A 20-year-old student set himself on fire in Ahvaz, in southwest Iran, after municipality workers demolished his family’s kiosk, Karun Human Rights Organization reported.
Ahmad Baledi was hospitalized with about 70 percent burns and remains in critical condition, the rights group said.
The report said municipality workers, accompanied by police officers, arrived at the kiosk on Sunday without notice and began demolishing it.
Baledi's wife and son Ahmad staged a sit-in inside the kiosk to try to stop the demolition, but officers continued, Karun said.
The group said the deputy for municipal services in the district “behaved violently” and threw Baledi's wife out of the kiosk.
In protest at what was described as unjust and violent treatment, Ahmad Baledi poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire in front of the officers.
Witnesses cited by Karun said some of the officers made no effort to stop him and watched with indifference and mockery.
The incident comes amid deepening economic hardship in Iran, where soaring joblessness and inflation have pushed many households into street vending, peddling, and other informal work to survive.
The self-immolation also echoes, in unsettling ways, the act by Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi that helped ignite the Arab Spring in 2011.
An Iranian businessman sanctioned by the UK government for allegedly funding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards owns a £33.7 million ($44.3 million) mansion on an exclusive London street, according to a report by an investigative watchdog.
56-year-old Ali Ansari, also known as Aliakbar Ansari, is the registered owner of the property in an upscale North London neighborhood, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) said citing land registry records.
A 2017 French company filing lists the mansion as his residence, the report added. The home includes three reception rooms, eight bedrooms, an indoor pool, a cinema, games rooms and library.
According to the report, the mansion was not among previously reported UK real estate linked to Ansari, which includes a dozen other houses on the same street registered to Birch Ventures Limited, an Isle of Man-based company he owns.
Private Eye reported last month that the 12 homes were bought in 2013 for £73 million ($96 million).
The United Kingdom sanctioned Ansari on October 30, alleging corruption and claiming he helped financially support the activities of the Revolutionary Guards.
OCCRP said that in a previous response to the nonprofit investigative journalism organization, company spokesperson Iman Mirzaie said the allegations are baseless, emphatically denied, and political in nature.
Ansari is subject to an asset freeze, disqualification from any UK company ownership and a travel ban. He holds multiple passports, including from Iran, St Kitts and Nevis, and Cyprus, according to UK foreign office.
Ansari held stakes in Ayandeh Bank, one of Iran’s largest private banks, created in 2012 through a merger of a private bank and two credit institutions.
The bank came under scrutiny last month after it was ordered to merge with state-owned Bank Melli following the disclosure of losses exceeding $4 billion.
In a public letter, Ansari said the bank’s operations were halted as a result of decisions made outside its will.
Ayandeh Bank’s license was revoked last month and its operations dissolved.
OCCRP said it contacted a law firm representing Ansari and the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation for comment but had not received a response.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that excessive government spending and an overgrown bureaucracy are major drivers of the country’s persistent inflation, arguing that only by shrinking the state can Iran restore financial balance and ease pressure on households.
“The government, which has grown large and costly over the years, has placed much of the inflation burden on the people,” Pezeshkian said during a meeting with provincial officials in Kordestan province.
“While the state should serve producers, in many sectors we have reached a point where there are plenty of directors and managers but little productivity.”
He added that structural reform lies in downsizing the government, a process he described as difficult and time-consuming because “many have grown accustomed to rank and ceremony, and that mindset must change.”
Pezeshkian also warned that excessive state spending beyond national means “ultimately translates into inflation that weighs on people’s livelihoods.”
He said he had instructed provincial governors to reduce administrative expenses to free resources for supporting vulnerable groups.
The president acknowledged that international sanctions had intensified economic strains but said domestic inefficiencies, rather than foreign pressure alone, remained the root cause of inflation that official data places at about 40%.
Iranians affected by Germany’s visa delays, including students and families seeking reunification, remain stuck in limbo months after the 12-day war with Israel ended in June according to accounts gathered by Iran International.
