By KIM CHANDLER, CLAIRE RUSH and ELLIOT SPAGAT

Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian lived in the United States for 47 years, married a U.S. citizen and raised their daughter. She was gardening in the yard of her New Orleans home when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers handcuffed and took her away, her family said.

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Kashanian arrived in 1978 on a student visa and applied for asylum, fearing retaliation for her father’s support of the U.S.-backed shah. She lost her bid, but she was allowied to remain with her husband and child if she checked in regularly with immigration officials, her husband and daughter said. She complied, once checking in from South Carolina during Hurricane Katrina. She is now being held at an immigration detention center in Basile, Louisiana, while her family tries to get information.

Other Iranians are also getting arrested by immigration authorities after decades in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security won’t say how many people they’ve arrested, but U.S. military strikes on Iran have fueled fears that there is more to come.

“Some level of vigilance, of course, makes sense, but what it seems like ICE has done is basically give out an order to round up as many Iranians as you can, whether or not they’re linked to any threat and then arrest them and deport them, which is very concerning,” said Ryan Costello, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group.

Homeland Security did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Kashanian’s case but have been touting arrests of Iranians. The department announced the arrests of at least 11 Iranians on immigration violations during the weekend of the U.S. missile strikes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, without elaborating, that it arrested seven Iranians at a Los Angeles-area address that “has been repeatedly used to harbor illegal entrants linked to terrorism.”

The department “has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said of the 11 arrests. She didn’t offer any evidence of terrorist or extremist ties. Her comment on parole programs referred to President Joe Biden’s expanded legal pathways to entry, which his successor, Donald Trump, shut down.

Russell Milne, Kashanian’s husband, said his wife is not a threat. Her appeal for asylum was complicated because of “events in her early life,” he explained. A court found an earlier marriage of hers to be fraudulent.

But over four decades, Kashanian, 64, built a life in Louisiana. The couple met when she was bartending as a student in the late 1980s. They married and had a daughter. She volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, filmed Persian cooking tutorials on YouTube and was a grandmother figure to the children next door.

The fear of deportation always hung over the family, Milne said, but he said his wife did everything that was being asked of her.

“She’s meeting her obligations,” Milne said. “She’s retirement age. She’s not a threat. Who picks up a grandmother?”

While Iranians have been crossing the border illegally for years, especially since 2021, they have faced little risk of being deported to their home countries due to severed diplomatic relations with the U.S. That seems to no longer be the case.

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, including Iranians, to countries other than their own in an attempt to circumvent diplomatic hurdles with governments that won’t take their people back. During Trump’s second term, countries including El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have taken back noncitizens from the U.S.

The administration has asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for several deportations to South Sudan, a war-ravaged country with which it has no ties, after the justices allowed deportations to countries other than those noncitizens came from.

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Iranians 1,700 times at the Mexican border from October 2021 through November 2024, according to the most recent public data available. The Homeland Security Department reported that about 600 Iranians overstayed visas as business or exchange visitors, tourists and students in the 12-month period through September 2023, the most recent data reports.

Iran was one of 12 countries subject to a U.S. travel ban that took effect this month. Some fear ICE’s growing deportation arrests will be another blow.

In Oregon, an Iranian man was detained by immigration agents this past week while driving to the gym. He was picked up roughly two weeks before he was scheduled for a check-in at ICE offices in Portland, according to court documents filed by his attorney, Michael Purcell.

The man, identified in court filings as S.F., has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years, and his wife and two children are U.S. citizens.

S.F. applied for asylum in the U.S. in the early 2000s, but his application was denied in 2002. His appeal failed but the government did not deport him and he continued to live in the country for decades, according to court documents.

Due to “changed conditions” in Iran, S.F. would face “a vastly increased danger of persecution” if he were to be deported, Purcell wrote in his petition. “These circumstances relate to the recent bombing by the United States of Iranian nuclear facilities, thus creating a de facto state of war between the United States and Iran.”

S.F.’s long residency in the U.S., his conversion to Christianity and the fact that his wife and children are U.S. citizens “sharply increase the possibility of his imprisonment in Iran, or torture or execution,” he said.

Similarly, Kashanian’s daughter said she is worried what will happen to her mother.

“She tried to do everything right,” Kaitlynn Milne said.

By JOSEPH WILSON and EDITH M. LEDERER

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Many of the world’s nations, but not the United States, gathered Monday in Spain to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it.

