Tag: Iran

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Starmer defends Iran response as Badenoch calls for more action

Sir Keir Starmer has defended the government’s approach to the conflict in Iran, saying protecting British nationals is his “number one priority”.

It comes after President Trump criticised the prime minister for refusing to allow the use of UK bases in the initial US-Israel strikes on Saturday, saying he is “no Winston Churchill”.

During Prime Minister’s Questions Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of “asking our allies to do what we should be doing ourselves” by not taking “offensive action” after British bases in Bahrain and Cyprus were attacked.

But the PM said he was not prepared for the UK to join a war without “a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan”.

On Sunday the UK agreed to a US request to use British military bases but only for defensive strikes on Iranian missile sites.

However, Trump has responded angrily to Sir Keir’s refusal to be involved in the initial strikes, describing the decision as “shocking” and saying the UK-US relationship was “not what it was”.

Dismissing suggestions the relationship between the two countries had been weakened, Sir Keir said US planes operating out of British bases was “the special relationship in action” not “hanging on to President Trump’s latest words”.

Sir Keir said: “We’re taking action to reduce the threat with planes in the sky in the region intercepting incoming strikes, deploying more capability to Cyprus, and allowing US planes to use UK bases to take out Iran’s capability to strike.

“What I was not prepared to do on Saturday was for the UK to join a war unless I was satisfied there was a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan. That remains my position.”

The PM said the government had also been pre-deploying capabilities in the region for a number of weeks, including radar systems, ground-based air defence, counter-drone systems and F35 jets.

He added that wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities would be in Cyprus this week, with a Royal Navy warship, HMS Dragon, also deployed to the region.

However, Badenoch accused the PM of “catching arrows rather than stopping the archer” in his approach.

“I would say to Labour MPs, we are in this war whether they like it or not. What is the prime minister waiting for?” she added.

She pointed out HMS Dragon was still in Portsmouth and the government “should be doing more”.

The Conservative leader also criticised the government for not investing more in defence.

In response, Sir Keir accused the Conservatives of cutting the defence budget, missing Army recruitment targets and leaving forces “hollowed out” when they were in government.

Following PMQs, western officials said HMS Dragon was expected to sail from Portsmouth next week, with the warship currently being loaded with ammunition.

Two Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters, armed with Martlet missiles capable of shooting down drones, are expected to arrive in Cyprus separately and sooner.

A western official said that so far US bombers have not used the British bases of Diego Garcia or RAF Fairford – but said the UK was ready to accept them. The official said he expected them to arrive within the next few days.

Earlier, former Conservative Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he thought the prime minister had “made a big misjudgement” by not allowing the US to use British military bases for offensive strikes on Iran.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that international law was “not settled on this issue” and depended on whether there was an imminent risk of attack from Iran.

Hunt said the Americans had a significant role in defending Europe and in this situation, “to weaken our alliance with the United States was a big mistake”.

“President Trump is not interested in that rules-based order,” Hunt said.

“He’s said so absolutely explicitly. And we have to recognise the brute strength of the American military is something we depend on now in Europe and will depend on for at least a decade.”

Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, a retired British Army officer, said the UK “has got to focus on its interests” because “America has made it clear it’s not going to underwrite European security”.

Sir Richard, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said it was in Britain’s interest to protect its military bases abroad.

“There is absolutely a case for getting involved,” Sir Richard said. “But I would not get involved in any way, shape or form in an operation where the end-stage is not clear.

“There is clearly no strategy and yet again we have an American president who has launched a war of choice with no clear understanding where this thing is going to end.”

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US sub sinks Iranian warship in Indian Ocean, Hegseth says

An American submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, the US defence secretary has said.

Pete Hegseth said the ship was sunk by a torpedo on Tuesday and died a “quiet death”. He did not name the vessel.

His announcement came after Sri Lanka said its navy had responded to a distress call on Wednesday morning from an Iranian ship, the Iris Dena, which had gone down about 40km (25 miles) from its southern coastline.

Eighty bodies from the frigate were found by rescuers, a Sri Lankan defence official told BBC Sinhala. Another 32 were rescued, the country’s navy said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had “perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores”.

“Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” he wrote in a post on X early on Thursday.

