Iran vows to boycott US World Cup draw over rejected visas

In a post on his LinkedIn account, Abedini said he was released from custody on Monday night after several days in detention by US immigration authorities.

“I’m relieved to share that I was released from custody tonight. It was a deeply distressing experience, especially seeing those without the support I had,” he wrote on LinkedIn, thanking colleagues and academic associations for their help.

Abedini “was detained for standard questioning and was released," The New York Times reported on Tuesday citing Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.

Joshua Landis, the director of Middle East studies at the university, said on X that Abedini was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while boarding a flight to Washington DC to attend the Middle East Studies Association conference and was taken to jail on November 22.

"He has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa —a non-immigrant work visa granted to individuals in 'specialty occupations,' including higher education faculty. We are praying for his swift release," Landis wrote.

According to the University of Oklahoma’s website, Abedini is an Iranian studies professor whose work focuses on elite politics, technology and foreign policy.

The University of Oklahoma declined to discuss the matter and ICE did not respond to an Iran International request for comment.

A search of the ICE detainee database shows a record for Vahid Abedini, listing his country of birth as Iran and his status as “in ICE custody.”

According to Iranian media, Abedini has long been active in Iran’s reformist political circles and was a member of student Islamic associations at Tehran University.

Abedini was a signatory to a statement issued by reformists during Iran’s 2024 election supporting Masoud Pezeshkian.

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Abedini received his master’s and PhD in political science from Florida International University, where he also taught as an adjunct professor before joining the University of Arkansas as a visiting assistant professor.

Iranian scholar and former State Department adviser Vali Nasr described Abedini's arrest as "wrongful detention."

"He is a respected scholar and teacher, and according to his employer, the University of Oklahoma, his visa is valid. I and all his is friends, colleagues and students call for his immediate release and to his work at the university," Nasr said on X.

Neither party had publicized their alleged meeting at the time and it was not clear what the relative moderate president and the head of the successful worldwide ride-hailing app discussed.

Pezeshkian spoke with Khosrowshahi in Persian, the report said, which the executive still remembered despite leaving Iran at age 9.

It added that the meeting was part of Pezeshkian’s wider efforts to engage with prominent Iranians abroad and its plan to encourage expatriates to return to Iran.

The magazine's editor Mohammed Ghouchani is considered close to the president's advisors and well informed about his activities.

Uber did not immediately respond to an Iran International request for comment.

In early June before US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump had joked about Khosrowshahi being put in charge of nuclear negotiations with Iran.

“We’ll have Dara get up and negotiate,” Trump said speaking alongside Khosrowshahi at an event with business leaders at the White House.

In addition to meeting with Khosrowshahi, the publication said Pezeshkian also interacted with several high-profile diaspora figures during the trip.

These included Abdolkarim Soroush, a philosopher and religious intellectual with visiting posts at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and the University of Maryland, and Mohsen Kadivar, a reformist theologian, Islamic scholar and ex-cleric who is a research professor at Duke University.

In July, Pezeshkian called for the return of Iranians living abroad and urged coordination between the judiciary and intelligence services to ease concerns, despite past detentions of returnees.

“We must create a framework for Iranians abroad to return comfortably and without fear, and this requires coordination with the judiciary and the Ministry of Intelligence,” Pezeshkian said at a meeting at the foreign ministry.

Yet the president's invitation came against a record that has left many Iranian expatriates wary. In recent years, dual and foreign-based nationals returning to Iran have faced arrests, lengthy interrogations, and prison sentences.

Khosrowshahi moved to America after his family fled Iran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution in the late 1978.

In May, Khosrowshahi spoke at a livestreamed event organized by the Washington-based National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), where the group unveiled its “Iran Prosperity Project” (IPP), a diaspora-led initiative that outlines economic and political plans for a future Iran post–Islamic Republic.

According to the judiciary’s media center, Tehran prosecutors accused the former lawmaker of “spreading false information” about the content of a letter Pezeshkian sent to the Saudi crown prince.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministry said the letter was a routine diplomatic message concerning coordination for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The announcement comes days after former lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian told Iranian media that Pezeshkian had, with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sent a message through the Saudi crown prince offering to resume talks with Washington. Reuters had earlier reported that the letter urged Riyadh to help persuade Trump to restart nuclear negotiations — a report Tehran denied.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei dismissed the reports, saying “the president’s message to the Saudi crown prince had purely bilateral content,” and accused some domestic figures of fueling “baseless speculation.”

Reports of Saudi mediation

The Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday that Trump had authorized the Saudi crown prince to manage contacts aimed at opening dialogue with Tehran. The paper said bin Salman believed a US-Iran understanding was necessary to reduce regional tensions, though there has been no confirmation from either Washington or Tehran.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA said speculation about third-party mediation misses the broader issue, arguing that the main obstacle is the lack of a shared framework for talks with the United States.

Grossi told reporters in Manila that the agency’s aim was to “restore continuity of knowledge” and reestablish full verification inside Iran. His comments followed last week’s decision by the UN watchdog’s 35-member Board of Governors calling on Tehran to inform it “without delay” about the status of its enriched uranium stock and sites hit in June strikes.

The board’s resolution, backed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, deepened tensions with Tehran, which condemned the vote as “illegal and unjustified.” Iran said the move nullified a September inspection accord reached in Cairo with Grossi through Egyptian mediation.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the time the Western powers had “killed” the Cairo accord and accused them of seeking escalation rather than diplomacy. Iran insists its cooperation with the IAEA remains within the limits of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but says access to bombed facilities cannot resume until safety and legal issues are addressed.

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  IAEA board passes resolution pressing Iran for access and answers

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  Trump authorized Saudi crown prince to manage US-Iran dialogue - Al-Akhbar

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  Iran weighs NPT withdrawal after IAEA censure

Iran weighs NPT withdrawal

Iranian lawmakers have said Tehran is considering suspending or withdrawing from the NPT in response to the censure. Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the option was “on the table” and under expert review.

He said a final decision would be coordinated between parliament and the Supreme National Security Council. Another lawmaker said a draft bill had been prepared to boost what he called Iran’s “nuclear and sanctions-related deterrence.”

Heydari had led Iran’s Army Ground Forces for more than seven years before being replaced on November 22 by Brigadier General Ali Jahanshahi, as part of a wider reshuffle across Iran’s military following the June war.

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  Iran’s army appoints new ground forces commander

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters is the unified combatant command under the Armed Forces General Staff, responsible for operational design and coordination across the army and the Revolutionary Guards.

The deputy post was previously held by Major General Hossein Hassani Sa'di, according to Iranian news agency ISNA, while Major General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi currently commands the headquarters.