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The son of Iran’s late shah said Friday he was confident that mass protests would topple the Islamic republic and urged international action, as President Donald Trump holds off on intervening in the unrest.Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the Washington area, has presented himself as leader of the opposition as the cleric-run state ruthlessly represses mass protests.”The Islamic republic will fall — not if, but when,” Pahlavi told a news conference in Washington.Since the demonstrations erupted in the waning days of 2025 with a rallying cry of solving Iran’s severe economic woes, Pahlavi has urged intervention by the United States.Trump had repeatedly warned Iran that if it kills protesters, the United States would intervene militarily. He also encouraged Iranians to take over state institutions, saying “help is on the way.”But two weeks after he first suggested help, and after Iranian forces by some estimates have killed thousands of protesters, Trump has not acted.Trump instead has highlighted what he said was an end to the killing of protesters, as the size of demonstrations diminished in recent days.”I believe that President Trump is a man of his word and ultimately he will stand with the Iranian people as he has said,” Pahlavi said when asked if Trump had given false hope.”Iranian people are taking decisive actions on the ground. It is now time for the international community to join them fully.”Gulf Arab monarchies, despite frequent friction with Iran, have urged Trump to show caution due to uncertainties about the future.- ‘Surgical’ strikes -Pahlavi called for the targeting of the command structure of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite unit of the Islamic republic. “I’m calling for a surgical strike,” said Pahlavi, who controversially backed Israel’s military campaign on Iran in June.Pahlavi said the priority should be to “weaken the regime’s first and foremost means of instituting terror at home or terrorism abroad.”He also called on all countries to expel diplomats from Iran.Many protesters have chanted the name of Pahlavi, whose pro-Western father fled in 1979 in the Islamic revolution.Pahlavi says he wants to be a figurehead to lead a transition to a secular democracy, although he has plenty of detractors who suspect a desire to restore the monarchy and want instead to empower opposition still in Iran.”I reaffirm my lifelong pledge to lead the movement that will take back our country from the anti-Iranian hostile force that occupies it and kills its children,” Pahlavi said.”I will return to Iran.”He described the cleric-run state as an “occupying force” that has committed “mass crimes.”He also pointed to the pledges by Shiite militant movements from Lebanon and Iraq to help the Iranian clerical government, their longtime patron.”This is a clear indication of the regime’s weakness that it cannot even tackle its own forces to do the dirty job.”Pahlavi promised that a new Iran would have better relations with the Islamic republic’s sworn enemies — the United States and Israel — and integrate into the global economy.He said that Iran would quickly normalize relations with Israel in a “Cyrus Accord,” a reference to Cyrus the Great, the celebrated Persian emperor who freed Jews from Babylonian captivity.”Iran today should have been the next South Korea of the Middle East,” he said. “Today we have become North Korea.”

A top UK police chief who oversaw a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from a Birmingham match stepped down by retiring on Friday after growing calls for him to go.West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford have been under mounting pressure about how they came to the decision to bar the fans from the November 6 UEFA Europa League match with Aston Villa.The move sparked political outrage in Britain, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and in Israel, with Israeli leaders denouncing it as “antisemitic”.”The Chief Constable, Craig Guildford, has today retired from West Midlands Police with immediate effect,” the regional force’s crime commissioner Simon Foster told reporters.He said the row had become a “significant distraction” to West Midlands Police, which includes Birmingham, the UK’s second-biggest city.”It was important this matter was resolved in a balanced, calm, fair, measured and respectful manner,” Foster added.Britain’s interior minister, Shabana Mahmood, on Wednesday said she had lost confidence in Guildford, after a preliminary policing watchdog report found the force “overstated” the threat posed by Maccabi fans to justify the ban.”The chief constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence,” Mahmood, who is also a local Birmingham MP, told parliament.Birmingham’s population is 30 percent Muslim, according to the last census in 2021, and has seen several protests in support of Palestinians since the 2023 start of the war in Gaza, including on the night of the match.The publication of the independent police watchdog’s report came after months of scrutiny of the police force over the ban.The report, led by police chief inspector Andy Cooke, accused the force of “confirmation bias”. “Rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans,” said Mahmood.Cooke’s review “shows that the police overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, while understating the risk that was posed to the Israeli fans if they travelled to the area,” Mahmood said.