{"id":335879,"date":"2025-08-22T08:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=335879"},"modified":"2025-08-22T13:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:24:41","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-august-22-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-news-in-brief-news\/iran-news-in-brief-august-22-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran News in Brief \u2013 August 22, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oslo,
Oslo, Norway \u2014 Supporters of the Iranian Resistance protest outside the Norwegian Parliament against the execution of political prisoners \u2014 August 16, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS<\/h3>\n

UPDATE: 2:00 PM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sanctioning Facilitators of Iran\u2019s Illicit Oil Sales<\/h3>\n

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Today, the United States is stemming the flow of revenue the Iranian regime uses to fund its destabilizing activities, including its support for terrorism abroad and the oppression of its own people.<\/p>\n

The Department of State is imposing sanctions on two China-based crude oil and petroleum products terminal and storage operators that have facilitated the import of millions of barrels of illicit Iranian oil onboard multiple U.S.-designated tankers.\u00a0 This action is the Department\u2019s fourth round of sanctions targeting China-based terminal operators, which play a vital role in the trade network for Iranian crude oil that funds Iran\u2019s terrorism abroad and destabilizes the region.<\/p>\n

Concurrently, the Department of the Treasury is sanctioning Antonios Margaritis and his network of companies for exploiting his status in the oil industry to illicitly trade in Iranian petroleum. \u00a0The Treasury action also targets other entities and vessels involved in shipping Iranian oil.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran\u2019s Freeze on Nuclear Inspections Prompts UN-US Crisis Talks<\/h3>\n

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International Atomic Energy Agency officials will travel to Washington next week to confer with the US as concerns grow about their inability to account for Iran\u2019s stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium, according to diplomats with knowledge of the situation.\u00a0The trip has been planned after IAEA Director General\u00a0Rafael Mariano Grossi\u2019s top inspector failed in a recent attempt to win Iranian approval to resume monitoring after Israel and Iran\u2019s 12-day war in June, said three diplomats, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPDATE: 9:00 AM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bulldozing A Genocide: Tehran\u2019s Desperate War on the Dead Reveals Its Fear of Justice<\/h3>\n

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In a brazen act of criminal cover-up, the Iranian regime has dispatched heavy machinery to Tehran\u2019s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery to erase a painful chapter of its bloody history. Since August 11, 2025, bulldozers have been working to completely level Section 41, the final resting place of thousands of members of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) who were systematically executed in 1981. This is not urban development; it is the frantic work of a criminal regime terrified of its past and desperate to destroy the evidence of its crimes against humanity before its inevitable day of reckoning.<\/p>\n

The regime has made no secret of its intentions. In a\u00a0shameless admission on August 19<\/a>, Tehran\u2019s Deputy Mayor, Davoud Goodarzi, stated, \u201cSection 41 was just left there, and we needed a parking lot, so we got permission from the officials and turned it into a parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Qarchak Prison Crisis: Female Political Prisoners Face Disease and Abuse<\/h3>\n

\"Qarchak_womens_prison\"<\/p>\n

Qarchak Prison in\u00a0Varamin<\/a> has once again drawn public and international attention, as more than 60 female political prisoners endure inhumane conditions far removed from international human rights standards.\u00a0Over the past three weeks, an unidentified virus has spread among inmates, causing severe bone pain, voice loss, acute respiratory infections, physical weakness, and oxygen deprivation\u2014further deteriorating their already dire situation.<\/p>\n

These women, abruptly transferred from Evin Prison to\u00a0Qarchak prison<\/a>\u00a0in the summer of 2025, are now held in a section known as the \u201cClub.\u201d This ward lacks ventilation and basic hygiene, and is infested with rodents and insects. More than 60 inmates are crammed into seven small rooms and a narrow corridor, with insufficient beds forcing many to sleep on the floor. Only three bathrooms and three toilets serve the entire group\u2014a clear example of degrading treatment, even by the Iranian regime\u2019s own legal standards.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iranian Regime Denies Oil Stockpiles Amid Revelations of Sanctions-Evading Network<\/h3>\n

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While Tehran denies having millions of barrels stranded at sea, new evidence exposes the regime\u2019s reliance on ghost fleets and shadowy networks to smuggle sanctioned oil to China.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mohsen Paknejad, the Iranian regime\u2019s oil minister, dismissed reports on Wednesday that 120 million barrels of Iranian oil were floating unsold in East Asian waters. \u201cThey were joking, don\u2019t take it seriously,\u201d he told reporters. Paknejad insisted that \u201call these barrels have been planned and not a single barrel of Iranian oil will go to sea without a customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

His denial comes as international reports indicate a decline in purchases of \u201cdiscounted Iranian oil\u201d by small Chinese refineries, traditionally among Tehran\u2019s most reliable customers.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran\u2019s Regime Staggers Under Trigger Mechanism Threat and Nuclear Warnings<\/h3>\n