“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.”

A Sri Lankan navy spokesman said some 180 people were believed to have been aboard the Iris Dena, based on the ship’s documentation.

The survivors were “seriously injured” and had been taken to a hospital in the southern port of Galle, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.

Hegseth told a news conference on Wednesday thata US submarine had sunk an Iranian warship “that thought it was safe in international waters”.

He also claimed it was “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two”.

While it is the first time since 1945 that an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship this way, the UK and Pakistan have both sunk vessels using torpedoes since then.

Video released by the US Department of Defense showed a ship being struck, causing the stern to rise up before exploding.

Earlier, Sri Lankan navy spokesman Budhika Sampath had rejected reports that the Iris Dena had been attacked by a submarine.

He added that, at the time rescue operations were launched, rescuers had not seen the vessel – nor any other ships in the region – but saw oil patches and life rafts floating on the water.

Though the ship’s location “was beyond our waters”, Sampath said, “it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations”.

First launched in 2015, the Iris Dena is a destroyer attached to Iran’s Southern Fleet, which is tasked with deployments in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.

It had recently participated in International Fleet Review 2026, a military exercise hosted by India.

The sinking of the Iris Dena comes as the US and Israel have continued to launch air strikes on Iran for a fifth day, with the Israeli military saying it had hit “security headquarters” across the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday.

Israel has also conducted air strikes on Lebanon and has sent ground forces into the south of the country after armed group Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel.

Iran appears to have continued to carry out retaliatory attacks. New strikes were reported in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Wednesday, while Turkey said “Nato defences” shot down an Iranian missile heading towards Turkish territory.

Sri Lanka has remained neutral in the conflict. It has refrained from taking any side, calling for “restraint and immediate de-escalation” from “all concerned parties”. (BBC)

Herath, its foreign affairs minister, paid tribute to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini after he was assassinated on Saturday.

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Spain’s Pedro Sánchez hits back at Trump threat to sever trade saying ‘no to war’

Pedro Sánchez has delivered a strong rebuttal to US President Donald Trump’s threat to end trade with Spain by restating his opposition to war and what he called the “breakdown of international law”.

In a 10-minute televised address, the Spanish prime minister reflected on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the Iraq War more than 20 years ago, and said the Spanish government’s position could be summed up as “no to war”.

Trump threatened to impose a full trade embargo on Spain in response to its refusal to allow the US to use the jointly run bases at Morón and Rotafor to strike Iran.

“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday.

“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.

Merz said later he had told Trump very clearly that he could not conclude a separate trade agreement with Germany or all of Europe but not with Spain.

In response to the US economic threat, the Élysée Palace said French President Emmanuel Macron had conveyed his “solidarity” with Spain during a phone conversation with Sánchez on Wednesday. European Council President António Costa also said he had spoken to the Spanish leader “to express the EU’s full solidarity”.

Trump accused Spain on Tuesday of being a “terrible partner” in Nato for failing to increase its defence budget in line with a target of 5% of economic output (GDP).

Earlier this year, Sánchez drew Trump’s ire by speaking out against the US military incursion into Venezuela.

Sánchez said in his televised address from the prime minister’s official residence in Madrid on Wednesday that the government was studying economic measures to counter the impact of the conflict on Spaniards, though he avoided directly referring to Trump’s trade threat.

“The question is not if we are on the side of the ayatollahs [Iran’s clerical rulers] – nobody is. The question is whether we are in favour of peace and international legality,” he said.

“You cannot answer one illegality with another, because that is how the great catastrophes of humanity begin.”

Spain’s Socialist prime minister explained that the government’s position was comparable to its stance on Ukraine and Gaza. Sánchez has been a vociferous critic of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks in 2023.

Spain has been among Europe’s most outspoken governments on Gaza, describing Israel’s actions there as “genocide” and acknowledging a Palestinian state before many other EU members did.

That position was in step with his coalition partners to his left and, broadly speaking, with Spanish attitudes toward the Middle East.

Looking back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he said had failed to achieve its goals and had made life worse for ordinary people, he warned that the attacks on Iran could have a similar economic impact for millions.

His reference to the Iraq invasion will connect with many Spanish voters. Spain’s support at the time from the conservative People’s Party (PP) government was deeply unpopular, and triggered mass anti-war protests.

