Iran | Pakistan

Iranian authorities have said they are considering “gradually” restoring internet access after imposing a communications shutdown 10 days ago, as nationwide protests in the country began to subside following a crackdown by security forces. Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years. Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into “riots” and blamed foreign influence, namely from Iran’s foes, the United States and Israel. The rallies subsided after the crackdown carried out by security forces amid a communications blackout that started on January 8 as the protests grew in size and intensity. Government officials have said calm has been restored, with schools reopening on Sunday — Iran’s weekend falling on Thursday and Friday — after a week of closure. Late Saturday, the Tasnim news agency reported “the relevant authorities announced that internet access wo...

Pakistan on Saturday reaffirmed its desire for peace and stability in Iran and the wider region, as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused US President Donald Trump of being responsible for “casualties” during a protest wave in the country that rights groups said was met with a deadly crackdown. “We hold the American president guilty for the casualties, damages and accusations he has levelled against the Iranian nation,” he told a crowd of supporters during an address marking a religious holiday. “This was an American conspiracy,” Khamenei said, adding that “America’s goal is to swallow Iran … the goal is to put Iran back under military, political and economic domination”. “By God’s grace, the Iranian nation must break the back of the seditionists just as it broke the back of the sedition,” he said. “We do not intend to lead the country to war, but we will not spare domestic criminals,” he added, saying that “international criminals” were “worse” and would also not be spared punishment. Iranian authorities have blamed the United States for fuelling a “terrorist operation” that they...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed his hope for peace and stability in Iran on Saturday, the Foreign Office (FO) said. According to a post by the FO on X, Dar spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone call in which the two diplomats discussed the current situation in Iran and the wider region. Dar “expressed hope for peace and stability, and both sides agreed to continue bilateral consultations on matters of mutual interest”, the statement added. On Thursday, Pakistan had expressed hope at the United Nations Security Council for an early normalisation of the situation in Iran, which saw its largest demonstrations in years, challenging the country’s government. Ambassador Asim Ahmad described Iran as a “brotherly country”, saying that the people of the two nations share deep-rooted historical, friendly, cultural and religious bonds. Protests have taken place across Iran in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, leading to authorities imposing...

Pakistan has told the UN Security Council that it hopes for an early normalisation of the situation in Iran, warning that the UN Charter and international law prohibit external interference in the internal affairs of states. “The UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against other states’ territorial integrity or political independence, or interference in matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of states,” Ambassador Asim Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, told an emergency meeting of the 15-member Council on Thursday evening. The United States convened the Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Iran, with the country’s Ambassador Mike Waltz criticising the actions taken against Iranian protesters and assuring them of President Donald Trump’s support. In his remarks, the Pakistani envoy said, “We have been carefully observing developments in Iran and the region in recent days,” pointing out that new threats to regional peace and stability remain a seriou...

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged United States President Donald Trump to delay any American military strike on Iran, according to a report by The New York Times, a development that highlights growing regional unease over the risk of a wider conflict. Netanyahu spoke to President Trump on Thursday, the same day the US president publicly suggested that Tehran had eased its internal crackdown and halted executions, citing information from “very important sources on the other side”, remarks that were widely read in Washington as a signal of hesitation about imminent military action, the report said. The Israeli leader’s intervention comes as several key Arab partners of the US have also pressed the Trump administration to avoid an attack on Iran, warning that such a move could trigger a broader regional war, according to a senior official from a Gulf Arab country cited by the newspaper. Officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt have contacted senior US officials over the pa...

The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown on protests and said it was tracking Iranian leaders’ funds being wired to international banks, as President Donald Trump keeps the pressure on Tehran. The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps and law enforcement forces commanders, accusing them of being architects of the crackdown. The US also imposed sanctions on Fardis Prison, where the State Department said women had “endured cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a video on Thursday said Washington’s message to Iran’s leaders was clear: “US Treasury knows, that like rats on a sinking ship, you are frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, we will track them and you. “But there’s still time, if you choose...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expressed uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over. In an exclusive Reuters interview in the Oval Office, Trump said there was a chance Iran’s government could collapse and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the stalemate in negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran. But he was reluctant on Wednesday to lend his full support to Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran, who was ousted from power in 1979. “He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet. I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.” Trump’s comments went further in questioning Pahlavi’s ability to lead Iran, after he...

ISLAMABAD: Iran’s envoy to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, revealed on Thursday that US President Donald Trump informed Tehran that he will not attack the country and asked that Iran also exercise restraint. Moghadam made the remarks during a visit to the National Rahmatul-lil-Alameen Authority, where he met the authority’s chairman, Khurshid Ahmad Nadeem. Protests have taken place across Iran in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, leading to authorities imposing internet restrictions. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters. On Wednesday, Trump said that he had been informed the killings of protesters in Iran had been halted, and added that he would “watch and see” about threatened military action. The Iranian envoy also disclosed that he received information at around 1am, which indicated that Trump did not want war and had asked Iran not to attack the US interests in the region. Speaking of the protests, the envoy maintained that the ...

