World
Iran reportedly executes California man amid ongoing execution spree: 'Murdered by the regime'
The Islamic Republic of Iran on Monday reportedly executed the journalist Jamshid Sharmahd, who was a resident of California and a sharp critic of the regime in Tehran, according to The Associated Press.
The Iranian regime’s judiciary Mizan website announced that the 69-year-old Sharmahd was killed on Monday morning.
Sharmahd’s daughter, Gazelle, who lives in California, previously told Fox News Digital the Iranian regime is “scapegoating an innocent man” over bombing allegations, and spoke of his affinity for the United States.
She told Fox News Digital in August, 2023, “My dad chose the United States as his home, worked hard, followed all the rules, belongs to a family of four generations around him of U.S. citizenship, lived here for 20 years as a tax-paying, law-abiding resident and would already have his citizenship if it wasn’t for the terrorists and qualifies as a U.S. national under the Levinson law.”
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Iran reportedly executed California resident journalist Jamshid Sharmahd, a sharp critic of the regime in Tehran. (Gazelle Sharmahd)
The Levinson Act defines a “United States national” as a “lawful permanent resident with significant ties to the United States.” According to the State Department, the definition applies to non-U.S. citizens.
The act was named after Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent and private investigator who disappeared from an Iranian island in 2007. Levinson was held hostage and was declared dead in 2020 when he was said to have died in Iranian custody. His family blamed the Iranian regime for his capture and imprisonment.
Fox News Digital reported that the Biden administration faced intense criticism for reportedly abandoning Sharmahd and punting his case over to Germany. Sharmahd is a German citizen. According to critics of Germany’s Iran policy, the German Green party foreign minister Annalena Baerbock failed to use her country’s economic and political leverage to secure Sharmahd’s release.
Fox News Digital sent press queries to the German foreign ministry.
Sharmahd survived an assassination attempt in California in which an Iranian agent was convicted of the planned murder. He was then kidnapped by the Iranian regime in Dubai in 2020 as part of a business trip.
The Iranian regime-controlled website Mizan claimed, without evidence, that Sharmahd committed “multiple terrorist acts at the direction of his masters in the intelligence services of U.S. and Israel.”
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in split with anti-execution protest. (Getty Images)
Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian-American human rights activist and expert on the clerical regime, told Fox News Digital, “In 1988, after the Islamic Republic of Iran was forced to accept a cease-fire with Iraq, it exacted brutal revenge by executing over 5,000 political prisoners, including my brother, Bijan, who had already served years behind bars. The world stood by in silence, failing to hold the regime accountable. Jamshid Sharmahd’s execution is now another diversion, covering the regime’s failures against Israel and the losses suffered by Hezbollah and Hamas.”
She added, “If the world remains silent again, more innocent Iranian prisoners will be killed. The global community must unite against this terrorist regime – Germany and other European nations should expel Iranian diplomats, close the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassies that act as terror safe houses, and declare the IRGC a terrorist organization. The U.S. must also use every tool at its disposal to pressure Iran into halting these executions.”
Amnesty International noted that Sharmahd “was convicted of the charge of ‘corruption on earth’ which is not clearly defined in law, and as such contravenes the principle of legality” and termed his trial “grossly unfair.”
Jamshid Sharmahd attends his trial at the Revolutionary Court, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 6, 2022. (Koosha Mahshid Falahi/Mizan News Agency via AP)
The British human rights group added, “Since July 2020, the Iranian authorities have been subjecting him to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, including through prolonged solitary confinement and denial of adequate health care.”
Tehran’s opaque justice system claims Sharmahd played a role in a 2008 terrorist attack at a mosque in Shiraz, Iran, that left 14 dead and more than 200 injured.
However, the regime-controlled media outlet Fars News quoted the Iranian National Security Council in 2008 as saying, “The explosion of a bomb or any explosion carried out by opposition elements, be they internal or foreign, is ruled out. The blast was caused by some munitions used in an exhibition for the [Iran-Iraq War] martyrs in the mosque.”
Jason Poblete, the attorney for Jamshid Sharmahd, wrote on X, “We are receiving reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran has carried out the death sentence against U.S. Legal Permanent Resident and Californian Jamshid Sharmahd.” He added that the family requests privacy until the facts are confirmed.
Iranian journalist and human rights activist Vahid Beheshti blasted the Iranian regime on X, stating in part that Jamshid Sharmahd “was murdered today by the regime of the Islamic Republic.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. State Department for a comment.
