A US court will hold a sentencing hearing next week for two men convicted over an alleged Tehran-backed plot to kill Iranian dissident and journalist Masih Alinejad, she said on X on Thursday.
Alinejad said the hearing would take place in Manhattan on Wednesday and that she planned to appear in person.
She said she would come “face-to-face with the two Russian hitmen sent by Iran’s regime,” adding that she has survived one kidnapping and two assassination plots on US soil.
“I lost my Brooklyn home, my garden, my peace, but not my voice,” she wrote. “Transnational repression is dictatorship without borders. It must end.”
In March, a US jury found Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov guilty on all charges related to a plot to assassinate Alinejad.
The charges against them included murder for hire, firearms possession and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors said the convicted men, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, were members of the Russian mob. Their lawyers argued that they were innocent and evidence presented at trial was flawed.
Khalid Mehdiyev, a member of the Thieves in Law gang, said he received orders from the two to kill the journalist who uses her platform to expose the Islamic Republic’s repression.
As a government witness, who has made a deal with prosecutors, Mehdiyev pleaded guilty to attempted murder and gun charges, but Omarav and Amirov stood trial.
Alinejad, who has long criticized Iran’s compulsory hijab laws and its treatment of women, said she will speak at the sentencing not just for herself, but "for every woman who refuses to be afraid.”
“Iran welcomes the expansion of defense and industrial cooperation with friendly and independent countries, and Belarus holds a special place in this partnership,” Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told Belarus’s chairman of the State Authority for Military-Industrial Cooperation in a visit to Tehran, according to state media.
Iran and Belarus have both turned to Russia for economic and defense support amid harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, but advanced air defense systems provided by Moscow were likely destroyed in Israeli attacks last year.
Tehran has supplied Moscow with drones and ammunition for its invasion of Ukraine, while Minsk has hosted Russian troops and allowed its territory to be used as a launchpad for attacks.
Both governments see closer coordination with Russia as a counterweight to Western pressure.
Minsk and Moscow have been joined in a supranational Union State since 1999.
US sanctions on Belarus include prohibitions on transactions with key government entities such as the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, as well as restrictions on exports and re-exports.
Facing sanctions
Iran remains under broad US sanctions targeting its energy, financial and military sectors over its nuclear activities and arms transfers to Russia.
Following a 12-day war with Israel in June and the return of UN sanctions last month, Iran is seeking to rebuild its economy and strengthen its military readiness.
Western countries have called for Tehran to engage in renewed diplomacy with Washington and restored access to international nuclear inspectors.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Russia would help Iran meet its military needs even after European-triggered international sanctions further restricted trade with Tehran.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, decried the attacks in June as illegal and say US demands that Tehran rein in its defense capabilities are unacceptable.
Mohammad Noursalehi, head of Isfahan’s City Council, told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that the Zayandehrud Dam -- the main source of water for central Iran -- is reaching critically low levels.
“If the current trend continues, even drinking water for citizens will be at risk within the next 45 days,” he said.
According to Noursalehi,the dam is releasing several times more water than it receives, and much of that flow never reaches Isfahan’s main treatment plant because a large portion is diverted or lost along the route through both legal and illegal withdrawals.
Five million people at risk
He warned that more than five million people in Isfahan, Yazd, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Qom provinces depend on the Zayandehrud for drinking, agricultural, and industrial water.
“This is no longer just an agricultural or industrial problem. People’s drinking water is in danger,” he said, calling for the immediate suspension of non-drinking water use.
Noursalehi urged the government to accelerate long-stalled water transfer projects such as the Kouhrang-3 tunnel and the southern Isfahan pipeline, saying that decades of delay had compounded the crisis.
“If these projects had been completed on time, we would not be facing this situation today,” he said.
The council head also warned of severe environmental consequences, noting that the complete drying of the Gavkhouni Wetland -- once a UNESCO-listed ecosystem -- threatens the region’s biodiversity.
Land subsidence is already visible across Isfahan’s plains, Noursalehi said, warning that groundwater depletion has caused the ground to sink in several northern districts, prompting the evacuation of some schools.
“If this continues, Isfahan’s centuries-old monuments could face serious structural threats,” he said.
Officials in Iran have recently acknowledged that 19 major dams across the country are below 20 percent of capacity, with some hydropower plants -- including Tehran’s Amir Kabir Dam -- forced to halt operations.
Environmental researchers say the country is nearing “water bankruptcy,” driven by decades of overuse, unscientific dam-building, and poor water management.
Autumn remains dry, reservoirs at record lows
The first month of autumn passed with almost no rainfall across most provinces, according to the national meteorological organization. Officials said precipitation this year has dropped up to 45% below seasonal averages, leaving many regions facing possible rationing of drinking water.
Ahad Vazifeh, head of the National Center for Climate and Drought Crisis Management, said on Thursday that “no significant rain is forecast for at least the next three weeks,” warning that water shortages in major cities, including Tehran and Isfahan, will persist.
“Even if winter brings above-average rain, it will not compensate for the current deficit,” he said.
Government data show that total water stored in Iran’s 193 main dams has fallen to 17.6 billion cubic meters -- just 34% of full capacity and down nearly a quarter from last year.
Inflows since the start of the new water year have dropped 39%, while the outflow from reservoirs has declined by 29%.
The Zayandehrud dam in Isfahan is now only 13% full, the Lar dam near Tehran 2%, and the Independence dam in Hormozgan 6%, according to the Energy Ministry.
Many southern and central reservoirs have reached “dead storage” levels, rendering water unusable for supply or power generation.
Experts say Iran’s worsening drought, coupled with climate change and policy missteps, is transforming water shortages into a potential national security concern. Hundreds of villages now rely on water deliveries by tanker, while protests over shortages have erupted periodically in several provinces.