Many of those affected have voiced frustration over long delays and unclear procedures, with some students staging protests outside the German consulate in Tehran to demand action on their visa applications.
On Sunday, a group of young Iranians gathered in front of the consulate to protest the embassy’s refusal to process applications for bachelor’s, conditional master’s and college programs.
"This situation is completely unfair. The embassy should not treat us differently from those in higher programs when we have already paid tuition, insurance, and even rent," one protester told Iran International.
TLScontact, the external service provider that collects visa applications and biometric data on behalf of the German embassy, has also faced criticism from applicants who say their repeated calls and visits have gone unanswered.
“In the past two weeks, we have repeatedly contacted TLS, and in recent days we again protested both in front of the consulate and TLS, but no one is responding,” the protestor said.
On June 16, the German embassy announced that it had temporarily closed due to the circumstances created by the war between Israel and Iran and urged visitors to refrain from going to the embassy or its legal-consular section.
“Appointments already issued have been cancelled. The affected applicants will receive an email, and a new appointment will be automatically scheduled for a later date,” it said in a statement.
"The processing of pending visa procedures and the acceptance of new applications are taking place in accordance with current capacities," Germany's Federal Foreign told Iran International in response to an inquiry.
"The Federal Foreign Office aims to expand operations depending on further developments and the personnel resources available," it added.
Separation and forced return
An Iranian man living in Germany told Iran International that before the war began, he had completed the paperwork to obtain an interview appointment for his teenage son’s family-reunion visa.
But since the war broke out, the process has been suspended, and as of November 2025, he has not been able to register for an appointment.
He added that separation from family, uncertainty, and the unstable situation in Iran have negatively affected his son’s mental health.
The “Family Reunion” section of the German embassy’s website says the processing of visa applications for those who had already submitted their documents remains suspended.
It also says that from November 11, appointments for Iranian nationals already on the waiting list for family-reunion visas “will be scheduled depending on available capacity.”
According to the notice, it is not possible to register for new appointments or join the waiting list.
According to those who spoke to Iran International, the separation of families—spouses and children unsure when they will reunite—has imposed a heavy psychological burden.
An Iranian living in Germany said his friend, who migrated to Germany as a nurse on a work visa and has been apart from her husband and six-year-old child for more than a year, was in the final stages of securing their visas when the process was halted due to the war. Now, the future for this family of three remains uncertain.
An Iranian woman living in southern Germany also told Iran International that she witnessed her friend’s forced return to Iran.
She said the woman, a student at the University of Erlangen in northern Bavaria, southern Germany, was forced to abandon her studies and return to Iran after her husband was unable to obtain a visa.
She added that the embassy returned her husband’s passport without even stamping it as rejected.
More than 550 Iranian figures—including political activists, journalists, human rights defenders and those who suffered eye injuries during the nationwide 2022 protests—sent a letter to the German federal government, calling for the immediate resumption of visa processing for political, civil, and labor activists, journalists and other at-risk professions.
According to the 2025 Henley Passport Index on the world’s strongest and weakest passports, among 199 passports, only 13 countries rank below Iran.
In August, the state-run IRNA news agency reported that the closure of several embassies during the 12-day war left about 3,000 to 4,000 Iranian passports caught in visa processing. The report said many applicants, especially students and athletes, were unable to leave the country.
An Iranian economist detained this week had suggested that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei helped empower the country's ultra-hardliners, in remarks that quickly drew Tehran's ire and underscored a widening clampdown on critical voices.
Mohammad Maljoo, a left-leaning scholar and prominent public intellectual, was summoned and detained alongside several other left-leaning authors and researchers a few days after a YouTube debate in which he discussed the roots of extremism in Iran.
In the program, hosted and published by moderate outlet Entekhab, Maljoo argued that “extremists in Iran gained a foothold in the political power center after the war with Iraq in the late 1980s and under the second leadership, when they were given institutional backing that empowered and activated them.”
The phrase “second leadership” was widely understood as a reference to Khamenei, who became Supreme Leader after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death in 1989.
