Iran absent from Russia's Victory Day Parade despite aiding Putin's war

Some warn that President Donald Trump is unpredictable and may change course at any moment; others go further, calling the talks a trap. There are even accusations of insider sabotage, with fingers pointed at those said to benefit from continued sanctions.

What are the doubters saying?

“The US government will block the lifting of sanctions on Iran’s oil sales and international banking,” vocal conservative analyst Foad Izadi asserted in an interview with the Didban Iran news outlet on Thursday.

Even if a deal is signed, Izadi warned, meaningful sanctions relief is unlikely because an entrenched hawkish faction in Washington is at work to undermine any agreement.

Recent comments by President Trump and his team—along with interventions from the likes of Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Mike Lawler—appear to have deepened concerns in Tehran, pushing hardliners like Izadi to break their begrudging silence.

“The Americans may attack Iran even in the middle of talks or afterward if they believe the costs of doing so are minimal. They did the same to Libya,” the US-educated pundit added.

What's the connection to Libya?

Slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave up the North African nation’s nuclear and missile program in 2003 to improve ties with the West.

But in Tehran’s view he was betrayed once popular protests broke out in 2010, morphing into an armed revolution backed by NATO air strikes culminating in Gadaffi's grisly killing by rebels.

“Some Iranian politicians believe that if we abandon our nuclear and missile development programs, the US will treat us as favorably as it treats Saudi Arabia,” former MP Elias Naderan told Khabar Online on Thursday.

“But in reality, they will treat us just as they treated Syria and Libya.”

As long as the Islamic Republic is in conflict with Israel, there will be no rapprochement with the United States, Naderan asserted.

His comments signal a return to older hardline rhetoric that equates disarmament with vulnerability in the face of unwavering hostility from the US, hastening the downfall of the theocracy.

Who is being accused of sabotage?

Some moderate and centrist are accusing former security chief Ali Shamkhani of leaking confidential details about the ongoing talks.

The accusations have found more relevance because Shamkhani’s son is allegedly involved in exports of Iranian oil and his business could suffer, according to his critics, if sanctions are lifted.

Earlier this week, a website with links to Shamkhani published a report with some details from the ongoing talks between Tehran and Washington—including a claim that the US government had accepted that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons.

“Shamkhani’s disclosure … has fueled pressure from US neoconservatives on Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, thereby jeopardizing the negotiations,” centrist outlet Entekhab wrote in an editorial.

What do the critiques mean?

While Tehran continues its cautious diplomatic engagement with Washington, these public statements reflect a fractured elite struggling to agree on whether diplomacy is a shield or a trap.

The resurfacing of Libya parallels, warnings about war, and accusations of sabotage all point to a deeper anxiety about the outcome of the talks—and the fate of the Islamic Republic.

The annual AAM Awards recognize "outstanding leaders whose work exemplifies the power of media to inform, educate, and empower."

Iran International was recognized for its efforts in bringing the voices of the Iranian people to a global audience and its commitment to accurate and transparent reporting.

This year’s recipients also included Dr. Mathias Döpfner, chairman and CEO of Axel Springer SE—parent company of Politico and Business Insider—and a board member at Netflix; Oscar-nominated Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri, known for The Insult and The Attack; and Moira Forbes, president and publisher of Forbes Women.

Republican Senator Dave McCormick, US presidential deputy special envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, French Ambassador Laurent Bili, Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, Egyptian Ambassador Motaz Zahran, and Azerbaijani Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim were among notable guests attending the event held at Fairmont hotel.

The AAM initiative celebrates those who contribute to media education, empowerment, and impactful storytelling, especially in challenging environments. The ceremony gathers diplomats, politicians, and cultural figures from around the world to highlight the importance of dialogue and press freedom.

Receiving the award, the executive editor of Iran International in Washington DC Mehdi Parpanchi said, “Iran International is right now the most-watched news channel among Iranians—inside the country and across the diaspora. And we are the only 24/7 newsroom fully dedicated to covering Iran."

“That’s not a technical setup—it’s a line of communication in the dark," he added.

On the sidelines of the ceremony, Parpanchi dedicated the award to the network’s audience and said a significant portion of the channel’s content is drawn from firsthand accounts sent by citizens across Iran.

In May 2024, Iran International was awarded with the 2024 Geneva Summit Courage Award for "fearlessly uncovering the daily abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Afshin Pirnoon, a former director general in Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, was brought before the board as the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) argued he should be deported due to his role in the Iranian government.

Pirnoon, 49, arrived in Canada in 2022 and has since worked as an Uber driver while seeking refugee status.

Photos published on Iranian government websites show Pirnoon attending official events and speaking at public meetings alongside political and religious leaders. He has denied holding decision-making authority and said his work as a road safety expert was aimed at saving lives.

“Whatever I’ve done in my life so far was to safeguard human beings’ lives,” Pirnoon said at the hearing, according to Global News. “Working for a government does not mean supporting it.”

The hearing is one of several under a 2022 Canadian policy aimed at barring or expelling former Iranian officials accused of rights abuses or ties to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. While immigration authorities have investigated dozens of individuals, only one deportation has been completed so far, with others leaving voluntarily.

Paknejad said the new operations could unlock substantial reserves. “There is potential to extract over 600 million barrels of crude oil in place from this area,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 29th International Oil Exhibition in Tehran.

Exploratory drilling in Iran’s sector of the Caspian Sea had been largely inactive since the mid-1990s, due to technical, financial, and logistical challenges.

The minister did not specify when drilling would begin or which block would be targeted first.

The decision marks a renewed effort to join other Caspian littoral states — including Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan — that have developed significant offshore production in recent decades.

Iran remains the only Caspian country not currently extracting oil or gas from the sea. According to industry data, the region’s other coastal states collectively produced over 1.2 million barrels per day of oil and 50 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, backed by more than $160 billion in cumulative investments.

International companies such as BP, TotalEnergies, Lukoil, Eni, and Dragon Oil have led offshore development in neighboring states. Meanwhile, Iran’s own efforts have faced repeated setbacks, including equipment failures, limited foreign investment, and deepwater technical constraints.

Despite previous announcements, including seismic surveys and attempted drillings using the Amir Kabir rig, Iran’s Caspian offshore activity has yielded no commercial output to date.

Alireza Doroudi, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama, was detained in March and held at a facility in Louisiana after his visa was revoked. A US government attorney later said the revocation was “prudential,” meaning it would not take effect until he left the country.

Doroudi’s lawyer, David Rozas, told AP there was no evidence to support the government’s earlier claim that Doroudi posed a national security risk. He called the case a “travesty of justice.”

Doroudi’s fiancée, Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, said the prolonged detention left him feeling pressured to abandon his legal challenge. “They just want to make him tired so he can deport himself,” she told AP.

In a letter written from detention, Doroudi called the case “pure injustice” and said he had followed all legal procedures. The immigration judge in the case denied his request for bond and set a deadline at the end of May for further motions. Rozas said Doroudi chose to stop fighting and self-deport.

Doroudi had specialized in metallurgical engineering, and his detention sparked concern on campus. The University of Alabama College Democrats described the arrest as a “cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community.”

Doroudi’s case comes amid renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration’s policies on international students, including potential new visa restrictions for citizens of countries like Iran. In recent weeks, several other foreign students and recent graduates — including individuals from Turkey and Palestine — have been detained under national security-related reasons, prompting concern from rights groups and legal advocates.