- ‘Inaccuracies’ -In a statement, West Midlands Police said on Wednesday: “We are extremely sorry for the impact these have had on individuals and their communities.””We know that mistakes were made, but reiterate the findings that none of this was done with an intent of deliberate distortion or discrimination.”Maccabi fans were blocked from travelling to the match by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.West Midlands Police had classified the match as “high risk”, but the police watchdog found eight “inaccuracies” in their advice to the SAG, including a reference to a non-existent game between Tel Aviv and West Ham, which was an “AI hallucination”.Guildford apologised to MPs for providing erroneous evidence when he was questioned by them earlier this month.He had previously told MPs the error was the result of a Google search and denied the force had used artificial intelligence.But in a letter to MPs on Wednesday, Guildford admitted the erroneous information was due to the use of Microsoft Copilot, an AI chatbot.The watchdog’s report said other inaccuracies included West Midlands Police “greatly” exaggerating the problems in Amsterdam in November 2024 after Maccabi fans clashed with locals there, the review said.

Protests in Iran have subsided after a crackdown that has killed thousands under an internet blackout, monitors said Friday, a week after the start of the largest demonstrations in years challenging the country’s theocratic system.The son of Iran’s late shah, however, said he was confident the Islamic republic would fall and called for intervention, though the threat of new military action by the United States against Iran has appeared to have receded for the time being.Protests sparked by economic grievances started with a shutdown in the Tehran bazaar on December 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.People started pouring into the streets in big cities from January 8 but authorities immediately enforced a shutdown of the internet that has lasted over a week and activists say is aimed at masking the scale of the crackdown.The “brutal” repression has “likely suppressed the protest movement for now”, said the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which has monitored the protest activity.But it added: “The regime’s widespread mobilisation of security forces is unsustainable, however, which makes it possible that protests could resume.”Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah, told a news conference in Washington that “The Islamic republic will fall — not if, but when.” “I will return to Iran,” he said.Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) says 3,428 protesters have been verified to have been killed by security forces, but warns the actual toll could be several times higher.Other estimates place the death toll at more than 5,000 — and possibly as high as 20,000 — with the internet blackout severely hampering independent verification, IHR said.The opposition Iran International channel based outside the country has said at least 12,000 people were killed during the protests, citing senior government and security sources.  IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam cited “horrifying eyewitness accounts” received by IHR of “protesters being shot dead while trying to flee, the use of military-grade weapons and the street execution of wounded protesters”.- ‘Give Iran a chance’ -Monitor Netblocks said that the “total internet blackout” in Iran had now lasted over 180 hours, longer than a similar measure that was imposed during 2019 protests.Amnesty International said this was being backed up by the use of heavily armed patrols and checkpoints to crush “the nationwide popular uprising in Iran” with security forces visible in the streets.Trump, who backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had not ruled out new military action against Tehran and made clear he was keeping a close eye on if any protesters were executed.But a senior Saudi official told AFP on Thursday that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led “a long, frantic, diplomatic last-minute effort to convince President Trump to give Iran a chance to show good intention”.While Washington appeared to have stepped back, the White House said Thursday that “all options remain on the table for the president”.Attention had focused on the fate of a single protester, Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old who rights activists and Washington said was set to be executed as early as Wednesday.The Iranian judiciary confirmed Soltani was under arrest but said he had not been sentenced to death and his charges meant he did not risk capital punishment. Rights groups have estimated up to 20,000 people have been arrested. Security officials cited by the Tasnim news agency on Friday said around 3,000 people were arrested.- ‘All Iranians united’ -The US Treasury on Thursday announced new sanctions targeting Iranian officials including Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security.Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile held telephone talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in what the Kremlin described as “efforts to facilitate de-escalation”.Despite the internet 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, as distraught relatives searched for loved ones.At the UN Security Council in New York, Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, invited to address the body by Washington, said “all Iranians are united” against the clerical system in Iran. Iran’s representative at the meeting Gholamhossein Darzi accused Washington of “exploitation of peaceful protests for geopolitical purposes.”

