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Notorious Iranian prison boss flees minutes before Israeli airstrikes after secret warning
Notorious Iranian prison boss flees minutes before Israeli airstrikes after secret warning

Fox News

time3 hours ago

  • Politics
  • Fox News

Notorious Iranian prison boss flees minutes before Israeli airstrikes after secret warning

EXCLUSIVE – The notorious director of Tehran's brutal Evin Prison, Hedayatollah Farzadi, escaped the compound ahead of Israeli strikes following threats to his life – and an alleged exchange between Jerusalem and his adult son. Israeli authorities reportedly contacted Amir Husseini Farzadi, telling him that if he convinced his father to release political prisoners, his life would be spared in the impending attack. According to a series of WhatsApp messages shared with Fox News Digital by an Israeli intel source, an agent instructed Amir to tell his father to open the prison's doors, warning that an attack would occur within "a few minutes." Amir asked whether something had already happened to his father, and the Israeli agent replied that it wouldn't – if he passed the message along. The source told Fox News Digitial that after receiving the message, Amir contacted his uncle, who then drove to the prison to get his father, Farzadi. The two were seen speeding away from the area moments before the airstrikes began. Farzadi has not been heard from since, according to the source. Farzadi, who has been the director of Evin Prison since 2022, has been accused of committing egregious human rights violations, including the torture and murder of inmates, many of whom are political dissidents. Allegations against him include beatings, starvation, sexual violence against female prisoners and murder. He has been sanctioned by both the U.S. and the European Union. The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated Farzadi under the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which prohibits U.S. entities and individuals from dealing with him. "Numerous protesters have been sent to Evin Prison during the latest round of protests where they have been subjected to torture and other forms of physical abuse," the Treasury Department wrote in a statement. Prior to his time at Evin Prison, Farzadi spent 10 years working at Dizel Abad Prison, where he "was known to organize public amputations of criminals convicted of petty crimes," the Treasury Department wrote. The department also noted that during his time as director of the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, also known as Fashafouyeh Prison, Farzadi "oversaw the torture and maltreatment" of inmates. In its April 2025 announcement of sanctions against Ferzadi, as well as other entities and individuals, the EU condemned "the use of the judiciary as a tool for arbitrary detention" in Iran. The EU also noted that Iran saw a "dramatic increase in the number of executions" in 2024, which included women, minorities and European citizens. However, the EU did not specify how many of those executed were political dissidents. "Freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of religion or belief, as well as freedom of assembly have been increasingly restricted, and threatening measures have been taken against human rights defenders, journalists and political dissidents," the EU wrote.

EXCLUSIVE The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America
EXCLUSIVE The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America

