Man arrested for using Starlink dies after beating by Iran security forces
Hesam Alaeddin, a 40-year-old man detained in Tehran over his alleged use of Starlink satellite internet equipment to bypass the digital blackout, died after being severely beaten by government agents, a source familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Alaeddin was violently arrested and, after dozens of days, his family was told to collect his body, the source said.
He had gone to a hospital to follow up on the condition of his brother, Hamid Alaeddin, who had been shot during protests. Some of Hesam Alaeddin’s electronic devices were seized there.
A week later, when he went to retrieve the devices and follow up on the matter, he was arrested and taken to his home for questioning and a search, according to the source.
He was severely beaten at his home with various objects and died there, but authorities concealed his death and treated him as if he were still a living detainee.
Hesam Alaeddin was a relative of Ahmad Alaeddin, one of the owners of Tehran’s famous Alaeddin shopping center.
US President Donald Trump says he is not satisfied about Iran's latest proposal, which was delivered via Pakistani mediators on Friday.
"We just had a conversation with Iran. Let's see what happens, but I would say that I'm not happy... They've got to come up with the right deal. At this moment, I'm not satisfied with what they're offering," he told reporters.
He praised Pakistan's mediation efforts, saying negotiations by phone were continuing.
"They've made strides, but I'm not sure if they ever get there," Trump said. "They're asking for things that I can't agree to."
.@POTUS: "We just had a conversation with Iran. Let's see what happens, but I would say that I'm not happy... They've got to come up with the right deal. At this moment, I'm not satisfied with what they're offering." https://t.co/5WDUtIk1i5pic.twitter.com/UoOYeRwIaM
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 1, 2026
The US Treasury Department sanctioned three Iranian currency exchange houses and a network of associated front companies on Friday, saying they help the Islamic Republic convert oil revenues and sustain its war effort.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations target Opal Exchange, Radin Exchange and Tahayyori Guarantee Society, also known as Arz Iran Exchange, along with their owners and associates.
“Iran is the head of the snake for global terrorism, and under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is moving aggressively, through Economic Fury, to sever the Iranian military’s financial lifelines,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
“We will relentlessly target the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds, and pursue anyone enabling Tehran’s attempts to evade sanctions,” he added.
The Treasury said Iranian exchange houses facilitate billions of dollars in foreign currency transactions each year and play a critical role because Tehran primarily settles its oil sales in Chinese yuan. The department said the exchange houses help convert those revenues into currencies more usable by Iran’s military, partners and proxies.
OFAC said Iran’s shadow banking networks handle tens of billions of dollars in trade annually, much of it linked to overseas oil and petrochemical sales.
The sanctioned individuals include Pedram Pirouzan, Hossein Mohammad Rezaei, Masoud Mohammad Rezaei, Nasser Ghasemi Rad and Ehsan Tahayyori.
The Treasury said Pirouzan and Ghasemi Rad used citizenship from Dominica and Saint Kitts and Nevis, respectively, to obscure their Iranian ties while setting up foreign front companies and bank accounts.
OFAC also designated a series of front companies, including entities registered in jurisdictions such as the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere, saying they helped Iranian exchange houses conduct transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of sanctioned Iranian persons.
Since February 2025, OFAC has sanctioned more than 1,000 Iran-related individuals, vessels and aircraft as part of the campaign, the Treasury said.
“The enemy should know that we will not let them go and will avenge Khamenei and every single person killed,” Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Mohammad-Javad Haj Ali-Akbari said.
“We have still not taken revenge for Qassem Soleimani, and we have many things to do,” he said during his sermon in Tehran.
He also praised Iran’s negotiating team, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, saying they had rejected the enemy’s demands.
“We thank the negotiating team and its head, Mr. Ghalibaf, and the foreign minister for rejecting the enemy,” Haj Ali-Akbari said. “If Haj Bagher manages to fire at the heart of Satan with his missile of diplomacy, all the better. Otherwise, Seyed Majid (Mousavi) will fire at the heart of Satan with his launcher and real missile,” he said, referring to the IRGC aerospace commander.
Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was founded by brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, members of a powerful clerical and political dynasty closely tied to the country’s leadership, Reuters reported on Friday.
The brothers are the grandsons of an ayatollah who taught Iran’s current supreme leader and later served on the Assembly of Experts. Their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, founded a political-religious group and was involved with early Revolutionary Guards structures, while a great-uncle served as foreign minister and adviser to successive leaders. The family is also linked by marriage to the supreme leader’s relatives.
Nobitex has processed transactions tied to sanctioned entities including Iran’s central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while serving millions of users seeking access to global markets under sanctions. The company denies government ties.
Senior clerics in Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is not open to negotiation and warned against engaging with the United States.
“The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz are no longer negotiable,” Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari said on Friday, adding a new legal framework would be pursued with Oman.
“Negotiating with America means surrender,” Mashhad Friday Prayer Imam Ahmad Alamolhoda said, adding Iran could leverage control of Hormuz without talks.
The Iran war shows how smaller powers can still disrupt much stronger militaries and economies through cheap drones, cyber tools and chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argued in an opinion piece.