“Financing is the engine of development. And right now, this engine is sputtering,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening comments at the four-day Financing for Development meeting in Seville.

Many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers.

Co-hosts the U.N. and Spain believe the meeting is an opportunity to close the staggering $4 trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of people out of poverty and help achieve the U.N.’s badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Even though the gathering comes amid global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, there is hope that the world can address one of the most important global challenges: ensuring all people have access to food, health care, education and water.

More than 70 world leaders are attending, the U.N. said, along with representatives of international financial institutions, development banks, philanthropic organizations, the private sector and civil society.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told the delegates that the summit is an opportunity “for us to raise our voice in the face of those who seek to convince us that rivalry and competition will set the tone for humanity and for its future.”

A last-minute US rejection

At the last preparatory meeting on June 17, the United States rejected the outcome document that had been negotiated for months by the U.N.’s 193 member nations and announced its withdrawal from the process and the Seville conference.

The Seville Commitment document, approved by consensus, will be adopted by conference participants without changes. It says delegates have agreed to launch “an ambitious package of reforms and actions to close the financing gap with urgency.”

It calls for a minimum tax revenue of 15% of a country’s gross domestic product to increase government resources, a tripling of lending by multilateral development banks and scaling up of private financing by providing incentives for investing in critical areas like infrastructure. It also calls for reforms to help countries deal with rising debt.

U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan recently said “development is going backward” and the global debt crisis has worsened.

Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries that pay more interest on their debts than they spend on health or education, and the number will increase to 3.4 billion people this year, according to Grynspan. And developing countries will pay $947 billion to service debts this year, up from $847 billion last year.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, speaking for the African Group at the conference, said debt payment “consumes more resources than those allocated to health and education combined” for many countries.

The US objections

While U.S. diplomat Jonathan Shrier told the June 17 meeting that “our commitment to international cooperation and long-term economic development remains steadfast,” he said the text “crosses many of our red lines.”

He said those include interfering with the governance of international financial institutions, tripling the annual lending capacity of multilateral development banks and proposals envisioning a role for the U.N. in the global debt architecture.

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Shrier also objected to proposals on trade, tax and innovation that are not in line with U.S. policy, as well as language on a U.N. framework convention on international tax cooperation.

The United States was the world’s largest single founder of foreign aid before the Trump administration dismantled its main aid agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development. It drastically slashed foreign assistance funding, calling it wasteful and contrary to the Republican president’s agenda.

Other Western donors also have cut back international aid.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed last week called the U.S. withdrawal from the conference “unfortunate,” adding that after Seville, “we will engage again with the U.S. and hope that we can make the case that they be part of the success of pulling millions of people out of poverty.”

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed the bloc’s commitment to development financing, saying, “Our commitment is here to stay.”

Lederer reported from the United Nations.

By MARK SCOLFORO

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge on Monday ordered that three people whose testimony has been requested by defense attorneys will have to travel to Idaho to appear at the trial of a man accused of stabbing to death four college students in 2022.

The defense subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Bryan Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger’s and a third man whose significance was not explained.

The 30-year-old Kohberger, who was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, weeks after the November 2022 killings, is accused of sneaking into a rental home in Moscow, Idaho, not far from the University of Idaho campus, and attacking Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

The deaths shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.

A prison official came to court with records from Kohberger’s stay in the Monroe County Correctional Facility after he was arrested, although the subpoena hearing was continued because he must still provide a statement attesting to their authenticity.

Common Pleas Judge Arthur Zulick also continued for a week the hearing regarding a subpoena for Ralph Vecchio, who owns a car dealership where Kohberger’s parents purchased a Hyundai Elantra in 2019.

There was uncertainty about whether the subpoena was directed at Vecchio or at his father, who owned the business at the time of the purchase. The judge said prosecution witness subpoenas will also be at issue next week.

A sixth witness’ hearing had previously been rescheduled for next week because of a travel conflict, and the seventh person sought by the defense consented last week to travel to Idaho for the trial expected to begin in August.

Brandon Andreola argued unsuccessfully that his subpoena should be canceled, saying he is his family’s sole breadwinner and is worried publicity might lead to him losing his job.

Andreola said his “relationship with Bryan Kohberger has been minimal and distant since high school,” with their last “significant interaction” taking place in 2020, two years before the stabbings.

“If I’m brought out there, I believe the attention will be multiple times greater than the attention that I’ve received already,” Andreola argued.