Daily Mail​

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America

Two days before American B-2 stealth bombers dropped the biggest payload of explosives since World War II on Iran, trucks were seen lining up outside the primary target at Fordow. Satellite images showed scores of cargo vehicles outside a tunnel entrance to Iran's key nuclear base inside a mountain. Donald Trump has insisted that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program was destroyed in the precision strikes, an assessment backed by the CIA and Israeli intelligence. But there was also a frantic effort to move centrifuges and highly enriched uranium before US bombers attacked, the key question for the Pentagon now is: where did it go? One possibility, according to experts, is a secret facility buried even deeper under another mountain 90 miles south of Fordow: 'Mount Doom.' In Farsi, the potential new ground zero for Iran's nuclear program is Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, otherwise known in English as 'Pickaxe Mountain,' located in the Zagros Mountains in central Iran on the outskirts of one of the regime's other nuclear sites at Natanz. 'It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to secret or hardened locations prior to the recent strikes - including possibly to facilities near Pickaxe Mountain,' Christoph Bluth, professor of international relations and security at the University of Bradford, told the Daily Mail. Previous intelligence had showed 'large tunnels being bored into the mountain, with possible infrastructure for an advanced enrichment facility,' he claimed. 'The site may be buried 100 meters below the surface. So it is conceivable that advanced centrifuge cascades have been hidden there, but there is no specific evidence at this time to confirm where centrifuges and fissile material has been moved to.' A satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 19, 2025, shows trucks positioned near the entrance of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant Previous satellite images have shown heavy construction at Pickaxe, and Iran reportedly dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when asked what was occurring in the bowels of the mountain. Experts have suggested that, if there was a centrifuge hall being built there, it could be bigger than Fordow. The site has four tunnel entrances, each is 20 feet wide by 26 feet high, and experts who have analyzed satellite data suggest its tunnels could go well beyond 382 feet deep, further underground than Fordow. 'It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,' said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. According to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, the Iranian regime may have moved about 880lbs of uranium that was being stored in casks the size of scuba tanks and was transportable by vehicles. If material from Fordow was hauled to Pickaxe Mountain, it would have likely been driven for two hours along Iran's Route 7 freeway. The emergence of Pickaxe Mountain comes amid a furious row within the Trump administration over the impact of Saturday's strikes on Fordow and two other Iranian nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. A preliminary US intelligence assessment determined with 'low confidence' that Iran's nuclear program was only set back by a matter of months. The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's main intelligence arm, which is one of 18 US intelligence agencies. However, the classified assessment is at odds with that of President Trump and high-ranking US officials who said the three sites had been 'obliterated.' Weapons expert David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, concluded the centrifuge halls at Fordow were destroyed by the numerous 30,000lb bombs the US dropped. A video shows a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) 'buster bunker' bomb just before hitting a target during a Pentagon test After viewing satellite images, he said the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) were dropped at one end of the centrifuge hall, and on a ventilator shaft. 'Basically, what you have is a very big explosion that will blow one way and then perpendicular,' he concluded. 'It would have destroyed the inside of that centrifuge plant. 'We believe that the MOP went into the hall. We think those centrifuges have been mostly destroyed. I think these reports that somehow there weren't centrifuges taken out are just incorrect.' Albright added: 'It is pretty devastating. A lot of their above-ground facilities that are a critical part of the centrifuge program have been destroyed. A lot of what really is left is sort of what I call the residuals or the remnants of the program.' Iran likely lost nearly 20,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, he estimated, creating a 'major bottleneck' for any attempt to restart its nuclear program. Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the nonproliferation and biodefense program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, concluded that, for Iran, 'weaponization may be impossible for the foreseeable future.' But, she added: 'Washington and Jerusalem must act swiftly to eliminate any of Tehran's remaining HEU stocks, advanced centrifuges, and weaponization capabilities.

Experts: The Iran secret Trump is keeping from the world
Experts: The Iran secret Trump is keeping from the world

