Ali Larijani, the newly reinstated head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, concluded a controversial visit to Beirut. The trip, coming amid accelerated Lebanese efforts to disarm Hezbollah, saw sharp criticism from Lebanon’s leadership over what they described as Iranian meddling in the country’s internal affairs. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun firmly rejected any foreign intervention and insisted that only the Lebanese state may bear arms, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned recent Iranian statements of support for the group as violations of diplomatic norms and intrusions into Lebanon’s sovereignty. By contrast, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah-aligned MP Ali al-Miqdad welcomed Larijani and praised Iran’s backing. Larijani, who visited Hezbollah’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah’s tomb, lauded Hezbollah for its great influence and expressed solidarity with the movement and promised to always support it.
Iran has reportedly intensified its readiness for a potential new conflict. Former diplomat,Amir Mousavi, said that Iran has completed preparations across its military, security, and even social infrastructure in anticipation of another conflict with the United States and Israel. He also stressed that the country is fully equipped with enough food to sustain itself. On the military front, Tehran has reinforced air defenses around critical sites and deepened cooperation with Moscow. Observers have reported movements of Russian “Krasukha” electronic warfare units, capable of jamming communications and radar over vast distances, into or within Iran.
Britain, France, and Germany delivered a joint letter to the United Nations warning that they stood ready to invoke the “snapback” mechanism on Iran unless the country resumed nuclear negotiations by the end of August 2025. The snapback is a provision under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that would automatically reimpose full UN sanctions on Iran. The letter emphasized that sanctions relief granted under the 2015 deal would be rapidly revoked if Iran failed to engage constructively. Iranian lawmakers, including former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, reacted by threatening to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) within “24 hours” should the snapback be triggered. Officials previously declared that such a move would elicit a “proportionate and appropriate response,” framing the snapback as both illegal and an existential threat to Iran’s economy. Parliament is also drafting legislation to formalize an NPT exit, linking the threat to recent Israeli strikes and IAEA criticism. A senior Iranian official is quoted as saying “The Islamic Republic does not have the financial or military capacity to endure the snapback of UN sanctions. It would make the people protest again and this time it might be different” and stating about the sanctions that “They are more damaging than war”. He added that “The Supreme National Security Council has asked the presidential office to find a way for talks before it is too late.”
Following President Masoud Pezeshkian’s stark warning that Iran faces an unprecedented water emergency, lamenting that “today we have no water beneath our feet or behind our dams”, his words were met with fierce criticism from Tehran MP Hamid Rasaei, who dismissed him as being “ignorant at best” and accused him of offering unwitting “assists to the enemy,” questioning whether he even possesses the political competence for his office. Additionally, a group of 24 conservative parliamentarians later issued a public letter charging that Pezeshkian’s remarks, particularly those aired during an interview with Tucker Carlson, undermined national unity and sent a message of weakness that emboldens Iran’s adversaries. In contrast, others in political and expert circles echoed Pezeshkian’s sense of urgency, particularly his calls for “immediate and serious” action to solve the crisis.