A bipartisan US Congress delegation began a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to voice support for Denmark and Greenland after US President Donald Trump threatened to take over the Arctic island, an autonomous Danish territory.The two-day visit comes alongside a European show of support in the form of a military reconnaissance mission to Greenland.The 11 congressmen and women were to hold talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen.The group arrived at the Danish employers’ association Dansk Industri around midday for discussions with business leaders.They were due later to meet members of the Danish parliament, over which the Greenlandic flag was raised on Friday in a show of unity.”We are showing bipartisan solidarity with the people of this country and with Greenland. They’ve been our friends and allies for decades,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told reporters.”We want them to know we appreciate that very much. And the statements being made by the president do not reflect what the American people feel,” he added of Trump.An AFP reporter in Copenhagen saw a large black van leave Frederiksen’s office shortly before noon (1100 GMT) on Friday but her office declined to confirm whether the meeting had taken place.The delegation’s visit follows a meeting in Washington on Wednesday at which Danish representatives said Copenhagen and Washington were in “fundamental disagreement” over the future of Greenland.In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, residents welcomed the show of support.”(US) Congress would never approve of a military action in Greenland. It’s just one idiot speaking,” a 39-year-old union representative told AFP.”If he does it, he’ll get impeached or kicked out. If people in Congress want to save their own democracy, they have to step up,” said the union rep, speaking on condition of anonymity.- Demonstrations -Trump claims the United States needs mineral-rich Greenland and has criticised Denmark for, he says, not doing enough to ensure its security.The US president has pursued that argument, despite strategically located Greenland — as part of Denmark — being covered by NATO’s security umbrella.Military personnel were more visible in Nuuk on Friday, according to an AFP journalist, days after Denmark said it was beefing up its defence on the island. “I don’t think troops in Europe impact the president’s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen retorted that a US acquisition of Greenland was “out of the question”.The European troop deployment in Greenland for a military exercise is aimed at “sending a signal” to “everyone”, including the United States, that European countries are determined to “defend (their) sovereignty”, French armed forces minister Alice Rufo said.Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have announced the deployment of small numbers of military personnel to prepare for future exercises in the Arctic. “A first team of French service members is already on site and will be reinforced in the coming days with land, air and maritime assets,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.Large demonstrations are planned across Denmark and Greenland on Saturday to protest against Trump’s territorial ambitions.Thousands of people have taken to social networks to say they intend to take part in the protests organised by Greenlandic associations in Nuuk and Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense.In addition to Durbin, the US delegation included Democratic senators Chris Coons, Jeanne Shaheen and Peter Welch, as well as Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis.Democrats from the House of Representatives in the delegation are Madeleine Dean, Steny Hoyer, Sara Jacobs, Sarah McBride and Gregory Meeks.

A French prosecutor Friday sought a one-year jail term for an Iranian woman accused of promoting “terrorism” online in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens.Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting “terrorism” on social media over comments she is said to have made, including on Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities. She is accused of writing posts for a channel called “Axis of the Resistance” in 2023 and 2024 on platforms including Telegram, X, Twitch and YouTube.She was released after some eight months in pre-trial detention in October pending her hearing in court, whose start date on Tuesday was scheduled long before protests erupted in Iran in recent weeks.The prosecutor requested a four-year jail term, including three years suspended, for Esfandiari, but said it would not be necessary for her to be re-incarcerated.The verdict is expected at a later date.Esfandiari, who has translated into French works from a publisher linked to the Iranian authorities, in court said she was involved with the “Axis of the Resistance” project, but did not write its posts.She however said the Hamas attacks in 2023 did not amount to “terrorism”.”It’s not an act of terrorism, it’s an act of resistance,” she said.- French pair held -French citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran in May 2022, but they were freed in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied.They were immediately taken by French diplomats to France’s mission in Tehran, but are still waiting to leave Iran.Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in November that Iran would allow Kohler and Paris to return home in “exchange” for France freeing Esfandiari.Iran’s ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin Nejad, late Thursday said he hoped the French pair could go home.”My wish is for their return as soon as possible after arrangements have been made between the two states,” he said.France has described Kohler and Paris as “state hostages” taken by Tehran in a bid to extract concessions. They were convicted on espionage charges their families have always condemned as fabricated.Dozens of Europeans, North Americans and other Western citizens have been arrested in the last few years in similar circumstances.Iran has previously carried out exchanges of Westerners for Iranians held by the West, but insists foreigners are convicted fully in line with the law.