Rights observers said his arrest fits a pattern of detentions targeting academics, journalists, and intellectuals in recent weeks, as authorities seek to contain public debate in the aftermath of Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.
‘At the state’s core’
Before the program aired, participants had agreed to use the term extremist to describe hardliners who obstruct dialogue and disrupt normal political and social life.
Maljoo contended that these forces survive because of their relationship with the ruling elite.
“Without backing from the hard core of the government, extremists would not be heard,” he said, adding that Iran’s central power structure is “neither interested in, nor capable of excluding them.”
He described extremists as pressure groups acting on behalf of the power center while occasionally defying it. Their proximity to power, he said, “turns every outburst into an official directive.”
In return for enforcing ideological red lines—such as mandatory hijab, censorship, and control over key state appointments—they gain “wealth, status, and legitimacy.”
The interview aired as small hardline groups in Tehran were demanding the arrest of former president Hassan Rouhani, accusing him of “creating trouble for the government” after he called for renewed engagement with the West to ease economic pressures.
‘Foolish or traitor’
The other participant in the discussion, conservative political scientist Sadeq Haghighat of the Imam Khomeyni Research Center, largely concurred.
“Extremists are either foolish or traitors,” he said, adding that they seized control of the political arena soon after the 1979 revolution and later justified their dominance through ultraconservative cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, who taught that rulers need no public legitimacy once they control the state.
Haghighat traced the roots of extremism to Iran’s enduring political culture. “Regime changes—from Qajar to Pahlavi to the Islamic Republic—did not change the behavior of extremists,” he said.
Maljoo, for his part, argued that the ruling establishment occasionally tries to restrain extremists when their demands threaten stability.
“At times, the power center encourages moderates and reformists to push back,” he said. “But extremists are never satisfied and constantly seek more.”
The US Justice Department is investigating whether a son of Iran’s former security chief breached sanctions while using a global network of banks, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter.
The probe focuses on billions of dollars in money movements between firms overseen by oil tycoon Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Bloomberg said.
According to the report, the probe has drawn on information from insiders within Shamkhani’s business network and from Wall Street banks that had relationships with entities linked to him.
The main target of the investigation is Shamkhani, rather than the banks, Bloomberg said.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., ABN Amro Bank NV, Marex Group Plc, Standard Chartered PLC, Emirates NBD PJSC and National Bank of Fujairah PJSC are among the institutions under review, the report said citing several people familiar with the probe.
Bloomberg said spokespeople for the Justice Department, JPMorgan, ABN Amro, Marex and Standard Chartered declined to comment. National Bank of Fujairah said it is “not under investigation by the US Department of Justice,” while Emirates NBD said it has not received any communication from US authorities.
Bloomberg said Shamkhani did not respond to a request for comment the news agency sent to his lawyers.
Bloomberg reported last November that the US Treasury Department was examining JPMorgan’s relationship with a hedge fund said to be overseen by Shamkhani.
According to Bloomberg's latest report, the Justice Department’s probe is broader in scope, aiming to map out the tycoon’s global financial network and pursue potential indictments or arrests of his associates, with cooperation expected from authorities in the United Arab Emirates, a key hub for his operations.
Shamkhani, who operates mainly from Dubai, was sanctioned by the United States in July along with dozens of individuals, companies and vessels linked to his network in what the US Treasury described as its largest Iran-related action in seven years. The UK and European Union also imposed sanctions in recent months.
US officials said Shamkhani used his father’s political influence to build a fleet of tankers and container ships that transported Iranian and Russian oil worldwide through shell companies. The Treasury said he used aliases including “H,” “Hector” and “Hugo Hayek” to conceal his dealings.
Following the sanctions, Dominica revoked Shamkhani’s passport issued under the Hayek pseudonym, and Panama de-flagged several vessels tied to his firms.
Bloomberg's report said some of Shamkhani's companies have since shifted operations to Oman.
Another Bloomberg investigation last year found that Shamkhani’s network had become a key channel for Iranian and Russian oil exports and had established a hedge fund with offices in London, Dubai and Geneva to manage proceeds from the trade.