Iranian Government Considers Comprehensive Plan against Sanctions

Protesters at the European Union headquarters in Brussels demonstrate against the Iranian government (Reuters)
Protesters at the European Union headquarters in Brussels demonstrate against the Iranian government (Reuters)
TT

Iranian Government Considers Comprehensive Plan against Sanctions

Protesters at the European Union headquarters in Brussels demonstrate against the Iranian government (Reuters)
Protesters at the European Union headquarters in Brussels demonstrate against the Iranian government (Reuters)

The Iranian government is considering a plan for a comprehensive confrontation against international sanctions.

Government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said that drafting a comprehensive project to confront "illegal" sanctions is on the government's agenda.

IRNA reported that Bahadori-Jahromi explained the plan, which revolves around supporting Iranian citizens affected by sanctions, incrementally reducing the effects of sanctions, and designing a legal framework to take corresponding steps against illegal international behavior.

Meanwhile, the US State Department set a reward of up to $15 million for receiving information on the illicit financial network of Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and its branches, including the Quds Force.

The reward dates back mainly to September 2019 and highlights the role of the IRGC in financing many terrorist attacks and operations worldwide through the Quds Force unit and regional agents.

The US Department of State is offering rewards for information on the sources of revenue for the IRGC, al-Quds, its branches, or its critical financial facilitation mechanisms, including the illicit financial schemes, oil-for-money, and front companies engaged in international activity on the IRGC's behalf.

The US foreign measures pursue the official financial institutions conducting trade transactions with the IRGC and investigate how the IRGC transfers funds and materials to its terrorist and militia proxies and partners.

The move also targets IRGC donors or financial facilitators, financial institutions, or exchange houses facilitating Guards transactions, such as businesses or investments owned or controlled by IRGC or its financiers.

The plan aims to undermine any "criminal schemes involving IRGC members and supporters, which financially benefit the organization."

Last Wednesday, the IRGC intelligence service announced in a vague statement foreign operations to return hundreds of millions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets abroad.

Iranian websites quoted an IRGC statement reporting that the group retrieved about $560 million of the financial pledges of the Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company in Yazd province.

Bank Sepah, which is linked to the military, and the National Steel Company are among the major investors in the group.

Earlier this month, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin's special assistant, Igor Levitin, ways to accelerate establishing "the path that started to reduce the influence of the dollar in regional and international economic exchanges."

They also discussed thwarting Western sanctions by ditching the dollar in their bilateral transactions, which would weaken the US currency.

The two officials discussed cooperation in various economic fields, especially banking exchanges.

Negotiations between the United States and Iran to revive the nuclear deal have stalled since the EU's last attempt failed last September.

Reviving the nuclear deal would lift primary sanctions the previous US administration reintroduced after withdrawing from the agreement.

Iran must abandon all nuclear steps that violate the terms of the agreement for the US to lift its sanctions.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
TT

France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
TT

Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
TT

UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.