"The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  

"At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime's tyrannical oppression of human rights."

Among the Iranian security officials sanctioned today is Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS).  Larijani was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people.

Canadian citizen killed by 'Iranian authorities,' Ottawa says

(AFP)

Wall Street stocks rose early Thursday on easing worries about Iran following President Donald Trump's latest comments and gains by semiconductor equities.

Oil prices tumbled after Trump appeared to back off a military response in Iran, saying he had received assurances that protesters would not be executed.

(AFP)

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.

"They both have much higher priorities than Iran."

(AFP)

As Iran's clerical leadership struggles to contain protests fuelled by economic hardship and political fatigue, India is watching events unfold with quiet unease.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led efforts to talk US President Donald Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing "grave blowbacks in the region", a senior Saudi official said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said there would be "no hanging today or tomorrow," in an interview with US network Fox News, while accusing Israel of orchestrating violence, without providing evidence.

Araghchi contends the peaceful protests about economic hardship that began December 28 devolved into widespread violence between January 7 and 10 because the protests 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."

(AFP)

Oil slid Thursday after US President Donald Trump appeared to dial down threats of imminent military action on Iran, while Asian markets were mixed after Wall Street edged lower the previous day.

Oil prices dropped three percent after Trump said Wednesday he would "watch it and see" on possible intervention in the Islamic republic, after he said he was told the killings of protesters there had stopped.

(AFP)

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman led efforts to talk US President Donald Trump out of an attack on Iran, fearing "grave blowbacks in the region", a senior Saudi official told AFP on Thursday.

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, adding that dialogue was continuing.

(AFP)

India issued an urgent advisory for its citizens on Thursday to leave Iran and announced plans to evacuate them due to growing safety concerns amid ongoing unrest in the country.

Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old Iranian man arrested during the anti-government protests in Karaj near the capital, Tehran, has not been sentenced to death, according to state media.

The US it is redeploying a carrier strike group from the South China Sea to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, which includes the Middle East. The development comes amid the rising tensions between US and Iran.

Foreign militia, in the guise of Shia pilgrims, are reportedly entering Iran to help crush the nationwide unrest against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's regime.

Iran issued a chilling threat against US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. A warning aired on Iranian state-run TV, which played clips of Trump's 2024 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Turkey is opposed to any military intervention in Iran and its priority is to avoid destabilisation there, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, as Tehran continues its crackdown on protests.

With Iran's leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, and with US President Donald Trump's repeated threats to intervene on behalf of the protesters, Tehran has warned its neighbours including Turkey that it would hit American bases if Washington were to strike.

Fidan has held two calls with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi in recent days, stressing the need for talks to resolve regional tensions, while a Turkish diplomatic source said Turkey was also in touch with US officials, as direct communications between Tehran and Washington were suspended.

(Reuters)

The nationwide protests challenging Iran's theocracy appeared increasingly smothered Thursday, a week on from authorities shutting the country off from the world and escalating a bloody crackdown that activists say killed at least 2,615 people.

In Iran's capital, Tehran, witnesses say recent mornings saw no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of gunfire, which had been intense for several nights, has faded. Meanwhile, Iranian state media announces wave after wave of arrests by authorities, targeting those it calls "terrorists" and also apparently looking for Starlink satellite internet dishes, the only way to get videos and images out to the internet.

But as Iran tries to assert control at home, it faces challenges abroad.

(AP)

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.

Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Iran's crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

(AP)