Syrian security forces arrested a former protocol officer at Deir ez-Zor airport in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border on charges of drug trafficking and antiquities smuggling, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.
The Observatory said Mohammad Saleh Hamidi also led a militia faction affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
Security forces raided his home before detaining him for questioning over his alleged involvement in smuggling operations.
Images published after his arrest show a tattoo of slain IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani on his arm.
Experts say the Middle East in the last decade has witnessed a surge in drug manufacturing and trafficking, largely fueled by the Syrian conflict, in which the Iran-backed toppled government of President Bashar al-Assad played a key role.
Smuggling operations allegedly facilitated by Iran-linked militias channel Captagon - a drug combining amphetamines and caffeine - into Persian Gulf countries, providing an important revenue stream for sanctioned armed groups.
Hamid Aboutalebi, a political adviser to Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani urged President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to seize the opportunity for comprehensive negotiations with the Trump administration.
Amid the usual rhetoric and slogans repeated by various Iranian politicians following Trump's remarks, Aboutalebi’s comments stood out as more novel and pragmatic.
Referring to Trump's mooted openness to talks with his political counterpart, Aboutalebi suggested in a post on X that the Iranian president should call Trump to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Trump offered to speak his Iranian counterpart after issuing a memorandum this week ramping up sanctions under a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.
Iran's president on Wednesday played down the memorandum aimed at reducing Tehran's oil exports to zero but offered no reaction after Trump said he was willing to speak with his Iranian counterpart.
Aboutalebi warned Araghchi that potentially renewed United Nations sanctions could devastate an already struggling economy and accused the foreign minister of sapping the government's will for talks with intransigent statements.
"Despite claims to the contrary, Pezeshkian's lack of urgency suggests he has sidelined foreign policy and the issue of lifting sanctions," he wrote.
"At the same time, your opposition to negotiations, your warnings to officials who support diplomacy, and your dismissive attitude toward President Trump have only contributed to Pezeshkian's indifference."
Araghchi’s recent public comments have been interpreted by some media outlets in Tehran as unhelpful and dismissive toward opening talks with President Trump.
Aboutalebi was appointed as Iran's ambassador to the UN delegation in New York in 2013, but the United States denied him a visa, citing his alleged involvement in the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran.
Despite his alleged role in the embassy seizure, Aboutalebi later emerged as a moderate politician by the theocracy's standards and served as the political deputy to Rouhani's chief of staff.
Aboutalebi praised the approach taken by Mexican and Canadian officials in responding to Trump's executive order on tariffs, noting that "while Trump took a hardline approach by issuing executive orders against America's allies in Canada and Mexico, he opted for a much softer measure with Iran by issuing an executive memorandum."
He suggested Iran could adopt a similar strategy to ease tensions with the United States, which may worsen once the US government steps up sanctions.
Sadegh Zibakalam, a public intellectual and vocal critic of Tehran hardliners, published an essay asking what Iran has gained with 46 years of confrontation with the United States.
“No one is suggesting, nor does anyone even consider, that we should become subservient to the United States, blindly accepting whatever they dictate and becoming dependent on them," Zibakalam argued.
"This is a completely incorrect interpretation. Rather, the goal is to ease tensions and conflicts and move toward an environment of engagement.”
Still, government officials appeared in no rush to bless the idea of talks.
Vice President Mohammad Aref said Wednesday, "Talks between Pezeshkian and Trump are not on the agenda of the Islamic Republic."
Meanwhile, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani offered little more than a reiteration of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy principles: dignity, wisdom, and prudence—whatever those may entail.
The vessel, called the Martyr Bahman Baqeri, could mark an advance in the Islamic Republic's ability to project force in the strategic waterway through which much of the world's energy exports pass and beyond.
"The addition of this warship to the IRGC Navy fleet is a significant step in increasing Iran’s defensive and deterrent capabilities in distant waters and securing the country’s national interests," said Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC navy.
General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said the vessel would help assure the country of "decisive victory" should conflict be imposed upon it.
"Development and progress on the coasts, islands, across the country, and at sea requires protection against the greed and threats of foreigners and enemies of this nation, and the armed forces bear this heavy responsibility.”
A joint statement by the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urging Iran to relinquish control of three islands in the Persian Gulf Iran has possessed since 1971 stoked outrage in Tehran.
IRGC vessels have taken control of several ships traveling in the waterway in recent years as tensions over US-led sanctions have simmered.
Iran has been conducting multiple military exercises in recent weeks to project strength following months of punishing military blows by Israel.
The maneuvers include air defense drills near nuclear sites including Natanz and a 110,000-strong mobilization in Tehran of Basij militiamen who have repeatedly quashed protest uprisings which threatened clerical rule.
