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Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum

Tehran, Iran (EPA)
Tehran, Iran (EPA)
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Iran Arrests Participants of a Conference Calling for Referendum

Tehran, Iran (EPA)
Tehran, Iran (EPA)

The Iranian security services continue to arrest activists who participated in a conference last weekend, which discussed the chances of a referendum for a peaceful political transition to a secular regime.

Activists reported on Twitter that the security services arrested civil and political activist Abdollah Momeni in his home days after he participated in the "How to Save Iran" conference.

Momeni's arrest came after another conference participant held over the Clubhouse application, Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, was apprehended. Shirazi was an advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest.

The authorities arrested veteran journalist Keyvan Samimi, 74, who was announced among the conference participants.

Samimi appeared in a video recording, calling for forming a National Salvation Front.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the state-affiliated Jam-e Jam website saying that Shirazi was arrested as part of the judicial campaign against anti-revolutionary elements.

The authorities accused Mousavi's advisors of instigating the statement which called for ending Iran.

The website referred to a text published in early February, in which Mousavi called for "radical changes in Iran" by organizing a referendum on the constitution.

He described the paradoxical structure and unsustainable basic system as the major crisis in the country.

Jam-e Jam indicated that the three men participated in a virtual conference calling to overthrow the regime and draft a new constitution, reported by the AFP.

Mizan agency quoted an informed security official that Mousavi is under the control of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization.

The security official said that Mousavi's latest statement was a "direct copy" of the rhetoric of the Organization.

He accused Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a Paris-based political activist who runs the Kalima website and Mousavi's adviser, of being directly involved.

Arjomand was one of the founders of the "How to Save Iran" conference, which included a group of reformist activists calling for a peaceful and gradual transition to a secular regime.

Dozens of political and civil society activists at home and abroad participated in the conference, which discussed transitioning from religious rule to a secular democratic political system.

Mousavi was Iran's prime minister between 1981 and 1989 and ran for the presidential elections in 2009. Along with former Shura Council President Mahdi Karroubi, Mousavi protested the re-election of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denouncing widespread fraud.

The former premier was not the only one who issued a controversial statement after the anniversary of the 1979 revolution last February.

Former President Mohammad Khatami tried to distance himself from this discourse, noting that reform was possible and urging a return to the constitution.

Earlier this week, Khatami reiterated his opposition to demands to overthrow the political system.

The former president, Hassan Rouhani, was also among the advocates of a referendum on "diplomacy," "domestic politics," and "the economy."

The top Sunni cleric in Iran, Abdolhamid Ismailzahi, repeatedly called for a referendum to choose the governing method that enjoys the support of the majority of the people.

The Imam of Zahedan's Friday prayer stressed that the referendum is the way out of the current problems in the country.

On April 18, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected opposition to calls for a referendum on state policy, saying the various issues of the country cannot be put to a referendum because each referendum preoccupies the entire country for six months.

In statements published on his official website, Khamenei added, "Where in the world do they hold referendums for all issues?"

During the Eid sermon, Khamenei called for focusing on resolving issues and refraining from "marginal issues," warning that the enemies want to divide the nation.

Khamenei accused the enemies of aiming for conflict between Iranians because of different beliefs and sects, asserting the need to maintain unity to overcome challenges.

"The enemy is against the unity of the Iranian people," he said, adding that the different sects and beliefs can coexist and work together in the country.

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World

Trump Says the US Has Seized an Oil Tanker off the Coast of Venezuela

This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by US forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (US Attorney General's Office/X via AP)
This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by US forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (US Attorney General's Office/X via AP)
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Trump Says the US Has Seized an Oil Tanker off the Coast of Venezuela

This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by US forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (US Attorney General's Office/X via AP)
This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by US forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (US Attorney General's Office/X via AP)

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Using US forces to take control of a merchant ship is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration’s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States. The US has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The campaign is facing growing scrutiny from Congress.

“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House, later adding that "it was seized for a very good reason.”

Trump did not offer additional details. When asked what would happen to the oil aboard the tanker, Trump said, “Well, we keep it, I guess.”

The seizure was led by the US Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, according to a US official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official added that it was conducted under U.S. law enforcement authority.

Storming the oil tanker

The Coast Guard members were taken to the oil tanker by helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the official said. The Ford is in the Caribbean Sea after arriving last month in a major show of force, joining a fleet of other warships.

Video posted to social media by Attorney General Pam Bondi shows people fast-roping from one of the helicopters involved in the operation as it hovers just feet from the deck.

The Coast Guard members can be seen later in the video moving throughout the superstructure of the ship with their weapons drawn.

Bondi wrote that “for multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

Venezuela’s government said in a statement that the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

“Under these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed. ... It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people,” the statement said.

Half of ship's oil is tied to Cuban importer The US official identified the seized tanker as the Skipper.

The ship departed Venezuela around Dec. 2 with about 2 million barrels of heavy crude, roughly half of it belonging to a Cuban state-run oil importer, according to documents from the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, that were provided on the condition of anonymity because the person did not have permission to share them.

