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Iranian authorities have killed a Canadian citizen during one of the protests that have spread across the Islamic Republic, Ottawa said Thursday.”I have just learned that a Canadian citizen has died in Iran at the hands of Iranian authorities,” Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on X, giving no further details.”Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations — have led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” Anand added.A Canadian foreign ministry official, speaking on background, told AFP that Ottawa understands the individual was killed by Iranian authorities during a protest.In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said consular officials have been in touch with the individual’s family in Canada.”Canada strongly condemns the horrific killing of protesters in Iran,” the statement said.”Canadians in Iran should leave now if they can do so safely,” the statement added, addressing the estimated 3,000 Canadians thought to still be in the Islamic Republic.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lashed out Thursday at world leaders who he said were seeking to “put international cooperation on deathwatch” amid brazen violations of international law, but held off naming offending countries.He also reiterated that he was “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis scheduled for later Thursday.Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, was giving his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.”He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies. “These forces and more are shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself,” Guterres told the General Assembly. “At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch.”Guterres said the UN is “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support.”Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organization has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.Trump has questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities. The organization’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralyzed because of tensions between the United States and Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.”As we meet today, the snares of conflict have trapped millions of members of the human family in miserable, prolonged cycles of violence, hunger and displacement,” Guterres said.On Gaza, the UN chief called for humanitarian aid to “flow unimpeded” and on Ukraine he said “we must spare no effort” to stop the fighting.He also called for the resumption of talks to bring about a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.Guterres also used his wide-ranging remarks urge action against the abuse of artificial intelligence, to call for efforts to fight inequality.

Iran’s hardline judiciary chief has personally interrogated protesters arrested in a crackdown that has sparked an international outcry, amplifying fears among rights groups about the use of “forced confessions” to instil fear in society.On Thursday, state television showed Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who has spent his career at the heart of the Islamic republic’s legal apparatus and has been sanctioned by both the European Union and United States, quizzing several people the authorities accuse of being “rioters”.It aired footage of the former intelligence minister and top Tehran prosecutor interrogating two detained women, their faces blurred, both of whom broke down in tears while questioned.The day earlier, he had spent five hours inside one of the prisons of Tehran to examine the cases of prisoners arrested in the protests, state television said, showing him interrogating some detainees.According to rights groups, state television has broadcast dozens such “confessions” of individuals accused of attacks on security forces and other acts of violence in the demonstrations.”State media began airing the forced confessions of protesters within days of the outbreak of protests,” said Norway-based Iran Human Rights.”Confessions that were obtained under coercion and torture being aired prior to legal proceedings violate the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty,” it added.In another example, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said two teenage girls arrested in the central city of Isfahan were shown in “forced confessions” saying they received money from an individual to participate in street protests.The use of such alleged admissions comes against the backdrop of a crackdown that rights group say has left thousands dead in rallies that have openly challenged the authority of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.- ‘Work quickly’ -In the latest footage, Ejei was shown seated in a room flanked by other officials, beneath a double picture of Khamenei and revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini. The detainee sat in a chair opposite.One woman, accused of sending a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “I’ve done something that even I can’t forgive myself for.””For what… to who,” pressed Ejei, speaking softly while clasping his hands.Another woman is accused of dropping concrete blocks on security forces in Tehran from a balcony. “I don’t know what happened, why I did something so foolish,” she said, after Ejei pressed her by asking, “What was the day?” and “How did you know they were officers?”No further evidence of their alleged involvement was shown.US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran in 2024 described Ejei, who has vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, as a “ruthless enforcer of the Islamic republic with no regard for human rights”.Opposition groups also accuse him of involvement in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners in the Islamic republic.Media freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said he has “journalists’ blood on his hands”, recalling that Ejei in 2004 even bit a journalist on the shoulder during a debate. “If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly,” Ejei said on Wednesday.With any delays, “it wouldn’t have the same effect,” he said.

