British prosecutors said on Monday that a team of Romanian men who carried out a 2024 knife attack on Iran International TV presenter Pouria Zeraati in London were acting as proxies for Iran.

US President Donald Trump said Monday he had halted a strike on Iran planned for Tuesday after Arab states including Tehran’s new foe the UAE urged him to allow more time for talks, even as reports said Tehran’s latest proposal had fallen short of US expectations.

Amnesty International said on Monday that executions worldwide rose to their highest recorded level in more than four decades in 2025, with the Islamic Republic responsible for the vast majority of the increase.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Iranians should expect inflation, shortages and economic hardship because the country is at war and facing mounting pressure on its energy infrastructure and oil exports.

Severe shortages of opium syrup are disrupting addiction treatment across Iran, Shargh daily reported on Sunday, raising fears that thousands of recovering drug users could return to narcotics use as clinics struggle to secure supplies of a key maintenance medication.

The Iran war has entered a more ambiguous phase, with the regime battered but not broken, the US struggling to define victory, and the Strait of Hormuz emerging as Iran’s most potent bargaining tool, two Middle East experts said at an Iran International townhall in Washington DC.

Tehran media coverage of the impasse with Washington following President Donald Trump’s visit to China points to growing frustration, with many insiders voicing concern that diplomacy has stalled and more confrontation may lie ahead.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the creation of a special committee to end Iran’s internet blackout, but many Iranians doubt it can overcome resistance from powerful state institutions.

Security forces in Najafabad, a major city in Isfahan province in central Iran, implemented deliberate power outages on January 8 and 9 to facilitate a lethal crackdown on protesters.

A series of overnight earthquakes and a powerful dust storm rattled Tehran and nearby cities on Tuesday night, reviving fears of a catastrophic earthquake in a capital still psychologically scarred by recent war.