Many believe it also lay the groundwork for the Socialist Party’s surprise election victory in March 2004, days after Madrid had been hit by deadly jihadist bombings.

Sánchez reminded Spaniards of the “Azores trio” – the then-US President George W Bush, the UK’s Tony Blair and Spanish conservative leader José María Aznar – who had met on a Portuguese base in the region days before the Iraq invasion.

He said they had handed Europeans the “gift” of “a more insecure world and worse life”.

The Spanish leader’s stance contrasts strongly with that of Merz, who told German TV on Tuesday that regime change in Iran would leave the world “a little better off”, though he also said this was “not without risk and we would also have to bear the consequences”.

Unlike Spain’s fellow Nato allies – the UK, France and Greece – it has not yet committed to any military involvement in response to the war.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Spain had “agreed to co-operate” with the US military after hearing Trump’s message “loud and clear” – a claim Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares categorically denied, telling local media that his government’s position “has not changed one iota”. (BBC)

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Texas authorities identify Austin bar shooting victims

Authorities have identified the three people fatally shot outside a bar in Austin, Texas when a gunman opened fire in the early hours of Sunday.

Ryder Harrington, 19, and Savitha Shan, 21, died in the shooting outside a bar popular with University of Texas students, police said. Authorities announced on Monday that third victim, Jorge Pederson, 30, had also died.

More than a dozen people were injured in the shooting, including some who remain in critical condition.

The alleged gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, was shot and killed by police. The FBI said it was looking into a potential “nexus of terrorism” link to the war in Iran, among other possibilities.

After responding to calls of an active shooter at around 02:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Sunday near Buford’s bar in Austin, police said they shot and killed the suspect.

Diagne was a naturalised American citizen born in Senegal, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Officials said two of the victims were students but could not yet confirm which university they attended.

“We recognise that this is a very traumatic moment in our city,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in briefing on Monday, adding: “I cannot imagine the grief, pain and loss these families are feeling today, and my heart is with them.”

Two sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the gunman was wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah”.

CBS was also told by an official with knowledge of the investigation that officers who searched the gunman’s home found an Iranian flag and pictures of Iranian leaders.

The attack came on the weekend that the US and its ally Israel launched multiple strikes on Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said federal and state officials would investigate whether the violence had any connections to terrorism.

“We will not rest until every last trail or piece of information is pursued to determine if there’s anybody else involved in this whatsoever,” the governor said in a news briefing on Monday.

“And if so, obviously, we will track them down, find them, and bring them to justice.”

In an earlier briefing, Police Chief Davis said officers who were on patrol in the more popular, crowded bar district known as East Sixth Street quickly responded to reports of a man with a gun at Buford’s, located farther down on West Sixth Street.

She said a man in a large SUV driving by Buford’s put on the vehicle’s hazard lights, rolled down his window and fired a pistol, striking people on the patio and pavement outside the bar.

He parked the vehicle nearby, got out with a rifle and started walking back towards the bar, according to Davis. Three police officers confronted the suspect at an intersection, and shot and killed him.

The SUV was searched and was not carrying explosives, officials said.

However, Acting Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran, from the FBI’s San Antonio office, said there were indications in the SUV and on the suspect that suggested a “nexus to terrorism”.

But Doran said the investigation was in its early stages and he was “not prepared to release those details”.

“We are committed to seeing this process through to the very end,” he said.

Kelson Lee, 25, was within earshot when gunfire erupted at Buford’s. He walked inside to look for a friend, according to the Austin Current.

“I see about seven to eight bodies on the floor,” Lee told the local news outlet. “No-one should ever have to see that.

“I kind of blacked out, froze up. I felt kind of helpless because I wanted to help people.” (BBC)

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President of Iran’s soccer federation says World Cup participation in US is in doubt

The president of Iran’s soccer federation says he does not know if the national team can play World Cup matches in the United States following the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment of his country.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Mehdi Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 as Iran traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by the bombardment.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continued for a second day on Sunday after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw the future of the Islamic Republic into uncertainty and raised the risk of regional instability.

