You can read it in Arabic here, and check out MBN’s flagship Arabic-language Alhurra news platform (English version here).
This week’s edition of the briefing is a joint effort by our new Iran reporter Tara Rad, who is writing under a pseudonym, and me.
Here’s what you need to know. Russia’s foreign minister made his first visit to Iran since the war began, Iranian media debated whether Moscow can broker anything, and Iran’s security chief said no enriched uranium would leave the country. An IRGC commander threatened to cut undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz. A reformist daily counted 28 murders of women in two months. And Iraq closed a key border crossing with Iran days after Pakistan disrupted trade at two others.
Find out more below, and share your thoughts, analysis and predictions with me at ailves@mbn-news.com. If you were forwarded the MBN Iran Briefing, please subscribe.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran.
— Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei
TOP OF THE NEWS
Lavrov in Tehran
In his first visit to Iran since the war began nearly eight months ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Tehran on Monday to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Iranian outlets have offered varying interpretations of Lavrov’s trip. One saw it as a possible new Moscow mission to mediate between Iran and the U.S., echoing Lavrov’s statement that he “once again outlined our country’s readiness to render assistance in searching for mutually acceptable solutions to resolve this artificially created crisis.”
Another pointed out that Lavrov’s visit to Tehran came just after he had attended the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Bahrain. That report featured an interview with a professor of international relations who stressed that Moscow is trying to show that it is not taking sides in the tensions between Tehran and neighboring Arab countries: “One of the goals of Lavrov’s trip to Tehran was to show to the Arab countries that Russia had not used all its capacity and cards in relation to Iran.”
A third analysis noted that Lavrov’s visit was the same week as one by Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, but speculated that the two visits might have different goals, with the latter’s visit focused more on the Saudi-Houthi war.
According to another outlet, Lavrov stressed that “Russia has no desire to revise agreements with Iran; our personnel will soon return to the Bushehr power plant.” Russia helped build the Bushehr plant, Iran’s nuclear power station.
The business daily Donya-e Eghtesad interviewed a Qatari professor who speculated that “Russia is seeking a trade-off: Trump’s position moving closer to Russia’s view of Ukraine, in exchange for a possible role for Moscow in persuading Tehran to show flexibility that would allow Trump to exit this war with less damage to his reputation.”
Araghchi posted on X: “We covered everything from Europe to West Asia, including Lebanon, Palestine, Ukraine and Yemen. Also focused on expansion of economic and nuclear cooperation. Never in our history have Iran and Russia worked as closely as now.”
After the U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad in early April ended without a deal, the Kremlin reiterated its offer to take custody of Iran’s highly enriched uranium. On Tuesday, the day after Lavrov landed in Tehran, security chief Mohsen Rezaei posted on X that “not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran.”
In January 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pezeshkian signed a 47-clause, 20-year comprehensive strategic agreement at the Kremlin. The treaty didn’t include a mutual defense clause.
When the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran War on Feb. 28, Russia condemned the strikes, called an emergency U.N. Security Council session, convened an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board and offered to mediate. Putin sent condolences after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Moscow supplied satellite imagery and upgraded drone components to Tehran. At the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the claim as “fake news.”
Containers and items float in the water after a vessel sank near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. Photo: Reuters.
IRGC Official Threatens to Destroy Internet Cables in Strait of Hormuz
A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official threatened undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz if the United States or its allies damage Iranian infrastructure, adding to a series of warnings of retaliation from the IRGC should the conflict resume.
Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani, the IRGC’s deputy for political affairs, told Iran’s Arabic-language state broadcaster Al-Alam that Tehran would use “all its capabilities” in response to attacks on its infrastructure and could “easily destroy” what he described as seven important internet cables running beneath the strait.
Such action could inflict serious damage on the United States and its regional allies, Javani said. Iran was moving toward a more offensive posture intended to strengthen deterrence and discourage further U.S. attacks, he said.
Javani’s claims should be treated cautiously. TeleGeography, which tracks global telecommunications infrastructure, identifies three active submarine cable systems traversing the Strait of Hormuz: AAE-1, FALCON and Gulf Bridge International.
Damage to several systems at once could cause significant disruption to internet connectivity in the region. Alternative land routes exist, but TeleGeography says they may not have enough capacity to absorb all diverted traffic. Europe-Asia internet traffic, however, largely follows routes outside the Strait; such an attack would not shut down the global internet.