Daily Mail​

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Daily Mail​

Experts: The Iran secret Trump is keeping from the world

Two days before American B-2 stealth bombers dropped the biggest payload of explosives since World War II on Iran , trucks were seen lining up outside the primary target at Fordow. Satellite images showed scores of cargo vehicles outside a tunnel entrance to Iran's key nuclear base inside a mountain. Donald Trump has insisted that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program was destroyed in the precision strikes, an assessment backed by the CIA and Israeli intelligence. But there was also a frantic effort to move centrifuges and highly enriched uranium before US bombers attacked, the key question for the Pentagon now is: where did it go? One possibility, according to experts, is a secret facility buried even deeper under another mountain 90 miles south of Fordow: 'Mount Doom.' In Farsi, the potential new ground zero for Iran's nuclear program is Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, otherwise known in English as 'Pickaxe Mountain,' located in the Zagros Mountains in central Iran on the outskirts of one of the regime's other nuclear sites at Natanz. 'It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to secret or hardened locations prior to the recent strikes - including possibly to facilities near Pickaxe Mountain,' Christoph Bluth, professor of international relations and security at the University of Bradford, told the Daily Mail. Previous intelligence had showed 'large tunnels being bored into the mountain, with possible infrastructure for an advanced enrichment facility,' he claimed. 'The site may be buried 100 meters below the surface. So it is conceivable that advanced centrifuge cascades have been hidden there, but there is no specific evidence at this time to confirm where centrifuges and fissile material has been moved to.' Previous satellite images have shown heavy construction at Pickaxe, and Iran reportedly dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when asked what was occurring in the bowels of the mountain. Experts have suggested that, if there was a centrifuge hall being built there, it could be bigger than Fordow. The site has four tunnel entrances, each is 20 feet wide by 26 feet high, and experts who have analyzed satellite data suggest its tunnels could go well beyond 382 feet deep, further underground than Fordow. 'It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,' said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. According to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, the Iranian regime may have moved about 880lbs of uranium that was being stored in casks the size of scuba tanks and was transportable by vehicles. If material from Fordow was hauled to Pickaxe Mountain, it would have likely been driven for two hours along Iran's Route 7 freeway. The emergence of Pickaxe Mountain comes amid a furious row within the Trump administration over the impact of Saturday's strikes on Fordow and two other Iranian nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. A preliminary US intelligence assessment determined with 'low confidence' that Iran's nuclear program was only set back by a matter of months. The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's main intelligence arm, which is one of 18 US intelligence agencies. However, the classified assessment is at odds with that of President Trump and high-ranking US officials who said the three sites had been 'obliterated.' Weapons expert David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, concluded the centrifuge halls at Fordow were destroyed by the numerous 30,000lb bombs the US dropped. After viewing satellite images, he said the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) were dropped at one end of the centrifuge hall, and on a ventilator shaft. 'Basically, what you have is a very big explosion that will blow one way and then perpendicular,' he concluded. 'It would have destroyed the inside of that centrifuge plant. 'We believe that the MOP went into the hall. We think those centrifuges have been mostly destroyed. I think these reports that somehow there weren't centrifuges taken out are just incorrect.' Albright added: 'It is pretty devastating. A lot of their above-ground facilities that are a critical part of the centrifuge program have been destroyed. A lot of what really is left is sort of what I call the residuals or the remnants of the program.' Iran likely lost nearly 20,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, he estimated, creating a 'major bottleneck' for any attempt to restart its nuclear program. Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the nonproliferation and biodefense program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, concluded that, for Iran, 'weaponization may be impossible for the foreseeable future.' But, she added: 'Washington and Jerusalem must act swiftly to eliminate any of Tehran's remaining HEU stocks, advanced centrifuges, and weaponization capabilities. 'Iran may have relocated its highly enriched uranium - key stocks for fueling a nuclear weapon - to secret sites prior to US or Israeli airstrikes targeting its nuclear facilities. While recovering this HEU is imperative, Iran likely lacks the option to build nuclear weapons in the short term.'

China warned to watch for security threats as Israeli spies in Iran open ‘Pandora's box'
China warned to watch for security threats as Israeli spies in Iran open ‘Pandora's box'

South China Morning Post

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • South China Morning Post

China warned to watch for security threats as Israeli spies in Iran open ‘Pandora's box'

Israel's unprecedented success in infiltrating Iranian intelligence has opened up a 'Pandora's box' of global security threats, Chinese observers have warned, while urging China to tighten all national security measures against any vulnerabilities. According to Chinese military analyst and former air force member Fu Qianshao, one striking feature of the Middle East conflict is the critical role played by Israeli intelligence agents embedded in Iran. Israel's Mossad intelligence agency reportedly used spies and agents to smuggle armed drones and precision weapons into Iran in a prolonged operation, effectively creating a covert drone base within Iranian territory. When Israel launched its overnight strikes on June 13, these prepositioned assets helped to swiftly disable much of Iran's air defences and missile system. By the time Iran put together a response hours later, its ability to retaliate had been greatly diminished. The Israeli air strikes targeted key nuclear sites in Iran and killed at least four senior Iranian military commanders and six nuclear scientists. Fu said the tactic of having spies disable Iran's radars and ground-to-air missile systems, allowing Israeli fighter jets to enter Iranian airspace almost unchallenged, was 'a tactic belonging to a new form of warfare, and in many ways has opened a Pandora's box'.