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Jesse Harris said he trained Kohberger as a 15- or 16-year-old at a boxing gym but does not think he has testimony that will help the case. Harris also said a relative’s health problems were an issue and he is needed to run a small construction company.

Zulick approved the summonses for Andreola and Harris, along with a third one for witness Anthony Somma, who did not oppose it. Zulick said Harris can return to his courtroom if his family member’s health issues become a barrier to Harris’ ability to travel to Idaho.

Kohberger’s trial on four counts of murder and one count of burglary is on track to begin Aug. 11 in Boise, Idaho, after a judge declined his lawyer’s request for a delay last week.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed.

Kohberger was silent during his arraignment, prompting a judge to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.

A gag order has largely kept attorneys, investigators and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. The defense team’s lawyer in the Monroe County Courthouse on Monday, Abigail Parnell, declined to comment.

By SARAH EL DEEB

BEIRUT (AP) — Sayeh Seydal, a jailed Iranian dissident, narrowly escaped death when Israeli missiles struck Tehran’s Evin Prison, where she was held. She had just stepped out of the prison’s clinic moments before it was destroyed.

The June 23 strikes on Iran’s most notorious prison for political dissidents killed at least 71 people, including staff, soldiers, visiting family members and people living nearby, Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said Sunday. In the ensuing chaos, authorities transferred Seydal and others to prisons outside Tehran — overcrowded facilities known for their harsh conditions.

When she was able to call her family several days ago, Seydal pleaded for help.

“It’s literally a slow death,” she said of the conditions, according to a recording of the call provided by her relatives, in accordance with Seydal’s wishes.

“The bombing by the U.S. and Israel didn’t kill us. Then the Islamic Republic brought us to a place that will practically kill us,” she said.

This family handout picture shows Sayeh Seydal, a political prisoner in Evin prison, is seen in this undated picture at an undisclosed location. (Seydal family via AP)

Activists fear Israel’s attacks will lead to crackdown

Iran’s pro-democracy and rights activists fear they will pay the price for Israel’s 12-day air campaign aiming to cripple the country’s nuclear program. Many now say the state, reeling from the breach in its security, has intensified its crackdown on opponents.

Israel’s strike on Evin — targeting, it said, “repressive authorities” — spread panic among families of the political prisoners, who were left scrambling to determine their loved ones’ fates. A week later, families of those who were in solitary confinement or under interrogation still haven’t heard from them.

In this photo released by the Narges Foundation Archive, Narges Mohammadi poses for a portrait on March 4, 2025 in an undisclosed location. (Nooshin Jafari/Narges Foundation Archive via AP)

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a veteran activist who has been imprisoned multiple times in Evin, said that Iranian society, “to get to democracy, needs powerful tools to reinforce civil society and the women’s movement.”

“Unfortunately, war weakens these tools,” she said in a video message to The Associated Press from Tehran. Political space is already shrinking with security forces increasing their presence in the streets of the capital, she said.

Fears of a wave of executions

Many now fear a potential wave of executions targeting activists and political prisoners. They see a terrifying precedent: After Iran’s war with Iraq ended in 1988, authorities executed at least 5,000 political prisoners after perfunctory trials, then buried them in mass graves that have never been accessed.

During Israel’s military campaign, Iran executed six prisoners who were sentenced to death before the war.

The Washington-based Human Rights Activists in Iran documented nearly 1,300 people arrested, most on charges of espionage, including 300 for sharing content on social media in just 12 days.

Parliament is fast-tracking a bill allowing greater use of the death penalty for charges of collaboration with foreign adversaries. The judiciary chief called for expedited proceedings against those who “disrupt the peace” or “collaborate” with Israel.

“We know what that means. That means show trials and executions,” said Bahar Ghandehari, director of advocacy and media at the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Prisoners scattered after the strike

Evin Prison, located in an upscale neighborhood on Tehran’s northern edge, housed an estimated 120 men and women in its general wards, as well as hundreds of others believed to be in its secretive security units under interrogation or in solitary confinement, according to Human Rights Activists.

The prisoners include protesters, lawyers and activists who have campaigned for years against Iran’s authoritarian rule, corruption and religious laws including enforcement of Islamic attire for women. Authorities have crushed waves of nationwide protests since 2009 in crackdowns that have killed hundreds and jailed thousands.

The Israeli strikes hit Evin during visiting hours, causing shock and panic.

