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Iranian Opposition Group Reveals Secret Nuclear Site Near Tehran

National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
    Paris, London – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iranian Opposition Group Reveals Secret Nuclear Site Near Tehran

National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh displaying satellite imaging fora secret new military site near Tehran, NCRI

An exiled Iranian opposition group said it had uncovered a secret new military site which they fear is being used for testing in the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in a presser held in Washington and broadcast live online on Friday, said that a new site has been built to continue arming the Iranian regime’s nuclear program.

NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a group blacklisted as terrorist by Tehran.

The construction project of the new site in the Sorkheh-Hessar region in Tehran, started in 2012 and its construction took several years, NCRI revealed by providing satellite footage to corroborate its claims.

The new site is being run by a shadowy defense ministry research unit known as Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).

“By being located in a military area, it has found an appropriate cover to keep the identities of the personnel working there a secret,” said NCRI spokesman Alireza Jafazadeh.

The SPND is known to conduct experiments with the aim of building nuclear weapons.

NCRI said that its revelation once again proves that fact that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multinational deal on Iran’s nuclear program agreed in 2015, did not prevent the mullahs’ striving to acquire nuclear weapons and that the regime has even reneged on its commitments stipulated in the JCPOA.

In other news, a member of the Iranian parliament has called for President Hassan Rouhani to be executed.

“Iran's leader should order you [Rouhani] be executed 1,000 times so that the hearts of the Iranian people flourish,” Mojtaba Zolnouri tweeted on Saturday.

The threats made by the cleric were reported by several Iranian media.

Zolnouri is angry about a statement made by Rouhani, which has been interpreted as preparation for negotiations with the US to be able to lead the country out of its current economic crisis.

"If necessary we will wage war, but if necessary also peace," Rouhani said on Wednesday.

For the hardliners, negotiations with the US - considered Iran's arch-enemy - are treason.

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World

UN: Iran Has Executed 21, Arrested 4,000 Since Start of War

A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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UN: Iran Has Executed 21, Arrested 4,000 Since Start of War

A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 since the beginning of the Middle East war, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Since the US-Israeli strikes sparked the war in late February, at least nine people have been executed in connection with the protests that rocked Iran in January 2026, another 10 for alleged membership of opposition groups and two on spying charges, the UN's rights office said.

More than 4,000 people are meanwhile estimated to have been arrested on national security-related grounds, the agency added, according to AFP.

It said many detainees had been victims of forced disappearances, torture or "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment", including forced confessions -- sometimes televised -- and mock executions.

"I am appalled that -- on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict -- the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

"I call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained."

World

Trump Reportedly Plans Long Blockade of Iran

Trump Reportedly Plans Long Blockade of Iran
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Trump Reportedly Plans Long Blockade of Iran

Trump Reportedly Plans Long Blockade of Iran

President Donald Trump has told US national security officials to prepare for a long blockade of Iran's ports in order to compel Tehran to give up its nuclear program, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump, according to the report, does not believe that Iran is negotiating in good faith and hopes it can be forced to suspend uranium enrichment for 20 years and accept tight restrictions thereafter.

"They better get smart soon!" Trump declared, in a post on his social media platform.

Citing unnamed officials, the Journal said Trump had decided during a Monday meeting in the White House situation room that both resuming bombing or walking away from the conflict were too risky.

Instead, he reportedly told officials, the US Navy would continue to squeeze Iran's key oil exports until Tehran agrees to all of Washington's demands.

Meanwhile, Trump and his top ​officials met with oil and gas executives including Chevron CEO Mike Wirth at the ‌White House ‌on ​Tuesday ‌to ⁠discuss the ​energy fallout ⁠of the Iran war and other topics, Axios reported on Wednesday.

White House ⁠chief of staff ‌Susie ‌Wiles, ​Treasury ‌Secretary Scott Bessent, and ‌envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were present, and topics ‌for the meeting included domestic production, ⁠progress ⁠in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas and shipping, according to the Axios report.

World

US Lawmakers to Grill Hegseth for 1st Time Since Start of Iran War

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2026. (Photo by Annabelle GORDON / AFP)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2026. (Photo by Annabelle GORDON / AFP)
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US Lawmakers to Grill Hegseth for 1st Time Since Start of Iran War

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2026. (Photo by Annabelle GORDON / AFP)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2026. (Photo by Annabelle GORDON / AFP)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face tough questions from lawmakers about the Iran war on Wednesday during his first testimony to Congress since the start of the conflict, AFP reported.

Hegseth's appearance before the House Armed Services Committee -- for a hearing on President Donald Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget request -- comes with the war still unresolved and the economic fallout from it continuing around the globe.

Lawmakers from both parties have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the information provided in classified briefings on the war, setting up a potentially fiery public hearing in which top US military officer General Dan Caine is also set to testify.

"Finally, Secretary Hegseth will come before the House Armed Services Committee this week. It is time to answer for this war of choice," Representative Maggie Goodlander, a Democratic member of the committee, said in a post on X.

Trump and his administration have yet to publicly provide a plan for winding down the war, which has led Iran to close the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, sending oil prices skyrocketing.

Washington hit back with a blockade of Iran's ports, and now has three aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East for the first time in more than 20 years.

Trump has indefinitely extended what was initially a two-week ceasefire, but negotiations have yet to yield a breakthrough.

House Democrats introduced six articles of impeachment against Hegseth earlier this month, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" including waging war on Iran without congressional approval.

More than a dozen Democrats also sent a letter to Hegseth last week demanding a "formal, immediate investigation" into the deaths of six US troops in Kuwait on March 1, saying the Pentagon chief failed to protect American forces and then "misled the public about the circumstances of the attack."

A total of 13 American troops have been killed in the conflict while 400 have been wounded.

In addition to the Iran war, Hegseth may face questions about repeated shakeups of senior Pentagon personnel since Trump returned to office last year.

The Pentagon announced last week that Navy Secretary John Phelan was leaving office "immediately," a move that followed the removal of top US Army officer General Randy George earlier in April.

Lawmakers may also raise Hegseth's conflict with artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, which refused to allow its AI models to be used for mass surveillance of civilians or in fully autonomous lethal military operations.