Sexual transmission accounted for about 65% of newly identified HIV cases in Iran last year, replacing injecting drug use as the main route of new infections as diagnoses among women increased, a leading HIV researcher said on Thursday.

A rights group has asked German prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity by Iranian authorities, presenting evidence of thousands of killings and mass detentions during nationwide protests that began in late 2025 and early 2026.

Iran’s hardline Kayhan newspaper urged Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards on Thursday to disrupt or sever international fiber-optic cables running beneath the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to pressure the United States and its allies.

Iran’s shadow banking network runs far deeper and wider than the network targeted by US sanctions last month, an Iran International investigation found, showing that Tehran used more than a dozen banks in China and the United Arab Emirates to access the global financial system.

Iran faces shortages of about 800 medicines, including dozens considered vital, as currency constraints and import disruptions threaten to drive some drug costs as much as threefold, Iranian local media reported on Thursday.

The UN’s fact-finding mission on Iran called for the immediate withdrawal of legislation that could expose Iranians to up to 30 years in prison for contact with foreign individuals and organizations, according to a statement released Thursday.

Five months after Iran's women footballers sought asylum in Australia, the football federation has called the squad back into camp, not to train but to film a documentary about what happened there. Some of the players it wants on camera are the ones who came home under pressure.

Donald Trump’s question about when Iranians would rise against the Islamic Republic drew thousands of responses arguing that fear of renewed repression, doubts over US policy and insufficient outside support are holding back another uprising.

Iranian hackers have targeted not only US water systems but also telecommunications, energy and other infrastructure in recent weeks, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing four people with access to government and industry cyberthreat information.

Peru severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Tuesday, accusing Tehran of escalating conflicts in the Middle East, restricting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and obstructing nuclear inspections.

Canada awarded more than $2 million in federal and provincial government contracts to the son of a former Iranian vice president despite a long-running investigation into allegations he helped Iran evade sanctions and develop military technology, Global News reported Wednesday.

Iranian security forces killed a 31-year-old protester outside his family home two days after he was shot and wounded during demonstrations in Shahroud, northeastern Iran, several sources close to him told Iran International.

The UN nuclear watchdog says it remains unable to determine the status of Iran’s fourth declared uranium-enrichment facility after Tehran failed to provide information or allow inspectors access to the site.

The Islamic Republic moved beliefs about the unseen from the margins of society to the center of power, and used oil money to give them institutions, budgets and a propaganda apparatus, so that its rulers could draw legitimacy from a source no citizen can question.

Iran’s foreign trade has contracted sharply since the conflict with the United States began, with non-oil exports and imports falling by around a quarter or more, according to customs data released after months of delay.

Iranians described cancelled language tests, soaring costs, visa hurdles and internet restrictions as obstacles increasingly putting study abroad beyond reach, in messages sent to Iran International following new US sanctions.