The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America
The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America

Daily Mail​

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Daily Mail​

The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America

Two days before American B-2 stealth bombers dropped the biggest payload of explosives since World War II on Iran, trucks were seen lining up outside the primary target at Fordow. Satellite images showed scores of cargo vehicles outside a tunnel entrance to Iran's key nuclear base inside a mountain. Donald Trump has insisted that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program was destroyed in the precision strikes, an assessment backed by the CIA and Israeli intelligence. But there was also a frantic effort to move centrifuges and highly enriched uranium before US bombers attacked, the key question for the Pentagon now is: where did it go? One possibility, according to experts, is a secret facility buried even deeper under another mountain 90 miles south of Fordow: 'Mount Doom.' In Farsi, the potential new ground zero for Iran's nuclear program is Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, otherwise known in English as 'Pickaxe Mountain,' located in the Zagros Mountains in central Iran on the outskirts of one of the regime's other nuclear sites at Natanz. 'It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to secret or hardened locations prior to the recent strikes - including possibly to facilities near Pickaxe Mountain,' Christoph Bluth, professor of international relations and security at the University of Bradford, told the Daily Mail. Previous intelligence had showed 'large tunnels being bored into the mountain, with possible infrastructure for an advanced enrichment facility,' he claimed. 'The site may be buried 100 meters below the surface. So it is conceivable that advanced centrifuge cascades have been hidden there, but there is no specific evidence at this time to confirm where centrifuges and fissile material has been moved to.' Previous satellite images have shown heavy construction at Pickaxe, and Iran reportedly dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when asked what was occurring in the bowels of the mountain. Experts have suggested that, if there was a centrifuge hall being built there, it could be bigger than Fordow. The site has four tunnel entrances, each is 20 feet wide by 26 feet high, and experts who have analyzed satellite data suggest its tunnels could go well beyond 382 feet deep, further underground than Fordow. 'It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,' said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. According to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, the Iranian regime may have moved about 880lbs of uranium that was being stored in casks the size of scuba tanks and was transportable by vehicles. If material from Fordow was hauled to Pickaxe Mountain, it would have likely been driven for two hours along Iran's Route 7 freeway. The emergence of Pickaxe Mountain comes amid a furious row within the Trump administration over the impact of Saturday's strikes on Fordow and two other Iranian nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. A preliminary US intelligence assessment determined with 'low confidence' that Iran's nuclear program was only set back by a matter of months. The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's main intelligence arm, which is one of 18 US intelligence agencies. However, the classified assessment is at odds with that of President Trump and high-ranking US officials who said the three sites had been 'obliterated.' Weapons expert David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, concluded the centrifuge halls at Fordow were destroyed by the numerous 30,000lb bombs the US dropped. After viewing satellite images, he said the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) were dropped at one end of the centrifuge hall, and on a ventilator shaft. 'Basically, what you have is a very big explosion that will blow one way and then perpendicular,' he concluded. 'It would have destroyed the inside of that centrifuge plant. 'We believe that the MOP went into the hall. We think those centrifuges have been mostly destroyed. I think these reports that somehow there weren't centrifuges taken out are just incorrect.' Albright added: 'It is pretty devastating. A lot of their above-ground facilities that are a critical part of the centrifuge program have been destroyed. A lot of what really is left is sort of what I call the residuals or the remnants of the program.' Iran likely lost nearly 20,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, he estimated, creating a 'major bottleneck' for any attempt to restart its nuclear program. Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the nonproliferation and biodefense program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, concluded that, for Iran, 'weaponization may be impossible for the foreseeable future.' But, she added: 'Washington and Jerusalem must act swiftly to eliminate any of Tehran's remaining HEU stocks, advanced centrifuges, and weaponization capabilities. 'Iran may have relocated its highly enriched uranium - key stocks for fueling a nuclear weapon - to secret sites prior to US or Israeli airstrikes targeting its nuclear facilities. While recovering this HEU is imperative, Iran likely lacks the option to build nuclear weapons in the short term.'

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