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of crisis The Iranian rial has s...

Oil prices fell more than three per cent on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said killings of demonstrators in nationwide protests in Iran were stopping, tempering concerns over military action against Iran and supply disruptions. Brent futures LCOc1 were down $2.19, or 3.3pc, at $64.33 a barrel by 8:45am GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1had slipped $2.07, or 3.34pc, to $59.95 a barrel. Brent futures rose above $66.50 a barrel on Wednesday before giving back most gains after Trump’s remarks reduced expectations of a potential US attack on Iran. Trump turned the oil market mood by saying he had received assurances that killings of demonstrators in Iran had stopped, said PVM analyst John Evans, adding that prices on Thursday reflect the narrative of a near-term future of oversupply. Further weighing on prices, US crude and gasoline inventories rose last week more than analysts had estimated, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Also on the supply side, Venezuela has be...

US President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on any country doing business with Iran, ramping up pressure as a crackdown on protests continues. Trump, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention, said in a social media post on Monday that the new levies would “immediately” hit the Islamic republic’s trading partners who also do business with the United States. “This Order is final and conclusive,” he wrote, without specifying who they will affect. Iran’s main trading partners are China, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, according to economic database Trading Economics. Trump has been mulling his options on Iran, which has been roiled by more than two weeks of demonstrations that have defied a near-total internet blackout and lethal force. Sparked by economic grievances, the nationwide protests have grown into one of the biggest challenges yet to the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the shah. Iranian authorities have blamed f...

Amid ongoing violent protests in different parts of Iran, Pakistani students studying at various universities and religious institutions, along with pilgrims visiting holy sites, have started returning to Pakistan through the Gwadar route.

Iran, which has accused the US and Israel of fomenting the ongoing unrest in the Middle Eastern country, said on Monday it strongly condemned “interventionist statements” by US President Donald Trump and other officials regarding its internal affairs. Trump has warned Tehran of strikes over the crackdown on the protests and also said on Sunday that he was weighing a range of strong responses, including military options, to action against protesters. Iran’s latest condemnation of his statements came in a press release titled “Fact Sheet on Recent Protests in Iran”, which was shared by the Iranian embassy in Islamabad on the social media platform X. In the statement, Tehran expressed “deep concern regarding overt and increasing foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs and recent protests”. “The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the interventionist statements made by the president of the United States of America and other American officials,” it said. “Such coercive and unlawful positions ...

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Sunday strongly rejected claims circulating on social media that Pakistan is being used as a base or transit corridor to support the United States in a possible military strike against Iran, calling the reports “baseless disinformation”.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has rejected claims circulating on social media alleging that Pakistan is being used as a base or launch corridor to support the United States for a possible military strike on Iran, which has been rocked by protests in recent weeks. The ministry’s fact check account on X attributed the claims to “propaganda machineries in Afghanistan“ and Indian accounts, particularly identifying three handles — Khurasan Media Urdu, Baba Banaras and Afghan Defense. Among them, a post by Khurasan Media Urdu claimed that “special American aircraft have reached Pakistan for an attack on Iran”. The post also mentioned “unusual” flight activity of US aerial refuelling and surveillance aircraft between Pakistan and Iran. A post by Afghan Defense repeated the claim. Baba Banaras’ post made a similar claim, stating: “Multiple US reconnaissance aircraft and cargo planes with weapons landed at Dalbandin Airbase and Pasni Airbase of Pakistan. Looks like the game has been set for Iran.” The m...

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned the United States and Israel against “a miscalculation”, saying that Tehran will retaliate if it is attacked. “Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. With the country’s government facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters. Authorities intensify crackdown The protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices. Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest. Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said security forces had stepped up efforts to confront “rioters”. The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday. Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching along a str...

ISLAMABAD - For the safety and security, Pakistani nationals were advised to avoid all unnecessary travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran until conditions improve, the Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson said in a press statement on Saturday.

Iran’s authorities indicated on Saturday that they could intensify their crackdown on the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, as the death toll rose to 65 and the Revolutionary Guards blamed the unrest on terrorists, vowing to safeguard the governing system. Major Iranian cities were gripped overnight by new mass rallies denouncing the Islamic Republic, as activists on expressed fear that authorities were intensifying their suppression of the demonstrations under the cover of an internet blackout. The two weeks of protests have posed one of the biggest challenges to the Iranian authorities, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States. Following the movement’s largest protests yet on Thursday, new demonstrations took place late Friday, according to images verified by AFP and other videos published on social media. This was despite an internet shutdown imposed by the authorities, with monitor Netblocks saying early on Saturday that “Iran has no...

Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Saturday issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Iran due to the prevailing security situation and growing unrest in the country.