Joint British-Qatari Air Squadron Departs For Persian Gulf
The UK has announced that a joint British-Qatari Royal Air Force squadron, known as Squadron 12, has been deployed to the Persian Gulf region with Typhoon fighter jets.
In a January 22 press release, the British Ministry of Defense announced the news, adding that "this action was taken in the wake of regional tensions" and "for purely defensive purposes."
According to the UK's Ministry of Defense, the deployment was made at the invitation of the Qatari government and aims to showcase the "strong and enduring defense relations" and to "maintain regional stability."
British Defense Secretary John Haley, in remarks quoted in the press release, said that Qatar and the UK are "close partners with historic defense ties" and that this cooperation strengthens "the national security of both our nations" and supports "stability in the Gulf region."
Squadron 12 has been regularly deployed to Qatar and has participated in joint training and exercises, the press release said.
The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, along with its planes and flight crews, was rerouted from the South China Sea and is accompanied by destroyers and a cruiser.
Grieving Mother Of Protester Calls Khamenei An 'Executioner'
In a video being widely shared, the mother of Daniyal Diani, a victim of the authorities' crackdown in the southeastern city of Kerman, can be seen clutching a photo of her son at his funeral.
Seemingly resigned to her fate and the high death toll, the mother calls Khamenei an executioner and appeals for him to "rule over the blood of our children."(It isn't an invitation to rule per se but an implication that Khamenei rules over a system that sustains its power through bloodshed.)
According to various media reports, Daniyal Diani was a native of Kerman and a law student at Razi University in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran. He was reportedly shot and killed when security forces attempted to quell the protests in Kerman on January 8.
Iran Protest Deaths Could Reach 20,000
Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, has said that the number of people reported killed in Iran’s protest crackdown has surged, with one estimate suggesting the total could be more than 20,000.
In an interview with ABC News this week, Sato estimated that the number of civilians killed was at least 5,000. However, she also said that figure could be 20,000 or more, according to reports she had received from doctors inside Iran.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that the number of confirmed fatalities has reached 5,002, while the number of deaths still under investigation has risen to 9,787.
In addition, at least 7,391 people have suffered serious injuries during the protests, and the total number of arrests has increased to 26,852, according to HRANA.s
Good morning. We're opening the live blog now with US President Donald Trump speaking to reporters on Air Force One while flying back from Davos.
Trump said that the US is watching Iran closely:
"You know we have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens."
"I said, if you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit. It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear [infrastructure] look like peanuts."
"And they actually said they canceled [the hangings], they didn't postpone it, they canceled it -- so that was a good sign."
"We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won't have to use it, we'll see."
Meanwhile, NetBlocks reports that Iran's national internet blackout continues, now in its third week. The monitoring group noticed only a slight rise in overall connectivity and "tunneled users," which refers to Iranians who have managed to bypass the blackout.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that the number of confirmed fatalities has reached 5,002, while the number of deaths still under investigation has risen to 9,787. In addition, at least 7,391 people have suffered serious injuries during the protests, and the total number of arrests has increased to 26,852, according to HRANA.
We are now closing the live blog for today. We'll be back again tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to follow the latest developments in Iran.
Iranians Mourn Family Members Killed In Mass Protests
Family and friends of Alireza Rahimi lit candles and played his favorite music on what would have been his birthday following weeks of a deadly state crackdown on protesters throughout Iran. Rahimi was killed, along with more than 4,900 others in Iran according to the HRANA human rights organization, during recent protests over a dire economy and the repressive theocracy headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian Parliament Speaker: Internet Blackout Prevented Threats To Officials
On Thursday, February 20, the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament defended the nationwide Internet blackout, which has now surpassed two weeks, claiming the measure prevented threats against "sensitive sites" and the residences of Iranian officials.
Hamidreza Haji Babaei did not provide further details. He added that cutting off the Internet succeeded in to "locking the American sword and warship" inside mobile phones.
Reports by monitoring organizations such as NetBlocks indicate that in recent days a small number of people, under what has been described as a "whitelist," have gained Internet access, while millions still do not have this possibility.
As Iran has plunged into a digital blackout, reports indicate that thousands of people have been killed in the government's brutal crackdown on nationwide protests.
EU To Target Iranian Officials Over Deadly Crackdown On Protesters
The European Union has proposed sanctions against Iran's interior minister and 14 other senior officials for their role in a violent crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted in late December, documents obtained by RFE/RL show.
The bloc's foreign ministers could adopt the measures, which include asset freezes and visa bans, when they meet in Brussels on January 29. All member states must vote in favor for the sanctions to be adopted.
The proposal, dated January 20 and circulated within the EU Council, targets Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, who oversees Iran's Law Enforcement Forces (LEF), and security units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that are blamed for hundreds of protester deaths.
Prosecutor-General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad faces designation for threatening demonstrators with death penalties on charges of "enmity against God" during the unrest.
Momeni, also deputy commander-in-chief, commanded forces that "suppressed street protests," which saw thousands of casualties, according to the EU document.
Regional IRGC commanders including Heydar Olfati in Ilam Province and Ahmad Ali Feyzollahi of the IRGC Ground Forces elite Saberin Brigade are accused of ordering troops to open fire on peaceful crowds.
To read the whole news story, click here.
European Parliament Condemns 'Chilling Shift' In Repression In Iran
- By RFE/RL
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution expressing “outrage at the repression and mass murders being perpetrated by the Iranian regime against protesters in Iran.”
The resolution adopted on January 22 demands that Iran’s leadership under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “immediately end violence against peaceful protesters, halt all executions, and cease the murder and repression of civilians,” while declaring full solidarity with what it called Iran’s “brave and legitimate protest movement.”
Adopted by 562 votes in favor, nine against and 57 abstentions, the resolution warns that the killing of thousands of protesters signals a "chilling shift" in repression “from deterrence to strategic elimination.”
European lawmakers called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all protesters, human rights defenders, and journalists,” currently in custody, urged the EU to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization, and condemned efforts to censor protests through Internet shutdowns.
They also welcomed the assembly's president Roberta Metsola’s decision to bar Iranian regime representatives from European Parliament premises.
Call For Iranian Celebrities To Pay For The Damage Caused By Protests
Fars News Agency, which is closely affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has released a video asserting that Iranian celebrities and public figures who supported the recent protests should be held financially responsible for the resulting "damages."
Titled Will the Treatment of Celebrities Be Different This Time?, the video centers on a statement from the Tehran prosecutor's office announcing that "cases have been filed against certain celebrities and groups accused of inciting unrest, and the property of some defendants has already been seized."
The video does not specify individuals by name, but it opens with images of female artists and filmmakers who publicly opposed mandatory hijab rules during the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests.
It highlights the case of Voria Ghafouri, the former captain of Tehran's Esteghlal FC soccer team, whose chain of cafes was closed on January 8 and January 9, days when exiled former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi had called for Iranians to demonstrate. According to the video, this "led to the martyrdom of security forces and extensive damage to public and private property."
Without providing further evidence or details, the video claims that "preliminary judicial reviews have concluded some riot supporters must compensate for a portion of the damages."
The video comes shortly after several state-affiliated outlets --including the Hamshahri newspaper -- reported that the assets of Mohammad Saedinia, owner and manager of the popular Saedinia cafe chain, were valued at approximately the same amount as the "losses suffered by the capital" during the unrest. Both Fars and Hamshahri suggested seizing Saedinia's assets as compensation for the alleged damages to the city.
The narrative carries clear historical echoes: it recalls the Iranian government's post-1979 Islamic Revolution treatment of entrepreneurs who were prominent during the Pahlavi era.