A senior member in Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office said on Thursday that Iran's leader views talks with the United States as acceptable if they mitigate threats to the country and advanced its interests.
Joe Bennett said his mother, Lindsay Foreman, told him in a brief phone call that “not eating was the only power she’s got.” The call, he said, ended without warning. Foreman and her husband, Craig, were arrested in January while travelling through Iran on a motorbike tour and deny the charges.
The family says the pair entered the country with valid visas, a licensed guide and a cleared itinerary, but were detained after Foreman asked locals routine questions for a personal project. Both were first held in Kerman, where they spent 30 days in solitary confinement, before being transferred to separate cells in Evin.
Bennett said his mother is isolated among inmates who do not speak English, while his stepfather is suffering from an untreated tooth abscess. He said the couple had been promised a visit with each other last Sunday, but it did not take place.
The couple were tried in October as tensions between Tehran and European capitals deepened following new nuclear-related sanctions. Rights groups say their case fits a wider pattern of detentions used to gain political leverage, an accusation Iran denies.
Bennett has urged officials to secure the pair’s release and said the charges against them are “completely bonkers.” He said the couple had praised Iran before their arrest, calling it “a beautiful country.”
Jamaran news website said the incident occurred in the capital's subway system, but provided no names, charges, or further details on the arrests.
A video circulating on social media showed the pair unfurling the green-white-red banner emblazoned with the Lion and Sun emblem— a potent symbol of the ousted Pahlavi monarchy and frequent emblem in anti-government protests—on a crowded platform.
Bystanders film as the men, in camouflage fatigues, pose defiantly amid commuters.
The Jamaran report said they were wearing imitation military uniforms. Iran International cannot independently verify whether they were members of the armed forces.
Jamaran said metro security forces swiftly intervened, detaining the duo for "disrupting public order."
The pre-revolution flag, banned under the Islamic Republic, has surged in visibility during nationwide unrest, from the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests to recent economic demonstrations, representing calls for secular governance and fundamental change.
'Call to action'
Another video surfaced on social media on Wednesday showing a man introducing himself as Colonel Ebrahim Aghaei Kamazani, delivering a speech to the people of Iran and calling on them to act.
“The fact is that we, the people of Iran, have handed our country over to the enemy for 47 years. People of Iran, come to Iran's aid. The criminal regime has done nothing but create poverty, vice, and Iran's destruction,” the man is heard saying.
“We too are playing a role in the country's destruction through our indifference. Rise up on November 25. People, hear your son's voice. Long live the Shah; long live Iran,” he said.
The comments by Mehdi Fazaeli, a political analyst and member of the Office for the Preservation and Publication of the Works of the Supreme Leader, were a rare nod to the idea of dialogue with Tehran's arch-enemy from the theocrat's circle.
He is widely regarded as among the few officials authorized to interpret Khamenei's views.
Talks were ended by a surprise Israeli military campaign on Iran in June capped off by US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. The negotiations have not resumed despite US entreaties as Khamenei led senior officials in accusing Washington of perfidy and aggression.
"Negotiations with the United States are not absolutely forbidden, but are only allowed if they are conditional, closely controlled, and in line with the system’s higher interests," Fazaeli told a diplomacy forum at Baqir al-Ulum University in the holy city of Qom, describing Khamenei's position. "No strategic trust in the United States exists."
"The Supreme Leader does not reject negotiations per se," he added, "but evaluates them based on their purpose and framework. Negotiations that imply retreat are unacceptable, but controlled, intelligent talks aimed at averting threats are permissible."
Despite what he described as deep strategic mistrust, Fazaeli said Khamenei has at times allowed narrow, issue-specific contacts “to safeguard higher national interests,” citing earlier talks on Iraq, Afghanistan and the nuclear issues.
Khamenei, 86, came out strongly against renewing talks with the United States after the June war killed hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks had killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
"The Americans sometimes say they would like to cooperate with Iran. Cooperation with Iran is not possible as long as the United States continues to support the accursed Zionist regime, maintains military bases, and interferes in the region," he said in a speech earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said last month that the United States was ready to reach a deal “when Tehran is ready,” saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is open.”
The United States wants Iran to halt domestic enrichment and rein in its missile program and support for armed allies in the region.
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon citing a religious decree by Khamenei, rejects giving up its nuclear activities and has said discussions on its defense posture are a non-starter.
Fazaeli said Khamenei’s order against nuclear arms “is a ruling that remains fixed and cannot be changed,” adding that it bars “production, stockpiling and use”
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had not been able to check Iran’s enriched uranium stock for five months because Tehran has not allowed inspectors to reach the seven sites bombed in June. It said verification is “long overdue” and that it has lost “continuity of knowledge” of Iran’s nuclear material.
Before the attacks, inspectors had confirmed Iran held about 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote to UN chief António Guterres on Wednesday saying Trump publicly admitted to directing Israel’s initial strikes on Iran, demanding the United Nations extract reparations from Washington.