While Russia and China are ready to back protest-rocked Iran under threat by US President Donald Trump, that support would diminish in the face of US military action, experts told AFP.Iran is a significant ally to the two nuclear powers, providing drones to Russia and oil to China. But analysts told AFP the two superpowers would only offer diplomatic and economic aid to Tehran, to avoid a showdown with Washington.”China and Russia don’t want to go head-to-head with the US over Iran,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior policy expert for the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.Tehran, despite its best efforts over decades, has failed to establish a formal alliance with Moscow and Beijing, she noted.If the United States carried out strikes on Iran, “both the Chinese and the Russians will prioritise their bilateral relationship with Washington”, Geranmayeh said.China has to maintain a “delicate” rapprochement with the Trump administration, she argued, while Russia wants to keep the United States involved in talks on ending the war in Ukraine. “They both have much higher priorities than Iran.”- Ukraine before Iran -Despite their close ties, “Russia-Iranian treaties don’t include military support” — only political, diplomatic and economic aid, Russian analyst Sergei Markov told AFP.Alexander Gabuev, director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said Moscow would do whatever it could “to keep the regime afloat”. But “Russia’s options are very limited,” he added.Faced with its own economic crisis, “Russia cannot become a giant market for Iranian products” nor can it provide “a lavish loan”, Gabuev said. Nikita Smagin, a specialist in Russia-Iran relations, said that in the event of US strikes, Russia could do “almost nothing”.”They don’t want to risk military confrontation with other great powers like the US — but at the same time, they’re ready to send weaponry to Iran,” he said. “Using Iran as a bargaining asset is a normal thing for Russia,” Smagin said of the longer-term strategy, at a time when Moscow is also negotiating with Washington on Ukraine.Markov agreed. “The Ukrainian crisis is much more important for Russia than the Iranian crisis,” he argued.- Chinese restraint -China is also ready to help Tehran “economically, technologically, militarily and politically” as it confronts non-military US actions such as trade pressure and cyberattacks, Hua Po, a Beijing-based independent political observer, told AFP.If the United States launched strikes, China “would strengthen its economic ties with Iran and help it militarise in order to contribute to bogging the United States down in a war in the Middle East,” he added.Until now, China has been cautious and expressed itself “with restraint”, weighing the stakes of oil and regional stability, said Iran-China relations researcher Theo Nencini of Sciences Po Grenoble. “China is benefiting from a weakened Iran, which allows it to secure low-cost oil… and to acquire a sizeable geopolitical partner,” he said. However, he added: “I find it hard to see them engaging in a showdown with the Americans over Iran.”Beijing would likely issue condemnations, but not retaliate, he said.Hua said the Iran crisis was unlikely to have an impact on China-US relations overall.”The Iranian question isn’t at the heart of relations between the two countries,” he argued.”Neither will sever ties with the other over Iran.” 

Gulf allies have convinced Donald Trump to “give Iran a chance”, a Saudi official said on Thursday, after the US leader repeatedly threatened strikes on the Islamic republic over a crackdown on protests that activists say has left thousands dead.Iran was shaken over the last week by some of the biggest anti-government protests in the history of the Islamic republic, although the demonstrations appear to have diminished over the last few days in the face of repression and an almost week-long internet blackout.The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said on Wednesday that Iranian security forces had killed at least 3,428 protesters, warning that the final toll would be far higher.Iranian authorities have lashed out at “rioters” who they claimed were backed by Israel and the US, vowing fast-track justice that activists fear will translate into a spree of executions.Trump has not ruled out new military action against the Islamic republic under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after Washington backed Israel in its June 12-day war against Iran.But with the belligerent rhetoric on all sides appearing to tone down for now, a senior Saudi official told AFP on Thursday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led efforts to talk Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing “grave blowbacks in the region”.The Gulf trio “led a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention”, the official said on condition of anonymity.Some personnel were moved out of a major US military base in Qatar on Wednesday, and staff at US missions in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were warned to exercise caution as fears mounted of a US attack.In telephone talks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan of the importance of “global condemnation of foreign interference in the internal affairs of regional countries” and vowed Iran would defend itself “against any foreign threat”, according to a statement on his Telegram account.On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia informed Iran it would not allow its airspace or territory to be used to attack the country, two sources close to the kingdom’s government told AFP.The developments came hours ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran later on Thursday, which was requested by the US.