Brief Notes

Military Complex Employee Sentenced to 12 Years: Ghodratollah Jooyar, a 33-year-old employed at the Parchin military complex in Tehran Province, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Military Court of Tehran. Detained since June 20, 2025, during the 12-Day War, he faced multiple charges, including “insulting the Supreme Leader,” “attempting espionage,” and “offenses related to drugs and alcohol.” A source close to his family told human rights outlets that the Military Court sentenced Jooyar to seven years imprisonment for political and security-related charges and five years for the other offenses. The source also said Jooyar was arrested at his home without a judicial warrant and has since been held in a military detention facility in Tehran, denied access to both his family and his lawyer.

Friday Prayer Imam: Regime Will ‘Break the Horns’ of the U.S.

Tehran Friday Prayer Imam Ahmad Khatami said, during his sermon today, that the Islamic Republic “will not surrender” to U.S. “bullying,” dismissing President Donald Trump’s claim of wanting to make a deal with Tehran as nothing more than a demand for “surrender.” Khatami’s sermon was broadcast live throughout Iran. He added, “If the world wants to know the real terrorist, that person is Trump.” Khatami said Trump’s “claim of friendship with the Iranian nation is also a blatant lie” and asked, “Who are you to make decisions about other countries’ nuclear industries?” Referring to the U.S., he said, “The Iranian nation will break the horns of this wild bull.” Khatami’s comments come after Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani yesterday rejected Western demands to limit the Islamic Republic’s missile range below 500 kilometers (~300 miles), saying it “essentially means surrender” and that “national security and the interests of all depend upon this missile capability.” Larijani added that Tehran had negotiated extensively to prevent the snapback of UN sanctions, but has been left with “no choice but to resist.” Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to reporters, warned the IAEA that “repeating a failed experience will only result in another failure.”

On the Radar

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei condemned Israeli strikes on eastern and southern Lebanon, carried out yesterday and today respectively, as “terrorist crimes” and a “continued violation” of Israel’s ceasefire with Tehran-backed Hezbollah. In a statement on the ministry’s Telegram account, he claimed that Israel’s ongoing attacks and “impunity” were the “result of the comprehensive support of the United States” and evidence of its “terrorist and hegemonic nature.” Baghaei further urged the international community and the UN Security Council to “confront the lawlessness and crimes of the Zionist regime.”
Baghaei “strongly condemned” Israel’s recent parliamentary move toward annexing the West Bank, calling it “a clear violation” of the UN Charter’s principles. Members of the Knesset, on October 22, gave preliminary approval to a bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank. Baghaei denounced the bill as part of Israel’s “colonial and criminal expansionism,” accusing the country of “continuously violating international law and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” adding that it “confirms this regime’s plan for comprehensive ethnic cleansing throughout occupied Palestine.”