The Skipper was previously known as the M/T Adisa, according to ship tracking data. The Adisa was sanctioned by the US in 2022 over accusations of belonging to a sophisticated network of shadow tankers that smuggled crude oil on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

The network was reportedly run by a Switzerland-based Ukrainian oil trader, the US Treasury Department said at the time.

Hitting Venezuela's sanctioned oil business Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day.

PDVSA is the backbone of the country’s economy. Its reliance on intermediaries increased in 2020, when the first Trump administration expanded its maximum-pressure campaign on Venezuela with sanctions that threaten to lock out of the US economy any individual or company that does business with Maduro’s government. Longtime allies Russia and Iran, both also sanctioned, have helped Venezuela skirt restrictions.

The transactions usually involve a complex network of shadowy intermediaries. Many are shell companies, registered in jurisdictions known for secrecy. The buyers deploy so-called ghost tankers that hide their location and hand off their valuable cargoes in the middle of the ocean before they reach their final destination.

Maduro did not address the seizure during a speech before a ruling-party organized demonstration in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. But he told supporters that the country is “prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary.”

Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the US military operations is to force him from office.

Democrat says the move is about ‘regime change’

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US seizing the oil tanker cast doubt on the administration’s stated reasons for the military buildup and boat strikes.

“This shows that their whole cover story — that this is about interdicting drugs — is a big lie,” the senator said. “This is just one more piece of evidence that this is really about regime change — by force.”

Vincent P. O’Hara, a naval historian and author of “The Greatest Naval War Ever Fought,” called the seizure “very unusual” and "provocative." Noting that the action will probably deter other ships from the Venezuela coastline, he said, "If you have no maritime traffic or access to that, then you have no economy.”

The seizure comes a day after the US military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes had come to the South American country’s airspace. Trump has said land attacks are coming soon but has not offered more details.

The Trump administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign, which has killed at least 87 people in 22 known strikes since early September, including a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.

Some legal experts and Democrats say that action may have violated the laws governing the use of deadly military force.

Lawmakers are demanding to get unedited video from the strikes, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders at a classified briefing Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release it.

The Coast Guard referred a request for comment about the tanker seizure to the White House.

World

Washington Cool on Nuclear Talks, Tehran Signals Conditional Readiness

Iranian flags in central Tehran on Wednesday (EPA)
Iranian flags in central Tehran on Wednesday (EPA)
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Washington Cool on Nuclear Talks, Tehran Signals Conditional Readiness

Iranian flags in central Tehran on Wednesday (EPA)
Iranian flags in central Tehran on Wednesday (EPA)

Washington’s silence toward Iran’s repeated calls to revive nuclear negotiations is not simply a lapse in diplomatic attention. For many analysts, it resembles a calculated test of nerves at a moment of exceptional sensitivity in Tehran.

As the United States juggles a crowded foreign policy agenda, critics say Iran’s state is fraying from within under the strain of a deep economic downturn and growing uncertainty over who will rule after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

And while Tehran continues to signal conditional readiness for talks, Washington appears content to wait, perhaps for deeper internal unraveling or for a political landscape reshaped by a full reordering of Iran’s power structure.

In recent weeks, Iranian officials have repeatedly spoken of Tehran’s willingness to enter serious negotiations with the United States over the nuclear program, while Washington’s silence toward these overtures has been striking.

Tehran insists on showing a desire for dialogue under what it calls fair and balanced terms, but Washington appears in no hurry.

Analysts describe Washington’s posture as a mix of tactical patience and prioritization at a moment when Iran faces economic and political strains and lingering uncertainty over who will lead the country after Khamenei.

Washington’s Priorities

Patrick Clawson, director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says the cool US reaction is not a final rejection but a natural result of an American political arena crowded with urgent issues from Venezuela to Ukraine, along with domestic pressures.

Clawson told Asharq Al-Awsat that President Donald Trump’s team believes Iran’s nuclear program has suffered major setbacks in recent years and no longer represents an immediate threat, making the file less pressing.

He added that US chief negotiator Steve Witkoff is overseeing dossiers the White House sees as more urgent at the moment.

This approach gives Washington comfortable room to maneuver.

The US administration does not want to enter a new round of complex and politically costly negotiations before ensuring that the right conditions exist, particularly in the absence of clear signals that Iran is ready to offer substantive concessions beyond rhetoric.

Signals of Conditional Openness

Tehran has amplified its public messaging. In an interview with Japan’s Kyodo news agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran remains open to diplomacy but is not convinced Washington is ready for genuine and serious negotiations.

Araghchi said Washington still operates with an attitude of dictates and that any return to the negotiating table must be based on fair and balanced outcomes.

Tehran also opened a technical channel with Japan, seeking assistance based on Japanese experience in dealing with nuclear crisis fallout to help secure Iranian facilities damaged by recent Israeli and US attacks.

The request reflects an implicit acknowledgment of the scale of damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, even as Araghchi described the attacks as the greatest violation of international law.

This technical engagement does not indicate a shift in Tehran’s core position.