- ‘Good news’ -Up until Wednesday, the United States was threatening military action against Iran should it carry out the death penalty against people arrested over the protests.In an announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from “very important sources on the other side” that executions would not go ahead.”They’ve said the killing has stopped and the executions won’t take place — there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won’t take place — and we’re going to find out,” Trump said.Attention had focused on protester Erfan Soltani, 26, in prison in Karaj outside Tehran since his arrest, and rights groups said was due to be executed on Wednesday.On Thursday, the Iranian judiciary said Soltani has “not been sentenced to death” and was facing charges of propaganda against Iran’s Islamic system and acting against national security.If he is convicted, “the punishment, according to the law, will be imprisonment, as the death penalty does not exist for such charges”.In an interview with US network Fox News, Araghchi said there would be “no hanging today or tomorrow”.Commenting on Truth Social, Trump said: “This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”- ‘Significant cost’ -Araghchi said the Iranian government was “in full control” and reported an atmosphere of calm after what he called three days of “terrorist operation”.The US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has monitored protest activity amid the shutdown, said it had recorded no protests on Wednesday.But it added: “The regime is sustaining repressive measures that impose a significant cost on the regime. This suggests that the regime does not perceive that the threat from protests has subsided.”Despite the shutdown, new videos from the height of the protests, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.One Red Crescent member of staff was killed and five other colleagues were wounded while on duty in northwestern Iran, the aid group’s parent organisation said Thursday without giving the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Syrians began fleeing an area east of Aleppo city on Thursday after the army gave civilians a deadline to leave amid fears of an escalation in clashes with Kurdish forces.The government is seeking to extend its authority across the country following the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad a year ago.On Sunday, government troops took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods.It reached a deal in March to fold a Kurdish de facto autonomous administration in the north into the state, but progress on its implementation has stalled.An AFP correspondent near Deir Hafer, one of the Kurdish-controlled towns being eyed by Damascus, saw many cars, trucks and civilians on foot leaving through a corridor set up by the army on Thursday, but the road was due to close at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT).Mahmud al-Mussa, 30, said “thousands of people have not left”, accusing the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of not letting them leave.”They want to use civilians as human shields,” he said.The area targeted extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates River about 30 kilometres further east, as well as towards the south.Damascus, which has deployed forces to the region, also accused Kurdish forces of barring the civilians from leaving.Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the SDF, told AFP the accusations were “unfounded”.Nadima al-Wayss, 54, said she, her brother and her niece had to cross a damaged bridge to leave Deir Hafer through a different road.”Good people helped me cross the bridge… I was afraid I would fall.”- ‘Join hands’ -The SDF controls swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during the country’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.In a statement on Thursday, the Kurdish-led autonomous administration said they remained open to dialogue with Damascus and called on the international community to prevent a new civil war in Syria.The SDF warned that the escalation “could lead to general instability, posing a real threat to the security of prisons holding ISIS members”, referring to the Islamic State (IS) group.Camps and prisons in Syria’s Kurdish-administered northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to IS, more than six years after the group’s territorial defeat in the country.Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said “the ball is in (the SDF’s) court”, calling on the group to “join hands with us… and begin the reconstruction process in Syria”. He made his remarks in an interview with Iraqi Kurdish channel Al Shams, which then decided not to air it.Syrian state television and other regional channels have since aired excerpts.”The agreement signed by Mazlum Abdi does not include federalism, self-administration… it includes a unified Syria,” Sharaa said, referring to the SDF leader.The Kurds have called for a decentralised federal system as part of their integration process into the Syrian state, but Sharaa has rejected their demands.Syria’s Kurds faced decades of oppression under former president Assad and his father, Hafez, who preached a Baathist brand of Arab nationalism.They fear Syria’s new Islamist rulers may take away from them the autonomy they carved out during the civil war that erupted with Assad’s 2011 crackdown on nationwide democracy protests.