Iran has been drawn in Group G at the World Cup and is scheduled to play in Los Angeles – where it faces New Zealand and Belgium on June 15 and 21, respectively – before it plays Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

The United States is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11-July 19.

Fans from Iran were already banned from entering the U.S. in the first iteration of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration.

FIFA did not immediately reply to an email from The Associated Press over the current situation regarding Iran’s participation in the World Cup. (JapanToday)

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Israel hits Tehran again; 3 U.S. service personnel killed in Iran attacks

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran on Sunday and Iran responded with more missile barrages, a day after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pitched the Middle East and the ‌global economy into deepening uncertainty.

Iran fired renewed missile barrages across the region. Israel’s ambulance service said nine people were killed in the town of Beit Shemesh, while the United Arab Emirates said Iranian attacks killed three people and Kuwait reported one dead.

Three U.S. service personnel were also killed and five seriously wounded, the first American casualties of the operation, the U.S. military said, without giving further information.

U.S. and Israeli strikes – and Iranian retaliation – sent shockwaves through sectors from shipping to air travel to oil, amid warnings of rising energy costs and disruption to business in the Gulf, a strategic waterway and global trade hub.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said the attack was intended to ensure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, to contain its missile program and to eliminate threats to the United States and its allies.

In an interview with ‌the Atlantic magazine on Sunday, Trump, who has encouraged the Iranian people to topple their government, said Iran’s leadership wanted to talk to him ⁠and he had agreed.

But he has yet to lay out his longer-term aims in Iran, which faces a power vacuum that could leave it in ⁠chaos, with unforeseeable consequences for the region.

Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

As the ⁠first U.S. casualties were reported, and with the vital Strait of Hormuz closed and the glittering Gulf cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha under bombardment, the scale of the risk taken by ‌Trump in launching the attack was becoming clearer.

Only around one in four Americans approve of the operation, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Sunday, and if Hormuz, which is the passage for about ⁠20% of world oil supplies, remains closed for more than a few days, squeezed U.S. consumers will start to ⁠feel the pressure on prices at the pumps, months before vital midterm elections.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had hit three U.S. and UK oil tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and attacked military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain with drones and missiles. Shipping data showed hundreds of vessels including oil and gas tankers dropping anchor in nearby waters with traders expecting sharp jumps in crude oil prices on Monday.

Global air travel was also heavily disrupted as continued air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai – ⁠the world’s busiest international hub – closed in one of the biggest aviation interruptions in recent years.

In Iran, facing its biggest existential challenge since the 1980-88 war with Iraq, President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership ⁠council composed of himself, the judiciary head and a member of the ‌powerful Guardians Council had temporarily assumed the duties of Supreme Leader.

Oman’s foreign ministry said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had indicated that Tehran was open to any serious efforts at de-escalation.

But it remained unclear what the longer-term prospects were for Iran to rebuild its leadership and replace the 86-year-old Khamenei, who had held power since the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Khamenei’s death as a cynical murder and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi described it as “blatant killing”.

Israel, which has pressed successive U.S. administrations to take action against Iran, claimed responsibility for killing ‌Khamenei, in what it said was a “precise, large-scale operation” guided by intelligence, while he was in his central leadership compound in the heart of Tehran.

It said it aimed to dominate the skies over Tehran, giving no sign of planning an end to the biggest aerial operation in its history, involving hundreds of fighter jets.

“We have the capabilities and the targets to keep going on for as long as necessary,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said.

Trump warned that the U.S. would hit Iran “with a force that has never been seen before” if it struck back.

Trump said on social media the U.S. military had destroyed nine Iranian warships so far ​and was “going after the rest.”

Inside Iran, some grieved for Khamenei while others celebrated his death, exposing a deep fault line in a country stunned by the sudden demise of the man who ruled for decades.

Thousands of Iranians were killed in a crackdown authorized by Khamenei against anti-government protests in January, the deadliest wave of unrest since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Footage from Tehran ‌showed mourners packed into a square, dressed in black and many of them weeping.

But videos posted on social media also showed joy and defiance elsewhere, with people cheering as a statue was toppled in the city of Dehloran in Ilam province, dancing in the streets of Karaj city, near Tehran in Alborz province, and celebrating in the streets of Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters has verified the locations of these videos.