Iran continues to insist on the right to enrichment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and links any acceptance of new constraints to the lifting of sanctions and international recognition of its peaceful nuclear program.

Deepening Internal Divisions

Inside Iran, the situation is becoming more complex.

Clawson points to unprecedented public sparring among Iranian officials and open speculation about post-Khamenei scenarios, which he says reflect sharp disagreements within the elite.

Iranian researcher Farzin Nadimi argues the real confrontation is between two principal camps: Khamenei and his institutions on one side, and former president Hassan Rouhani and his team seeking to play a decisive role in the next phase.

There are other groups in between, Nadimi says, but these two blocs are the main poles.

Nadimi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is acting as an observer for now, despite its direct allegiance to Khamenei.

It could, however, move forcefully after Khamenei exits the scene, possibly triggering a power struggle between the Guard and Rouhani unless the latter is pushed aside before then.

Iran is also grappling with a severe economic crisis. The national currency has lost more than 10 percent of its value in only ten days, amid persistent water shortages, repeated power outages, and what critics describe as an ineffective economic model.

Clawson cited the new gasoline pricing system, which imposes a high rate on excess consumption but remains below the cost of importing fuel, for which the government pays four billion dollars annually. Experts describe this approach as a clear sign of poor governance.

Missile Buildup and Preparing for Israel

Regionally, Israel remains a central factor in Tehran’s calculations.

Barak Barfi, a researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran is offering no indication it is prepared to scale back its nuclear or missile programs and is instead building up its missile stockpile in preparation for another confrontation with Israel.

Barfi believes Iran aims to acquire a capacity that can overwhelm Israeli defenses through dense volleys of missile fire.

Barfi does not expect Israel to launch a military strike in the near term, citing its need to preserve freedom of action in Iranian airspace and concerns that Tehran could rebuild its air defenses.

Israeli decision makers are also weighing the risks of overstretching the home front and the possibility of an inconclusive strike, especially with the 2026 US midterm elections approaching.

A Strategy of Waiting

For now, Washington appears positioned to wait, while Tehran appears intent on buying time. With internal pressures escalating and factional rivalries sharpening, Iran’s leadership may need external de-escalation more than it needs a comprehensive agreement.

The US administration, meanwhile, believes any new negotiations require a different environment and stronger leverage, whether through sanctions or Israel’s continued “campaign between the wars.”

The American coolness is not a definitive rejection but part of a strategy of waiting and watching as Iran’s domestic situation evolves.

The only scenario that could open a genuine window for negotiation, analysts say, is Iran’s transition to the post-Khamenei era, when the system reshapes its hierarchy and when the battered economy and looming social crisis could drive Tehran to offer concessions that are not possible under current conditions.

World

Europeans Discuss Ukraine with Trump at ‘Critical Moment’ for Peace

This photograph taken on December 10, 2025 shows the building of a power plant of Ukrainian energy provider DTEK, which was heavily damaged during air attacks, at an undisclosed location, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph taken on December 10, 2025 shows the building of a power plant of Ukrainian energy provider DTEK, which was heavily damaged during air attacks, at an undisclosed location, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Europeans Discuss Ukraine with Trump at ‘Critical Moment’ for Peace

This photograph taken on December 10, 2025 shows the building of a power plant of Ukrainian energy provider DTEK, which was heavily damaged during air attacks, at an undisclosed location, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
This photograph taken on December 10, 2025 shows the building of a power plant of Ukrainian energy provider DTEK, which was heavily damaged during air attacks, at an undisclosed location, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany held a call on Wednesday with US President Donald Trump to discuss Washington's latest peace efforts to end the war in Ukraine, in what they said was "a critical moment" in the process.

Kyiv is under pressure from the White House to secure a quick peace but is pushing back on a US-backed plan proposed last month that many see as favorable to Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron, arriving late for a public debate in western France, said he had just held a 40-minute discussion with Trump and his European colleagues to see how to move forward on "a subject that concerns all of us".

Separate statements from the so-called E3 powers said the leaders had commended the Trump administration's mediation efforts to achieve a robust and lasting peace in Ukraine, nearly four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

"(The leaders) agreed that this is a critical moment for Ukraine, for its people and for the common security of the Euro-Atlantic region," the British readout said.

UKRAINE UNDER INCREASED US PRESSURE TO AGREE PEACE DEAL

The three countries, along with other European partners and Ukraine, have been working frantically in the last few weeks to refine the original US proposals that envisaged Kyiv giving up swathes of its territory to Moscow, abandoning its ambition to join NATO and accepting limits on the size of its armed forces.

Among the key elements the E3 powers are trying to hammer out are potential security guarantees for Ukraine once there is a peace accord.

"Intensive work on the peace plan is continuing and will continue in the coming days," the E3 statements said.

Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in London on Monday and pledged their continued support for Kyiv, amid concerns that it may be forced into accepting many of Russia's demands.

Leaders from the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" group of nations backing Ukraine will hold a follow-up meeting via videocall on Thursday, the French presidency said. Zelenskiy said he would also attend that call.

Separately, Macron and Starmer will join Merz for further talks next Monday in Berlin, two European Union diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.