South Africa’s defence minister has ordered an inquiry into reports of Iran’s participation in navy exercises, apparently against the instructions of the president, the ministry said Friday.The probe comes after the United States sharply criticised the past week’s drills, which brought vessels from China, Iran, Russia and the United Arab Emirates to waters off Cape Town.Local media reported President Cyril Ramaphosa had instructed the defence minister to withdraw the three Iranian warships from the drills, which came amid the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on protesters.It was unclear to what extent Iran took part, but images emerged of at least one Iranian vessel at sea.A defence ministry statement on social media on Tuesday listed an Iranian corvette as among the participants, but the post was later removed.Defence Minister Angie Motshekga had “clearly communicated” the president’s instruction, the defence ministry said in a statement that did not make clear the president’s order, which was also not confirmed by his office.A board of inquiry would investigate “whether the instruction of the president may have been misrepresented and/or ignored”, it said.The defence force said the China-led exercises of nations in the BRICS alliance were to “ensure the safety of shipping lanes and maritime economic activities”.The US embassy on Thursday criticised Iran’s presence as “particularly unconscionable” given the protest crackdown, which independent monitors say left thousands dead.The exercises involved nations with major diplomatic differences with the United States, at a time when Pretoria is seeking to improve its battered ties with Washington.US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused South Africa of anti-American policies and boycotted a G20 summit it hosted in November, also imposing 30-percent trade tariffs.In August, Ramaphosa’s office rebuked the defence force for allowing the country’s top general to visit Iran, where he reportedly called for cooperation in defence matters.The visit was unhelpful as South Africa managed “a very delicate exercise of resetting diplomatic relations with the United States”, a spokesman said.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will hold talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin Tuesday as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.On his first visit to Germany since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa is also set to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The former Islamist rebel chief has made frequent overseas trips as he undergoes a rapid reinvention, including to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted. The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled. Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.A German government spokesman said Berlin had an “interest in deepening and finding a new start with the new Syrian government”. Among topics on the agenda will be “the return of Syrians to their home country,” he confirmed.Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, has previously insisted that there is “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.But rights groups have criticised such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.- ‘Dramatic situation’ -Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces. Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa’s planned visit, labelling it “totally unacceptable”. “The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation,” they said in a joint statement.”It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery.”The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.But the German foreign ministry insisted treatment of minorities in Syria was “very important” for Berlin.”I would like to reject the suggestion that we are not addressing this issue,” a ministry spokesman told a press conference in Berlin. “It is one of the central topics we are discussing with the Syrian government.”Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who has been among those voicing caution with regard to deportations, will also meet his Syrian counterpart in Berlin next week. On a trip to Damascus in October, Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was “very limited” since the war had destroyed much of Syria’s infrastructure — triggering a backlash in his own centre-right party.Armin Laschet, a former chancellor candidate for Merz’s CDU party, told AFP in an interview that Sharaa should “clearly hear Europe’s expectations” on the protection of minorities during the visit. But Laschet, currently an MP and chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, supported the decision to host Sharaa at the chancellery.”Dialogue is necessary, especially against the backdrop of recent fighting,” he said. “Sharaa faces an extraordinarily demanding task.”