Iran vowed on Thursday to defend itself against any foreign threat, after US President Donald Trump said he would “watch it and see” about military action over the crackdown on protesters.Iran’s judiciary said a protester who the United States and rights groups feared faced imminent execution would not be sentenced to death, after Trump had warned of strikes should people arrested for demonstrating be killed.The protests were sparked by economic grievances but evolved rapidly into a nationwide movement that has constituted the greatest threat to the Islamic republic since its inception in 1979. Rights groups say the crackdown by authorities, who exercise zero tolerance for dissent, has left at least 3,428 people dead. They also accuse the country’s theocratic leaders of using an internet blackout to cover up the brutality of their crackdown.In telephone talks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan of the importance of “global condemnation of foreign interference in the internal affairs of regional countries”.The developments came hours ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran later on Thursday, which was requested by the US.On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia informed Iran it would not allow its airspace or territory to be used to attack it, two sources close to the kingdom’s government told AFP.Up until Wednesday, the United States was threatening military action against Iran should it carry out the death penalty against people arrested over the protests.In an announcement at the White House, Trump said he had now received assurances from “very important sources on the other side” that executions would not go ahead.”They’ve said the killing has stopped and the executions won’t take place — there were supposed to be a lot of executions today and that the executions won’t take place — and we’re going to find out,” Trump said.Asked by an AFP reporter in the Oval Office if US military action was now off the table, Trump replied: “We’re going to watch it and see what the process is.”The comments sent oil prices plunging on Thursday, as concerns eased of a looming supply shock in energy markets. Iran makes up around three percent of global oil production. All eyes were on protester Erfan Soltani, 26, in prison in Karaj outside Tehran since his arrest, who is facing charges of propaganda against Iran’s Islamic system and acting against national security.On Thursday, the Iranian judiciary said Soltani has “not been sentenced to death” and if he is convicted, “the punishment, according to the law, will be imprisonment, as the death penalty does not exist for such charges”.- ‘No hanging today or tomorrow’ -Iran’s judiciary chief had vowed fast-track trials for those arrested, and prosecutors have said some detainees will face capital charges of “waging war against God”.State media reported hundreds of arrests and the detention of a foreign national for espionage, without giving details.In an interview with US network Fox News, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there would be “no hanging today or tomorrow”, while accusing US ally Israel of orchestrating violence in Iran, without providing evidence.Araghchi contends the protests devolved into widespread violence between January 7 and 10 because they were infiltrated by external “elements who had a plan to create a big number of killings in order to provoke President Trump to enter into this conflict and start a new war against Iran”.The authorities imposed an unprecedented internet blackout on January 8, as protests exploded in size and intensity, severely hampering the demonstrators’ ability to communicate with each other and the outside world.Iran’s Minister of Justice Amin Hossein Rahimi echoed Araghchi’s allegation, telling state news agencies that after January 7, “those weren’t protests any longer” and anyone who was arrested on the streets then “was definitely a criminal”.- ‘Full control’ -Araghchi said the Iranian government was “in full control” and reported an atmosphere of “calm” after what he called three days of “terrorist operation”.Iran also struck a defiant tone about responding to any US attack, as Washington appeared to draw down staff at a base in Qatar that Tehran targeted in a strike last year.Iran targeted the Al Udeid base in June in retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear facilities. Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Trump the strike showed “Iran’s will and capability to respond to any attack”.Fears of possible US military action continued to rile the region, and Turkey on Thursday said it opposed a military operation against Iran. – ‘Zero protests’ -G7 nations said Wednesday they were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and warned of further sanctions if the crackdown continued.Monitor NetBlocks said Iran’s internet blackout had lasted over 156 hours. Despite the shutdown, new videos, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue south of Tehran, wrapped in black bags as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.The US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has monitored protest activity amid the shutdown, said it had recorded “zero protests” on Wednesday.But it added: “The regime is sustaining repressive measures that impose a significant cost on the regime. This suggests that the regime does not perceive that the threat from protests has subsided.”Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, said security forces had killed at least 3,428 protesters and arrested more than 10,000.burs/sjw-ser/axn