World
Iran moderates pushing Trump deal risk being ‘eliminated’ as regime fractures deepen
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Iranian officials pushing for negotiations with the United States risk being labeled traitors and “most likely eliminated,” according to a policy expert, as internal fractures emerge inside Iran’s new regime.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, president of the American Iranian Council, said moderates advocating engagement with Washington are increasingly vulnerable at a moment when the Trump administration says it is in contact with elements of a “new” leadership.
“If the moderates were to push toward negotiation and a ceasefire, they will be considered traitors and will most likely be eliminated,” Amirahmadi told Fox News Digital.
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Amirahmadi’s warning came as Washington also appears to be navigating internal “fractures” amid the ongoing conflict.
President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. is engaged in serious talks with a “new” and “more reasonable” regime in Iran as the war enters its fifth week, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to say who exactly the U.S. is negotiating with but cited “fractures.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister (not pictured) in Munich Feb. 13, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. ( Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who those people are, because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look, there are some fractures going on there internally,” Rubio said on “Good Morning America.”
“Anyone in Iran who speaks of negotiation is suspected of paving the way for more war and destruction,” Amirahmadi said before stating that the moderate reformers are thought of as “infiltrators and deemed traitors.”
Amirahmadi also confirmed Rubio’s comments and highlighted an internal struggle within Tehran’s power structure, where remnants of what he called the “old regime,” or the Khamenei-era system, still exist.
“Many of them support negotiation or a ceasefire. But the emerging new regime is made up of more hard-line elements and views the others as traitors,” he said.
“For a long time, there has been a serious gap — what we call a cleavage — between the hardliners or radicals and the moderates or reformists.”
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Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf attends a news conference at a conference hall in the Iranian Parliament building in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Amirahmadi also described how “assassination in the Islamic Republic is not a new phenomenon. It has been there for a long time.”
Amirahmadi spoke ahead of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying Tuesday that Washington remains firm on reaching an agreement to end the monthlong conflict involving the U.S., Israel and the Islamic Republic.
Speaking at a news conference, Hegseth reiterated that Trump is willing to make a deal to end the war, adding the new regime is now in place.
“If Iran is smart, it will make a deal. The new Iranian regime should already know that. This new regime, having undergone a regime change, should be smarter than the previous one. President Trump does not bluff and will not back down. He will make a deal, he is willing and the terms of the deal are known to them,” Hegseth said.
“The field and the war are in the control of the radical colonels, and that is what matters at this point,” Amirahmadi added.
“The established bureaucracy is still run by the same old moderate regime, but then that is not a new regime. The new regime is certainly more radical.”
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Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Since the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the succession of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, the regime appears more reliant on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran’s power structure is increasingly dominated by IRGC figures like Ahmad Vahidi and Qods Force chief Esmail Qaani, alongside judicial figures such as Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ayatollah Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
While President Masoud Pezeshkian’s influence could have waned, figures like Saeed Jalili, Guardian Council insider Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continue shaping Iran’s security posture.
“There are basically the colonels; there are the Revolutionary Guards, people that are in the military. A few non-military hardliners are in universities, in government and places,” Amirahmadi added.
“They have changed the regime into a very radical regime,” Amirahmadi warned, “I don’t even think Khamenei’s son would favor negotiation, at least initially.
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“His position and condition are not entirely clear. His leadership appears symbolic — a reaction, even a gesture against figures like Trump.
“Trump and Netanyahu wanted regime change, and they have already achieved it, but the regime has just become more radical,” Amirahmadi concluded.
World
Turkey detains over 200 suspects, including alleged ISIS militants, in sweeping raid ahead of NATO summit
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Turkish authorities reportedly detained more than 200 people, including suspected ISIS-linked militants, in a sweeping Tuesday raid in capital Ankara ahead of a July 7-8 NATO summit.
The raid came after Turkish authorities issued detention orders for 241 suspects, 209 of whom were taken into custody, The Associated Press reported, citing a statement from the office of Turkey’s chief prosecutor.
Among the 209 detained, 56 were allegedly ISIS militants, according to the AP. This comes after Turkish authorities said they detained 125 ISIS members in December.
The detention operations occurred just two weeks before a planned NATO summit in Ankara on July 7 that President Donald Trump is expected to attend.