Khamenei, who built Iran into a powerful anti-U.S. force and ‌spread its sway across the Middle East during his 36-year iron-fisted rule, was working in his office at the time of Saturday’s attack, state media said. The raid also killed his daughter, ⁠grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law. (JapanToday)

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Iran confirms Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dead after US-Israeli attacks

Iranian state media have confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at his office in the Israeli-US attacks on Iran, following earlier reports of his killing by US and Israeli officials.

A 40-day mourning period for the longtime Iranian leader has been announced.

The Sunday confirmation comes after Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr news agencies initially reported that Khamenei remained “steadfast and firm in commanding the field”.

US President Donald Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform earlier in the day that 86-year-old Khamenei was killed in the joint US-Israeli strikes, which began early on Saturday.

“He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump wrote.

“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he said. “Hopefully, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.”

While Iranian authorities have long planned for the possible killing of Khamenei in the event of a war with the US and Israel, his assassination injects new uncertainty into an unfolding conflict that has already spurred concerns that fighting could escalate and expand further.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier also claimed that there were “growing signs” that Khamenei had been killed.

Additionally, the Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, had reported that Khamenei’s body had ⁠been located.

Khamenei has been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, succeeding the founder of the post-shah Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who steered Iran’s 1979 revolution.

The supreme leader holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary, while also acting as the country’s spiritual leader.

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that Iran “has a plan” in place in the event that Khamenei’s death is confirmed.

“There will probably be a council that will be set up to run the country. It may already have been running the country, as far as we know,” she said.

Saturday’s strikes on Iran targeted 24 provinces, killing at least 201 people, according to Iranian media reports, citing the Red Crescent.

Among the attacks, Israel struck two schools in Iran, killing at least 108 people at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, and two others at a school east of the capital, Tehran.

Netanyahu said in his address that many “senior figures” had been “eliminated” in the wave of attacks targeting senior leaders, as Trump called for the government to be toppled.

Israel, Netanyahu said, had killed “commanders in the Revolutionary Guard and senior officials in the nuclear programme. And we will continue.”

Trump indicated on his Truth Social post that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” of Iran would go on “uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary”.

Iran’s counterattacks on Saturday triggered air-defence interceptions in several countries where airbases with US assets are hosted, including Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

On Saturday evening, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the third and fourth waves of “retaliatory” strikes on US and Israeli positions were ongoing, according to a statement carried by the IRNA news agency.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that he deeply regretted that an opportunity for diplomacy had been “squandered”.

“Military action carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world,” he told the 15-member body. “I call for de-escalation and an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

Addressing the Security Council, Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the US and Israel had “initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggression”, attacking “civilian populated areas in multiple large cities of Iran, where millions of people reside”.

“This is not only an act of aggression, it is a war crime, and a crime against humanity,” he said.

The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, insisted that the military action was lawful. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of global security.”

China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said Beijing was very concerned by “the sudden escalation of regional tensions”.

Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the US-Israeli air strikes, demanding that the US and Israel “immediately cease their aggressive actions”. (AlJazeera)

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Iran’s leader Khamenei accuses Trump of inciting deadly protests

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday blamed President Donald Trump for weeks of demonstrations that rights groups said have led to more than 3,000 deaths.

“We consider the U.S. president criminal for the casualties, damages and slander ‌he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state media.

The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene, including by threatening “very strong action” if Iran executed protesters.

But on ⁠Friday, in a social media post, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they had called off mass ‍hangings. Iran said there was “no plan to hang people”.

In comments that appeared to respond to Trump, Khamenei ‍said: “We will not drag the ‍country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” state media reported.

Iran’s ⁠ultimate authority Khamenei said “several thousand deaths” had happened during the nationwide protests, which are Iran’s worst unrest in years. He accused Iran’s longtime enemies the U.S. and Israel of organizing the violence.

“Those linked to Israel ​and the U.S. caused massive damage and killed several thousand,” he said, adding that they started fires, destroyed public property and incited chaos. They “committed crimes and a grave slander,” he said.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, and over 22,000 arrests.

Last week, Iran’s prosecutor general said detainees would face severe punishment. Those held included people who “aided rioters and terrorists attacking security forces and public property” and “mercenaries who took up arms ⁠and spread fear among citizens,” he said.

