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Several thousand demonstrators rallied in Berlin on Saturday calling for an end to Iran’s clerical-led government and its bloody repression of protests.Police said 10,000 people had attended one protest at the city’s Brandenburg Gate organised by the MEK, an exiled opposition group considered “terrorist” by Tehran.Another demonstration, this one organised by supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of the last shah of Iran, attracted 1,600 people, said police. They marched along a major avenue, carrying shah-era Iranian flags as well as US, German and Israeli ones.The demonstrations followed protests in Iran that began at the end of December. Triggered by economic malaise in the sanctions-hit country, they spiralled into anti-government street demonstrations in January.They were countered by a crackdown by the security forces, which rights groups say killed thousands of people.Iran is currently engaged in talks with the United States to stave off threatened military action. US President Donald Trump has deployed a naval battle group and wants Tehran to end nuclear enrichment, curb the range of its ballistic missiles, and ease its repression.- Rival opposition groups -The Berlin rally by the MEK featured Charles Michel, the former president of the EU’s European Council, and Peter Altmaier, former German economy minister. Mike Pompeo, the United States’ former secretary of state, also addressed the crowd by video.The opposition group seeks to portray itself as a leading Iranian opposition force. But it is reviled by many Iranians for having fought on Iraq’s side against Iran in a war in the 1980s. Reza Pahlavi, whose name and photos have featured in Iranian protests, is also vying to be seen as an opposition figurehead, distinct from the MEK. He has, in interviews in the United States and on social media, urged Iranians to “be ready” for more protests.At the MEK-organised demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate one participant, Samin Sabet, a 40-year-old hotel employee, said Iran should have free and fair elections.”We don’t want a dictatorships, nor a monarchy,” she told AFP.Another demonstrator, Iraj Abedini, a 61-year-old psychologist who left Iran four decades ago, said he was there “to support the Iranian people” after “having lost two nephews in the January protests” in the Iranian city of Isfahan.He predicted that the Iran-US talks, hosted by Oman, “will go nowhere”.”The Iranian regime is trying to use the negotiations to stay in power. And the US government, which has other plans, doesn’t support the Iranian people,” he said.

Iraq has so far received 2,225 Islamic State group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.They are among up to 7,000 IS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at “ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities”.Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF’s role in confronting IS had come to an end.Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister’s office, told AFP on Saturday that “Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition”, which Washington has led since 2014 to fight IS.He said they are being held in “strict, regular detention centres”.A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the “continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition”, using another name for IS.On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.- Iraq calls for repatriation -IS seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the jihadists.In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offences.Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military’s operation.In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said “the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist ISIS organisation before the competent Iraqi courts”.Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.Maan noted that “the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed”.

US President Donald Trump said that Washington had “very good talks” on Iran after the two sides held an indirect dialogue in Oman, pledging another round of negotiations next week.Iran for its part said it expected to hold more negotiations with the United States, hailing a “positive atmosphere” during a day of talks in the Gulf sultanate.With an American naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters, US and Iranian delegations held talks in Muscat on Friday mediated by Oman without publicly meeting face-to-face.”We likewise had very good talks on Iran,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We’re going to meet again early next week,” he added.Shortly after the talks concluded, the US announced new sanctions against shipping entities and vessels, aimed at curbing Iran’s oil exports.Trump also signed an executive order Friday enabling his administration to impose tariffs on goods from countries doing business with Iran, with any potential levies threatening trade with countries including China, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. It was not clear if the moves were linked to the talks, which were the first between the two foes since the United States joined Israel’s war with Iran in June with strikes on its nuclear sites. While Iran warned against further threats after Washington raised the spectre of new military action, Trump said: “If they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.”Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led Iran’s delegation in Muscat, said talks “focused exclusively” on the Iranian nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful.The US delegation, led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner, had also wanted Tehran’s backing for militant groups, its ballistic missile program and treatment of protesters on the agenda.”In a very positive atmosphere, our arguments were exchanged and the views of the other side were shared with us,” Araghchi told Iranian state TV, adding that the two sides had “agreed to continue negotiations.”Speaking to the official IRNA news agency, Araghchi expressed hope that Washington would refrain from “threats and pressure” so that “the talks can continue.”- ‘Destabilising power’ -Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, was present at the talks, according to images published by the Oman News Agency.Multiple sessions of talks in the morning and afternoon involved both sides shuttling to and from the residence of Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.The foreign ministry of US ally Qatar expressed hope the talks would “lead to a comprehensive agreement that serves the interests of both parties and enhances security and stability in the region.”The White House has made clear it wants the talks to rein in Tehran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon, an ambition the Islamic republic has always denied.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday that Iran should stop being a “destabilising power,” citing its nuclear program and support for “terrorist” groups.Barrot also called on “groups supported by Iran” to exert “the utmost restraint” in the event of any military escalation involving the Islamic republic.Tehran provides support for numerous groups in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen and various armed groups in Iraq.- ‘Maximum pressure’ -Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters last month, which rights groups say killed thousands, and even told demonstrators “help is on its way”.Regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar urged the United States not to intervene, calling on Washington and Tehran to instead return to talks.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Friday it has confirmed 6,505 protesters were killed, as well as 214 members of the security forces and 61 bystanders.Those numbers are expected to climb because the magnitude of the crackdown has been masked by the blanket internet shutdown imposed by the authorities for more than a fortnight, rights groups say. At 51,000 people have been arrested amid “the growing use of forced confessions,” according to HRANA.Trump’s rhetoric in recent days, however, has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear program and the US has moved a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region.Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases in the region if attacked.The new sanctions to curb Iran’s oil exports come with Trump “committed to driving down the Iranian regime’s illicit oil and petrochemical exports under the administration’s maximum pressure campaign,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

