization said in May that nearly 19,500 people died in traffic accidents in the last Iranian year, most of them on intercity highways. Official data show more than 20,000 deaths were recorded the year before, the highest toll in 12 years.

At least 26 students have died in 13 accidents involving university buses across Iran over the past decade, the daily Ham-Mihan reported this week, reviving concerns about road safety and vehicle standards.