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Contradictory statements by Tehran\u2019s leaders expose confusion, desperation, and the regime\u2019s crumbling political scaffolding.<\/em><\/p>\n

The threat by the European Troika \u2014 Britain, France, and Germany \u2014 to activate the nuclear deal\u2019s trigger mechanism, coupled with recent warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has pushed Iran\u2019s regime into one of its most critical diplomatic and political crossroads.<\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s leaders are sending out mixed, contradictory messages that expose both their fear and their lack of strategy. From Mohammad Reza Aref, the regime\u2019s First Vice President, to Behnam Saeedi, Secretary of the National Security Commission in parliament, their words reveal a system adrift, paralyzed by confusion, and edging closer to collapse.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tehran\u2019s War Rhetoric: A Desperate Regime Plotting Survival at the People\u2019s Expense<\/h3>\n

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Araghchi\u2019s claim that \u201cwar can be cheaper than negotiation\u201d exposes the clerical regime\u2019s willingness to sacrifice Iranian lives to cling to power<\/em><\/p>\n

For decades, the Iranian people have been forced into a war of survival\u2014not against a foreign enemy, but against the regime itself. They have endured poverty, sanctions, medicine shortages, polluted water, blackouts, food insecurity, and above all, the suffocating despair imposed by the ruling clerics.<\/p>\n

Now, the regime\u2019s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has unveiled another battlefront. He declared:\u00a0\u201cSometimes war is inevitable; negotiations and diplomacy are cheaper and less risky ways, but sometimes their cost is even greater than war.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Decline In Caspian Sea Water Levels and the Risk of Desertification Along Its Coasts<\/h3>\n

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As reports emerge that the Caspian Sea has reached its lowest water level in 50 years, a climatologist has warned that if the retreat continues, northern Iran will soon face a desert-like area filled with sand and salt.<\/p>\n

Farid Mojtahedi, a climatologist, told the state-run ISNA news agency on Wednesday, August 20, that the sea\u2019s retreat has reached about 300 meters along the Caspian coasts. He warned that if it extends to 500 or 600 meters, it will leave behind a desert-like zone of sand and salt.\u00a0He added: \u201cAt present, we are facing wind erosion along the Caspian coasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mojtahedi, desertification in the southern Caspian region will generate dust storms that affect the settlements along the southern shores of the sea.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Crashed Drone in Lublin Likely an Iranian Shahed<\/h3>\n

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Polish media have reported that the unidentified object that crashed in Lublin province in eastern Poland was most likely an Iranian-made Shahed drone. Poland\u2019s state television announced that initial investigations suggest the object could be a Shahed-136.\u00a0The daily\u00a0Rzeczpospolita<\/em>\u00a0also published unconfirmed reports suggesting that the drone may have been either a Shahed-131 or a Shahed-136, both of which Russia uses extensively in the Ukraine war under the names Geran-1 and Geran-2. The paper noted that since 2023, Russia has started producing Shahed-136 drones using some domestically sourced components.<\/p>\n

Polish officials said the object crashed yesterday in the village of O\u015biny, where it exploded and damaged the roofs of several houses, though no other damages or casualties were reported. Poland\u2019s defense minister, W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz, stated that the explosion was most likely caused by a drone crash, although it remains unclear whether the incident had a military origin, sabotage, or even was the result of a smuggling flight.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iranian Regime FM: Snapback Sanctions Will Cost Heavily<\/h3>\n

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Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran\u2019s regime, stressed that activating the snapback sanctions would have heavy costs but \u201cis not the end of everything.\u201d He added that Tehran cannot completely cut off cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).\u00a0In a video interview with the state-run IRNA news agency, parts of which were published on Wednesday, August 20, Araghchi emphasized: \u201cThe activation of the snapback will not be economically more impactful than the current situation.\u201d He added: \u201cFor years we have been in talks with China and Russia on what solutions might ultimately prevent snapback and have considered certain measures, though we may not succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Araghchi described the consequences of snapback as \u201ctruly serious and heavy,\u201d adding: \u201cWe must try to prevent it, but at the same time, we should not exaggerate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Terrorism: The Official and Systematic State Policy of Iran\u2019s Regime<\/h3>\n

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21 August, \u201cThe International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism,\u201d is an occasion to honor the victims and survivors of this inhumane phenomenon. While terrorism has appeared in various forms worldwide, the ruling regime in Iran has institutionalized it as an official state terrorism policy since its very first days in power. Over the past four decades, this policy has taken thousands of lives inside Iran and endangered international security through extraterritorial terrorism and political assassinations abroad.<\/p>\n

Multiple judicial cases have proven that the Iran regime terrorism is not random, but an organized state policy:<\/p>\n