One of the “key participants” behind the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi that left the ambassador and three other Americans dead has been arrested, officials said Friday.Attorney General Pam Bondi said the suspect, Zubayr al-Bakoush, has been brought to the United States and will face murder and other charges.”The FBI has arrested one of the key participants behind the Benghazi attack,” Bondi said at a press conference. “Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil.”The Justice Department said Bakoush has been charged with terrorism-related offenses, murder and arson in an eight-count indictment.FBI Director Kash Patel declined to say where Bakoush was arrested, saying only that it was “overseas.”US ambassador Chris Stevens and three American staff were killed in the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in Libya’s second-largest city — an assault blamed on an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group.Islamist militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades stormed the US compound at a time when the oil-rich North African country was torn by civil war.They set the building ablaze, killing Stevens and IT specialist Sean Smith through smoke inhalation, and then also attacked a CIA annex where two contractors died, both former Navy SEALs.According to the indictment, Bakoush was a member of Ansar al-Sharia and was among a group of more than 20 heavily armed men who launched the initial attack on the US mission in Benghazi. The assault, the first to claim the life of an American ambassador since 1979, deeply shocked the United States and caused a political storm for then-president Barack Obama’s administration.The State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, was accused by its political foes of deadly mistakes and negligence over the bloodshed, which came 11 years to the day after al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks.Fox News broadcast what it said was exclusive footage of Bakoush’s arrival at a military base in Virginia outside Washington.In the footage, an elderly grey-haired man struggles to descend a flight of stairs from a plane and is then placed on a stretcher, where he lies shivering.The United States has previously convicted two Libyans for involvement in the Benghazi attack.Ahmed Abu Khatallah was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2018 and Mustafa al-Imam was sentenced to nearly 20 years in 2020.

Thousands turned out on Friday for the burial of the slain son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi in a town that still holds allegiance to the late longtime leader.Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, once seen by some as Libya’s heir apparent, was shot dead in his home in the northwestern city of Zintan on Tuesday.His burial in the town of Bani Walid, some 175 kilometres (110 miles) south of Tripoli, brought together thousands of Gaddafi loyalists, nearly 15 years after the ruler was toppled and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.Some came from other parts of the country.”We are here to accompany our beloved one, the son of our leader in whom we placed our hope and our future,” said Waad Ibrahim, a 33-year-old woman from Sirte, nearly 300 kilometres (186 miles) away.The woman blamed the country’s eastern and western rival powers for Seif al-Islam’s killing.”They met in France to agree that the only obstacle standing in their way was Seif al-Islam,” she said referring to a recent US-brokered meeting in Paris between officials from both sides.Libya remains split between Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah’s UN-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.The North African has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.- Elections ‘without him’ -Each year, Bani Walid celebrates the anniversary of a 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, with people parading through the streets with portraits of the ex-leader and Libya’s green flag from before the revolt.Ahead of the burial on Friday, locals also carried those portraits and flags while chanting pro-Gaddafi slogans and declaring that “the martyrs’ blood will not be shed in vain”.Sabri Gachout, a 66-year-old from Tripoli, said Seif al-Islam’s killing meant that “elections can now be organised without him in the electoral process”.In 2021, Seif al-Islam announced he would run for president, but the elections aiming to unify the country under a UN agreement were indefinitely postponed.Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who had been representing Seif al-Islam, told AFP he was killed by “four-man commando”.Authorities said they were probing his death as the assailants remained at large.Saadi Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam’s younger brother, said his dead sibling would be buried “next to his brother Khamis Gaddafi”, who was killed during the 2011 unrest.Under his father’s iron-fisted 40-year rule, Seif al-Islam was described as the de facto prime minister, cultivating an image of moderation and reform despite holding no official position.But that reputation soon collapsed when he promised “rivers of blood” in retaliation for the 2011 uprising.He was arrested that year on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and a Tripoli court sentenced him to death, although he was later granted amnesty.