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President Donald Trump greets Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 13, 2025, to support ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo/Pool)
Other militants scooped up were 35 alleged members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front, which a Turkish statement described as “a far‑left group known for armed attacks and assassinations in Turkey,” according to the AP.
The ISIS-combating operations demonstrate the terrorist group’s ongoing activity in the region, showing the group is still functioning despite the U.S. campaign during Trump’s first term to eliminate the group’s caliphate and its control of large swaths of territory in the Middle East.
Iraqi government forces celebrate while holding an Islamis Sate (IS) group flag after they claimed they have gained complete control of the Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, on January 26, 2015 near the town of Muqdadiyah. (YOUNIS AL-BAYATI/AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years, ISIS has spread into the African continent, prompting a strong response from the U.S. In May, Trump authorized a series of strikes in Nigeria to combat the group.
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A May 16 strike killed ISIS leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, who was the group’s second-in-command globally.
U.S. and Nigerian forces conducted kinetic strikes against ISIS fighters in northeastern Nigeria on May 17, 2026, AFRICOM said. (X/U.S. Africa Command)
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“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after the strike. “He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans.”
The group’s renewed activity also includes a call to supporters to make attacks on U.S. soil during the World Cup.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Iceland kills first whales since 2023, resuming whaling
By Euronews with AFP
Published on
Two whales were killed off the coast of Iceland overnight Sunday, two days after commercial hunting resumed, local media and animal rights activists reported Monday.
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The kill ends a two-year pause and marks the first catches since 2023.
Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that two fin whales were killed. The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whale.
Before the vessels set off on Friday, a protester had attached himself to one of the masts in the port of Reykjavik, but climbed down and was escorted away by police.
Iceland, Norway and Japan are the only three countries that still openly permit whaling, despite international condemnation from the public and animal welfare organisations.
Iceland cancelled its whale hunt over the past two years, partly because economic problems had cut demand and the industry was not deemed profitable enough.
“The first fin whale deaths in Iceland’s hunt this year are devastating,” said Joanna Swabe, European senior public affairs director for animal rights group Humane World for Animals.
“Iceland has killed more than 1,000 fin whales in the past two decades — not only the second largest animal on the planet but also a species classified as globally vulnerable to extinction,” Swabe said in a statement.
Iceland’s government has said it is planning to introduce a bill aimed at banning whaling this autumn.
The International Whaling Commission banned the commercial killing of whales in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.
Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has recommended that no more than 150 fin whales are caught in the 2026 season.
That represents a 28-percent drop on the annual quota it recommended for the period 2018–2025, it said.
The institute has set an annual catch of 168 animals for the minke whale hunt this year, a 23-percent drop on 2018-2025.
World
Paramount+ Sets Tulisa Docuseries About Shamed ‘X Factor’ Judge From Dorothy Street Pictures
Paramount+ has commissioned a docuseries about shamed “X Factor” judge Tulsa from Dorothy Street Pictures, the producers behind Victoria Beckham doc “Victoria” and Pamela Anderson doc “Pamela: A Love Story.”
Tentatively titled “Tulisa: The Reckoning,” the unscripted series will follow the former pop star and talent show judge as she reflects on her journey, from her humble beginnings to soaring success as the frontwoman for the band N-Dubz, her pivot to “X Factor” judge and the scandal that saw her career come crashing down.
In 2013 an undercover U.K. tabloid journalist nicknamed the “Fake Sheikh” tricked the singer into “setting up a cocaine deal” which saw her arrested and charged. The trial collapsed after the journalist was found to have tampered with evidence (he was later convicted of perverting the course of justice).
Tulisa later revealed she had been entrapped by the journalist, who claimed he could bag her a role in a movie worth £3.5 million.
Although she was never convicted, Tulisa lost endorsements and jobs, including the “X Factor” gig and effectively disappeared from public life.
As well as telling her story, the three-part docuseries will follow the singer’s campaign for media regulation.
“This isn’t just a story of survival, it’s a reckoning,” reads the synopsis for the docuseries. “After years of reflection, Tulisa is ready to confront and change the system that once brought her down.”
Tulisa says of the project: “For years, so much has been said about me, but not always by me. This series is about taking back control of my story and speaking openly about everything I’ve been through, not just for myself, but for anyone who’s had similar experiences in the media spotlight.”
“Tulisa: The Reckoning” (working title) is set to land on Paramount+ in 2026.
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