World
War, latest news. Trump: agreement with Iran to be signed soon. Tehran media: approval likely from top officials
Oxfam: ‘Over 540 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first few months of 2026’
A new analysis by Oxfam highlights the exponential rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces in the occupied West Bank: in the first few months of 2026 alone, there were over 540 incidents and “in three years, the number of Palestinian civilians killed has exceeded that of the previous 17 years”, mainly children. According to the report, based on an analysis of data provided by the United Nations, “it is clear that Israel’s annexation plan is accelerating, with mass forced displacements, increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and an unprecedented escalation of violence by settlers and the army”. A plan of ethnic cleansing and annexation that, since 2023, has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of over 925 barriers that impede the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. In particular, between 2006 and 2022, Oxfam points out, there were 1,036 victims, including 225 children, whilst since 2023 alone, 1,244 have been recorded, with 268 children killed. This means that, over the last 20 years, one in five killings involved a child, around 22 per cent. By contrast, in the first 17 years under review, 86 Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinians, including 12 children, whilst there were 43 victims, including 10 children, between 2023 and 2025. “The massacre of civilians we are witnessing is painful and disturbing,” said Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for humanitarian crises at Oxfam Italia – “Whilst the eyes of the world were rightly focused on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, an unprecedented wave of violence was unfolding across the West Bank, which has now escalated into a systematic plan of ethnic cleansing. In this context, we are therefore launching an urgent appeal for all necessary diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to halt the ongoing annexation plan,” concludes Pezzati.
US: third Iranian oil tanker breaching the blockade neutralised
The US Central Command stated on X that it had intercepted an oil tanker, the third in a week, accused of violating the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it struck the M/T Jalveer, flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau, “as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”. “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly refused to obey orders from US forces,” Centcom said.
Meloni: the Council should reflect on the direction of relations between the EU and Israel
“Not only because of what is happening in Lebanon, but also given the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is clear that the European Council will need to reflect on the direction of relations between the European Union and Israel.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Chamber of Deputies, in her address ahead of the EU Council meeting. “On this,” she added, “I would like, for once, to see a debate here that goes beyond the emphasis on facile polemics, which certainly yields an immediate return in terms of visibility, but does not reflect the strategic importance that the issue holds for Italia.”
World
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years over North Korea drone flights
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A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday in a case that accused him of ordering drone flights over North Korea in an effort to justify his declaration of martial law.
Yoon, 65, was sentenced alongside former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ousted president was previously sentenced to life in prison for leading an insurrection following his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets on three occasions in October 2024.
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South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
Then-Defense Minister Kim initially issued a vague denial before South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
Although tensions between the two Koreas escalated following the incident, the drone flights did not lead to any military clashes.
Prosecutors accused Yoon of attempting to create a crisis with North Korea while plotting an authoritarian power grab aimed at removing political opponents and consolidating control.
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Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Before declaring martial law, Yoon delivered a televised address accusing liberal lawmakers of sympathizing with North Korea.
Yoon has argued that he possessed the constitutional authority to declare martial law and said the move was intended to draw attention to what he viewed as obstruction by opposition parties.
His attempt to impose martial law lasted roughly six hours before lawmakers voted to overturn it amid mass public protests.
Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and continues to face multiple criminal proceedings.
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South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seoul to attend his trial on charges related to declaring martial law on Dec. 3, 2025. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The insurrection verdict has been appealed by both Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought the death penalty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Tinubu takes victorious tone despite recent mass kidnappings by armed groups across the country.
Published On 12 Jun 2026
Nigeria’s military has “neutralised” more than 13,000 “terrorists” in the past year, the president says, as armed groups and criminal gangs continue to carry out mass attacks and kidnappings in the country.
In a televised national address on Friday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the death toll from Nigeria’s fight against armed rebels is down 81 percent since he took power in 2023.
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Tinubu added that “124,000 fighters and dependants have laid down their arms since 2023 through Operation Safe Corridor,” a programme aimed at rehabilitating repentant armed group members who voluntarily lay down their arms.
Tinubu’s speech was in commemoration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day, which marks the end of several years of military rule and the restoration of democracy in 1999.
However, despite the victorious tone of his speech, Africa’s second-biggest economy is in the throes of a spiralling insecurity crisis that has seen armed groups linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda, as well as criminal gangs, abduct citizens for ransom money.
Soft targets, including schools, churches and mosques, particularly in vulnerable rural communities with limited state security presence, have been particularly at risk.
While armed groups initially limited their operations to the country’s north, they have begun spreading through thick forest corridors to attack targets in the country’s southwest.
Officials say the groups are shifting base because of military pressure on their locations.
Following unfounded allegations of a “Christian genocide” in the country by US President Donald Trump late last year, the United States military has since begun supporting Nigeria in conducting precision strikes on armed group locations. In February, 100 American soldiers were deployed to Nigeria.
Scores of people have been abducted since January alone, including teachers and pupils as young as four years old. The latest incident in May saw 46 people kidnapped from a school in southwest Oyo state.
On Monday, the Nigerian military said it rescued 360 people kidnapped by ISIL-linked Boko Haram and held in a remote mountain hideout in northern Borno State.
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