“All perpetrators are mohareb,” state media quoted Mohammad Movahedi Azad as saying, adding that investigations would be conducted “without leniency, mercy or tolerance”.

Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning to wage war against God, is punishable by death under Iranian law.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the numbers of casualties or details of disturbances reported by Iranian media and rights groups. The crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests, according to residents and state media.

Getting information has been complicated by internet blackouts, which were partly lifted for a few hours early on Saturday. But internet monitoring group NetBlocks said the blackout seemed to have been reimposed late on Saturday.

“Internet connectivity continues to flatline in #Iran despite a minor short-lived bump in access earlier today,” NetBlocks said on X. “As the shutdown enters day ten, confusion surrounds whether the regime intends to restore service soon, or at all.”

A resident of Karaj, west of Tehran, reached by phone via WhatsApp, said he noticed the internet was back at 4 a.m. on Saturday. Karaj experienced some of the most severe violence during ​the protests. The resident, who asked not to be identified, said Thursday was the peak of the unrest there.

A few Iranians overseas said earlier on social media that they had also been able to message users in Iran early on Saturday.

State media has reported the arrest of thousands of “rioters and terrorists” across the country, including people linked to opposition groups abroad that advocate the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

The arrests included several people Iranian state media described as “ringleaders”, including a woman named as Nazanin Baradaran, who was taken ‍into custody following “complex intelligence operations”.

The reports said that Baradaran operated under the pseudonym Raha Parham on behalf of Reza Pahlavi – the ‌exiled son of Iran’s last shah – and had ‌played a leading role in organizing the unrest. Reuters could not ‍verify the report or her identity.

Pahlavi, a longtime opposition figure, has positioned himself as a potential leader in the event of regime collapse and has said he ‌would seek to re-establish diplomatic ties between Iran and Israel if he were to assume a ‍leadership role in the country.

Israeli officials have expressed support for Pahlavi. In a rare public disclosure this month, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio that Israel had operatives “on the ground” in Iran.

He said they aimed to weaken Iran’s capabilities, though he denied they were directly working to topple the leadership. (JapanToday)

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New protests hit Iran as alarm grows over crackdown ‘massacre’

Iranians took to the streets in new protests against the clerical authorities overnight despite an internet shutdown, as rights groups warned on Sunday that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.

The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have now become a movement against the theocratic government that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution and have already lasted two weeks.

The mass rallies are one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which was backed by the United States.

The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have now become a movement against the theocratic government that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution and have already lasted two weeks.

The mass rallies are one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which was backed by the United States.

The internet blackout “is now past the 60 hour mark… The censorship measure presents a direct threat to the safety and well-being of Iranians at a key moment for the country’s future”, monitor Netblocks said early Sunday.

Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by AFP, allegedly showed relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 116 people in connection with the protests, including 37 members of the security forces or other officials.

But activists warned that the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher.

The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown”.

“A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life,” it said.

It said hospitals were “overwhelmed”, blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic.

In comments to state TV late Saturday, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni insisted that acts of “vandalism” were decreasing and warned that “those who lead the protest towards destruction, chaos and terrorist acts do not let the people’s voices be heard”.

National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said authorities made “significant” arrests of protest figures on Saturday night, without giving details on the number or identities of those arrested, according to state TV.

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani drew a line between protests over economic hardship, which he called “completely understandable”, and “riots”, accusing them of actions “very similar to the methods of terrorist groups”, Tasnim news agency reported.

In Tehran, an AFP journalist described a city in a state of near paralysis.

The price of meat has nearly doubled since the start of the protests, and while some shops are open, many others are not.

Those that do open must close at around 4:00 or 5:00 pm, when security forces deploy in force.

On Saturday, mobile phone lines appeared to have gone down as well, rendering nearly all communication impossible.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests, called for new actions later Sunday.

“Do not abandon the streets. My heart is with you. I know that I will soon be by your side,” he said.

US President Donald Trump has spoken out in support of the protests and threatened military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people”.

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would hit back if the US launched military action.

“In the event of a military attack by the United States, both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets,” he said in comments broadcast by state TV.