Friedman wrote that President Donald Trump is betting the US blockade of Iranian oil exports will force Tehran to negotiate on Washington’s terms, while Iran is betting that pressure on the Strait of Hormuz and higher energy prices will eventually force Trump to retreat.
The columnist argued that the larger lesson is not only about Iran, but about the changing nature of power. He said the war has shown how asymmetric warfare has evolved, allowing states and armed groups to use relatively cheap tools to create major disruption.
Friedman cited Iran’s use of low-cost drones to strike Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain, saying the attacks caused far larger economic and service disruption than the price of the weapons would suggest. He also compared Iran’s tactics to Ukraine’s drone attacks inside Russia and Hamas’s use of improvised rockets against Israel.
He said the next stage could be even more dangerous as artificial intelligence gives smaller states, militant groups and hackers access to far more powerful tools. Friedman warned that AI agents could make cyberattacks cheaper, faster and more autonomous, giving actors that once had few options new ways to threaten advanced societies.
The argument, he wrote, is that Trump may be misreading the conflict if he assumes Iran has “no cards.” In Friedman’s view, the war is a preview of a world where even weakened states can use drones, cyber capabilities, infrastructure attacks and AI to create what one expert called “mass disruption.”
Iran’s foreign minister accused the Pentagon of misrepresenting war costs, saying US spending has reached $100 billion, far above official figures.
“The Pentagon is lying. Netanyahu's gamble has directly cost America $100b so far, four times what is claimed,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, adding that US households face about $500 in monthly costs and warning that indirect expenses are significantly higher.
The Pentagon is lying. Netanyahu's gamble has directly cost America $100b so far, four times what is claimed.
Indirect costs for U.S. taxpayers are FAR higher. Monthly bill for each American household is $500 and rising fast.
Dozens of residents in Tehran displaced by a 40-day war with the US and Israel said municipal authorities ordered them to vacate temporary hotel housing despite unsafe homes and limited aid, according to interviews published by Etemad newspaper on Thursday.
Several of those affected said they were told to leave by the end of the week after calls from Tehran’s crisis management body, even though official inspections had deemed their homes uninhabitable.
“I was told I had to leave the hotel by the end of the week, even though my home is unsafe and I have nowhere to go,” one resident said, describing a call from a municipal official who noted reconstruction had not begun due to lack of funds.
People inspect the site of a residential building damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Karaj, Iran, April 3, 2026.
Unsafe homes, no rental support
A resident, who lived in a seventh-floor apartment damaged by a nearby missile strike in March, described shattered windows and debris that rendered both the unit and building access unusable. Emergency services later confirmed the structure was unsafe.
Despite this, the resident said no rental assistance or deposit support had been offered. “They told me I should find housing myself because there is no budget,” the resident added.
Other displaced residents reported receiving similar instructions. Many said they lacked the financial means to rebuild or secure new housing, leaving them at risk of homelessness.
Under earlier municipal pledges, affected households were to receive temporary accommodation, rental support, and reconstruction assistance.
Updated figures increased aid for household goods to 4 billion rials (about $2,200), rental deposits to 20 billion rials (about $11,000), and monthly rent support to 400 million rials (about $220).
However, residents said these commitments have not been consistently fulfilled.
Average income in Iran is around $150 to $200 per month, while the minimum wage is typically below $100.
Civilians react on a street as tensions rise during the US–Israeli conflict with Iran, with one man speaking on the phone while others look on in concern.
Delays and conditions on compensation
Some families whose homes were destroyed said they were instructed to pay for basic household items upfront and submit receipts for reimbursement, which could take up to 10 months.
Others said even smaller grants had limited impact. One resident who received 2.5 billion rials (about $1,400) said it was insufficient to replace essential items such as a refrigerator, stove, and bedding.
“We lost everything in the strike and could not even recover clothes,” the resident said. “With that money, we could only buy a few basic items.”
In some cases, families forced to leave hotels reported moving into improvised spaces. One household said they had lived for months in a 30-square-meter storage room after being unable to afford rent.
Residents with damaged vehicles described similar difficulties in seeking compensation. Several said they were told by representatives of insurance that earlier claims from a previous conflict in June had not yet been settled.
“They told me there is no timeline for paying these damages,” one vehicle owner said after visiting an insurance office.
Official figures show that thousands of vehicles and tens of thousands of residential units were damaged in the 40-day conflict, adding to earlier destruction from a previous 12-day escalation in June.
A man inspects a car buried under rubble inside a damaged building following strikes during the US–Israeli conflict with Iran.
City council response highlights gaps
A spokesperson for Tehran’s city council acknowledged reports of inconsistencies and said cases of forced eviction without support should be reviewed.
“This should not happen, and if such cases exist, they must be followed up,” Alireza Nadali said, adding that municipal policy ties the end of hotel stays to securing alternative housing.
The official also pointed to the scale of damage and budget constraints, adding that assistance programs were introduced voluntarily and may face delays.
At the same time, the council emphasized that reconstruction responsibilities differ depending on the level of damage and local planning rules, which has led to varied outcomes across districts.
The accounts raise questions about the oversight role of the city council and the implementation of municipal commitments. Residents interviewed said many promises remained unfulfilled months after the initial damage.
Efforts to obtain direct comment from municipal crisis officials were unsuccessful, according to the report.
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