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Seydal, an international law scholar who joined protest movements over the past two decades and has been in and out of jail since 2023, recounted to her family her near-brush with death in the prison clinic. The blast knocked her to the ground, a relative who spoke to Seydal said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Visiting halls, the prosecutor’s office and several prisoner wards were also heavily damaged, according to rights groups and relatives of prisoners. One missile hit the prison entrance, where prisoners often are waiting to be taken to hospitals or court.

“Attacking a prison, when the inmates are standing behind closed doors and they are unable to do the slightest thing to save themselves, can never be a legitimate target,” Mohammadi said. She was released in December when her latest sentence was briefly suspended for medical reasons.

During the night, buses began transferring prisoners to other facilities, according to Mohammadi and families of prisoners. At least 65 women were sent to Qarchak Prison, according to Mohammadi, who is in touch with them. Men were sent to the Grand Tehran Penitentiary, housing criminals and high-security prisoners. Both are located south of Tehran.

Mohammadi told AP that her immediate fear was a lack of medical facilities and poor hygiene. Among the women are several with conditions needing treatment, including 73-year-old civil rights activist Raheleh Rahemi, who has a brain tumor.

In her call home, Seydal called Qarchak a “hellhole.” She said the women were packed together with no hygiene care and limited food or drinkable water.

“It stinks. Just pure filth,” she said.

“She sounded confused, scared and very sad,” her relative said. “She knows speaking out is very dangerous for her. But also being silent can be dangerous for her.” On Sunday, Sayeh made another call to her family, saying she was briefly taken back to Evin to bring her belongings. The stench of “death” filled the air, her relative quoted her as saying.

The 47-year-old Seydal was first sentenced in 2023. In early 2025, her furlough was canceled, and she was assaulted by security and faced new charges after she refused to wear a chador at the prosecutor’s office.

This photo shared by Reza Younesi shows Ali Younesi, 25, left, and his father Mir-Yousef Younesi, 72, in Tehran after Ali Younesi won an international medal for excellence in science in 2018. Both father and son were serving sentences in Evin prison on alleged charges of undermining national security and financing an opposition group. (Reza Younesi via AP)

A brother disappears

Reza Younesi’s father and younger brother, Ali, have been imprisoned at Evin for years. Now the family is terrified because Ali has disappeared.

Ali, a 25-year-old graduate of a prestigious technical university, was serving a 16-year sentence for “colluding to commit crimes against national security.” The sentence, widely criticized by rights groups, was reduced but the Intelligence Ministry launched a new case against him on unknown charges.

Days before the strike on Evin, Ali was dragged out of his ward and taken to an unknown location, according to his brother.

After the strike, their father, Mir-Yousef Younesi, saw no sign of Ali as he and other prisoners were transferred to the Great Tehran Penitentiary. The father managed to get a call out to his family, in a panic.

Disappearances in Evin are not uncommon. Guards sometimes remove political prisoners from wards for interrogation. In some cases, they are sentenced in secret trials and executed. After the strikes, Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, sentenced to death in 2017, was transferred to an undisclosed location, according to Amnesty International, which expressed fear he could be executed.

Reza Younesi said the family lawyer was unable to find any information about his brother or the new charges.

“We are all worried,” he said, speaking from Sweden where he is an associate professor at Uppsala University. “When there is no information from a prisoner, this almost in all cases means that the person is under interrogation and torture.”

This photo shared by Mehraveh Khandan shows, from left, Nima Khandan, Mehraveh Khandan, her mother, prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, and her father Reza Khandan in their home in Tehran before the arrest of her father Reza Khandan in 2023. (Mehraveh Khandan via AP)

‘All hope is gone’

Mehraveh Khandan grew up in a family of political activists. She spent much of her childhood and teen years going to Evin to visit her mother, rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was imprisoned there multiple times.

Her father, Reza Khandan, was thrown into Evin in December for distributing buttons opposing the mandatory headscarf for women.

Now living in Amsterdam, the 25-year-old Mehraveh Khandan frantically tried to find information about her father after the strike. The internet was cut off, and her mother had evacuated from Tehran. “I was just thinking who might die there,” she said. It took 24 hours before she got word her father was OK.

In a family call later, her father told how he was sleeping on the floor in a crowded cell rife with insects at the Grand Tehran Penitentiary.

At first, she thought the Evin strike might prompt the government to release prisoners. But after seeing reports of mass detentions and executions, “all this hope is gone,” she said.

The war “just destroyed all the things the activists have started to build,” she said.