He was apparently also referring to Israel, which the Islamic Republic does not recognise and considers occupied Palestinian territory. (Channels)

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Trump threatens Iran over protest crackdown as deadly unrest flares

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to come to the aid of protesters in Iran if security forces fired on them, days into unrest that has left several dead and posed the biggest internal threat to Iranian authorities in years.

“We are locked and loaded ‌and ready to go,” he said in a social media post. The United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in June, joining an Israeli air campaign that targeted Tehran’s atomic programme and military leadership.

Responding to Trump’s comments, top Iranian official Ali Larijani warned that U.S. interference in domestic Iranian issues would amount to a destabilization of the entire Middle East. Iran backs proxy ⁠forces in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

The comments came as a local official in western Iran, where several deaths were ‍reported, was cited by state media as warning that any unrest or illegal gatherings would be met “decisively and without leniency”.

This week’s protests over soaring inflation ‍are so far smaller than some previous bouts of unrest in Iran, but have spread across the country, with deadly confrontations between demonstrators and security forces ⁠focused in western provinces.

State-affiliated media and rights groups have reported at least 10 deaths since Wednesday, including one man who authorities said was a member of the Basij paramilitary force affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership has ​seen off repeated eruptions of unrest in recent decades, often quelling protests with heavy security measures and mass arrests. But economic problems may leave authorities more vulnerable now.

This week’s protests are the biggest since nationwide demonstrations triggered by the death of a young woman in custody in 2022 paralyzed Iran for weeks, with rights groups reporting hundreds killed.

Trump did not specify what sort of action the U.S. could take in support of the protests.

Washington has long imposed broad financial sanctions on Tehran, in particular since Trump’s first term when, in 2018, he pulled the U.S. out of ⁠Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and declared a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

Video verified by Reuters showed dozens of people gathered in front of a burning police station overnight, as gunshots sporadically rang out and people shouted “shameless, shameless” at the authorities.

In the southern city of Zahedan, where Iran’s Baluch minority predominates, the human rights news group Hengaw reported that protesters had chanted slogans including “Death to the dictator”.

Hengaw has reported at least 80 arrests so far over the unrest, mostly in the west, and including 14 members of Iran’s Kurdish minority.

State television also reported the arrest of an unspecified number of people in another western city, Kermanshah, accused of manufacturing petrol bombs and homemade pistols. Iranian media also said two heavily armed individuals were arrested in central and western Iran before they could carry out attacks.

The deaths acknowledged by official or semi-official Iranian media have been in the small western cities of Lordegan and Kuhdasht. Hengaw also reported that a man was killed in Fars province in central Iran, though state news sites denied this.

Rights groups and social media posts reported protests in a number of cities late on Friday.

Reuters could not verify all the reports of unrest, arrests or deaths.

Trump spoke a few days after he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime advocate of military action against Iran, and warned of ​fresh strikes if Tehran resumed nuclear or ballistic work.

The Israeli and U.S. strikes in June last year have cranked up the pressure on Iranian authorities, as have the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, a close Tehran ally, and the Israeli pounding of its main regional partner, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Iran continues to ⁠support groups in Iraq that have previously fired rockets at U.S. forces in the country, as well as the Houthi group that controls much of northern Yemen.

“American people should know that Trump started the adventurism. They ought to watch over their soldiers,” said Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council and a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

During the latest unrest, Iran’s elected President Masoud Pezeshkian has struck a conciliatory tone, pledging dialogue with protest leaders over the cost-of-living crisis, even as rights ‌groups said security forces had fired on demonstrators.

Speaking on ‌Thursday, before Trump threatened U.S. action, Pezeshkian acknowledged that failings by the authorities ‍were behind the crisis.

“We are to blame… Do not look for America or anyone else to blame. We must serve properly so that people are satisfied with us…. It is us who ‌have to find a solution to these problems,” he said.

Pezeshkian’s government is trying a program of economic liberalization, but ‍one of its measures, deregulating some currency exchange, has contributed to a sharp decline in the value of Iran’s rial on the unofficial market.

The sliding currency has compounded inflation, which has hovered above 36% since March even by official estimates, in an economy battered by Western sanctions. (JapanToday)