Javani’s comments followed similar remarks on the cables by IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi, who warned that “new targets” could emerge in another conflict. The repeated references suggest undersea communications infrastructure is becoming an explicit part of the IRGC’s deterrence rhetoric. They do not, however, establish that Iran has an operational plan to attack the cables.
A woman walks by a mural in Tehran after the morality police shut down a street. Photo: Reuters.
Iranian Newspaper Tracks 28 Femicide Cases in Two Months
At least 38 women and children were killed in 28 cases of what an Iranian newspaper described as femicide over a two-month period, according to a review of cases reported in Iranian media.
Shargh, a reformist-leaning Iranian daily, said the cases occurred during the Iranian months of Shahrivar and Mehr, roughly spanning late August to late October. The report was compiled by Nastaran Farkheh, a social affairs reporter for the newspaper.
Shargh based its count on cases that appeared in the media and acknowledged that other killings may never have been publicly reported.
Thirteen of those killed were children or teenagers under 18. In many of the cases reviewed by the newspaper, the alleged killer was the woman’s husband, former husband or another male member of the family.
The newspaper also found that some of the killings followed earlier domestic violence or family conflict. Four cases reportedly followed a woman’s request for divorce or separation, while five involved reports of repeated disputes or previous domestic violence. In roughly half the cases, however, no motive was reported.
Shargh also reported wider public concern over violence against women. Hamed Bidi, chief executive of Karzar, an Iranian online petition platform, told the newspaper that it had hosted 26 petition campaigns specifically addressing femicide. Counting campaigns on related issues such as domestic violence, the killing of children and acid attacks, the total rose to 63, with more than 360,000 signatures combined.
Bidi argued that such petitions can draw attention to failures in legal protections and challenge social attitudes that justify violence in the name of concepts such as family honor.
The figures do not show how widespread femicide is across Iran, and petition signatures do not represent public opinion as a whole. But they show that violence against women has generated significant public campaigning even as Iran lacks a comprehensive, publicly available official database tracking such killings.
Iran publishes no official count of women killed by relatives, so the figures come from rights groups. At least 45 femicides were documented in the first half of 2026 by the rights group Hengaw, and a previous count of reported cases analyzed by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda found 133 women and girls killed by husbands, fathers or brothers in a single year. Article 630 of Iran’s Penal Code lets a man who finds his wife committing adultery with another man kill both parties, and Article 301 exempts fathers and paternal grandfathers from execution for killing a child, while a bill to protect women from violence, first approved by the cabinet in 2011, was withdrawn in May 2024.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters.
Iraq Closes Key Crossing as Iran Faces Border Trade Disruptions
Iraq again closed a key crossing with Iran, days after trade was disrupted at two major crossings between Iran and Pakistan.
Iraq closed the Chazabeh crossing to Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran on Wednesday, suspending both passenger and commercial traffic until further notice, according to Valiollah Hayati, Khuzestan’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement. Khuzestan is Iran’s main oil-producing province.
Hayati said the decision had been taken by the Iraqi side and advised passengers and businesses to use the Shalamcheh crossing instead. Chazabeh, known as al-Sheeb on the Iraqi side, connects Iran’s Khuzestan province with Iraq’s Maysan province.
Baghdad said the closure was for a security review and to test new detection equipment to stop smuggling. But two Iraqi political sources said Washington is pressing Baghdad to keep open only one crossing in federal Iraq and one in the Kurdistan region. The U.S. Treasury raised the issue with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi last month, and the closure came days after the Treasury sanctioned the Iraq Development Bank over alleged ties to Iran-aligned militias. No U.S. directive has been confirmed.
It is the second temporary closure of Chazabeh in little more than a month. Iraq closed both Chazabeh and Shalamcheh in September while carrying out security and administrative reviews; passenger traffic later resumed.
Iraq’s border closure follows similar disruption on Iran’s eastern border. Pakistan suspended commercial activity through the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan crossings on Oct. 17, also citing security concerns, smuggling and border-management issues. Hundreds of freight vehicles carrying liquefied petroleum gas, rice, fresh fruit and other goods were left waiting on both sides.
During a visit to Tehran on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir said the problem had been resolved and the border reopened.
The episodes underline the vulnerability of Iran’s overland trade routes. Even short closures can strand trucks and perishable cargo, increase transport costs and divert traffic to other crossings.
