live Trump Says Any Deal With Iran Will Be 'Great,' Tehran Says Nothing 'Imminent'

A senior Iranian official has revealed that Tehran imported advanced Chinese technology designed to permanently restrict access to the global Internet, shedding new light on the country’s unprecedented nationwide blackout during the war with the United States and Israel.

Now in its third month, the shutdown affecting Iran’s roughly 90 million people is believed to be the largest government-directed communications blackout in recorded history.

Officials say the restrictions are necessary for security and wartime stability, but critics argue they have deepened psychological strain, economic losses, and social inequality.

Experts warn Iran is developing a cheaper, more easily exportable version of China’s censorship model -- one that other authoritarian governments could replicate without building Beijing’s vast digital infrastructure.

However, the blackout is already costing Iran tens of millions of dollars a day, according to business officials.

RFE/RL's Kian Sharifi has more

Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have traveled to Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, on a potential US-Iran agreement to end the conflict in the Middle East, a source briefed on the visit told Reuters on May 25.

Discussions focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Iran’s central bank governor also joined the delegation to discuss the possible release of frozen Iranian funds under a final deal.

Separately, the semiofficial Iranian news agency Fars reported on May 25 that Qalibaf was reelected as Iran’s parliamentary speaker.

US President Donald Trump has said negotiations with Iran were “proceeding nicely” and urged several Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries to join the Abraham Accords as part of any future settlement with Tehran.

In a Truth Social post on May 25, Trump said any agreement with Iran would either be a “Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all,” warning that failure could mean a return “to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before.”

The Abraham Accords, first brokered during Trump’s previous administration in 2020, established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Trump said he had discussed the issue with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, and argued that most should “simultaneously” join the accords. He said participation should be considered mandatory for countries seeking inclusion in any broader settlement with Iran.

Trump also claimed regional leaders would be “honored” to eventually have Iran join the accords, calling the potential agreement an “unparalleled World Coalition.”

An Iranian court has issued death sentences to four men over the killing of a member of the pro-government Basij militia during the mass nationwide Women, Life, Freedom protests that rocked the country in 2022.

The case relates to an incident in Ekbatan, a western neighborhood of Tehran, in November of that year. Dozens of people were arrested after Arman Aliverdi was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters.

While some of those arrested were subsequently released, death sentences were announced in November 2024 for four defendants: Milad Armun, Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini, Mehdi Imani, and Navid Najjaran.

These sentences were overturned in September 2025, but have now been reinstated.

The US-based HRANA human rights group cited a source familiar with the case as saying the verdicts were verbally communicated to the defendants on May 24 without the presence of their lawyers -- making it impossible for them to appeal.

The 2022 protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, who died in custody after being arrested for violations of Iran’s dress code requiring women to cover their heads in public.

US President Donald Trump has again backed his efforts to negotiate a potential deal with Iran.

While criticizing Republican and Democratic opponents in a May 25 Truth Social post, he insisted that any agreement would be “great and meaningful or there will be no deal.”

He also stressed that any arrangement reached with Tehran would be unlike the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama.

Iran says that Tehran and Washington have reached understandings on many issues in talks aimed at ending the war that erupted on February 28, but cautioned that a final agreement was not close.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on May 25 that negotiators had reached conclusions on many of the issues under discussion, but no one can claim "that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent."

Baqaei said Iran was finalizing a 14-point framework focused primarily on ending the regional conflict, including fighting in Lebanon.

He stressed that Iran’s nuclear program -- a central concern for Washington -- would only be discussed after both sides agreed on the broader framework.

The proposed deal includes provisions to end the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and arrangements governing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has had de facto control over since the war began.

Tehran denied imposing tolls on ships using the crucial waterway, saying charges were only for “navigational services” and measures needed “to protect the environment”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously stated on May 21 that if Tehran implements a plan to charge fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, reaching a diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran would become impossible.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda and AFP

Iranian authorities have executed a man over charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in January, according to the judiciary's Mizan news agency.

Mizan identified the man as Abbas Akbari Feyzabadi and said he was convicted of intentional destruction of public property, disrupting public order and security, and conspiring to commit crimes against the country.

The judiciary's news agency claimed Akbari was among the "armed leaders" of protests in the Iranian central city of Naeen, alleging he took part in an attack on the governor's office and fired at security officers.

SEE ALSO:

Iran Has Carried Out Nearly 30 Political Executions Since Start Of US-Israel War

His trial conditions and access to legal representation remain unclear.

According to Mizan, the man was hanged in the morning on May 25.

The execution is the latest in an intensifying wave of hangings since March 18, weeks after the United States and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran.

Rights groups have condemned the trials of those executed.

The Oslo-based Center for Human Rights in Iran in April said many of the trials were marked by "torture, forced confessions, and the complete absence of due process."

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration says the US and Iran are closer to a nuclear agreement than at any point in recent years, even as senior officials insist a final deal is still days away and key details remain unresolved.

Speaking on a background call with reporters, senior administration officials described negotiations with Tehran as roughly “90-95 percent” complete, framing the emerging arrangement as fundamentally different from the Obama-era nuclear accord that President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term.

“It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals.”

Read the full story here.

Oil prices declined to two-week lows early on May 25 ⁠on renewed hopes that the US and Iran were moving closer toward a peace deal, even though they appeared to remain divided over key issues, including disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz that have ⁠restricted oil supply from the ‌Middle East.

Brent crude futures fell $4.71, or 4.6 percent, to $98.83 a barrel in initial trading, while US West Texas Intermediate was at $92.03 a barrel, down $4.57, or 4.7 percent. Both were at their lowest since May 7.

However, prices remain volatile, with each statement on progress on peace talks -- or lack thereof -- causing wild swings on oil markets.

Reuters quoted MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic as saying: "Notwithstanding all the caveats and risks that remain to ⁠the peace deal and Strait of Hormuz, ‌there is now some light at the end of the tunnel, which will bring some near-term oil price relief."

Analysts have noted, however, that even with a reopening of the crucial waterway, it will take months for oil flows to return to prewar levels and ‌for damaged oil and gas facilities to be repaired.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah militants of trying to plunge Lebanon "back into chaos."

Iran-backed Hezbollah is both a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by the US, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing.

The top US diplomat condemned what he called Hezbollah's "reckless call to overthrow Lebanon's democratically elected government" and said the Iran-allied militant group was "actively trying to drag Lebanon back into chaos and destruction."

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem earlier said that "the people have the right to go down onto the streets and to bring down the government" in response to Israeli strikes and US sanctions on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution, which is affiliated with Hezbollah and provides interest-free loans to mainly Shi'a Muslim communities.

Israel has continued to strike suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite a cease-fire that went into effect on April 17. Lebanon's civil defense agency said its regional facility in the southern city of Nabatieh had been destroyed during an Israeli strike.

With reporting by AFP