Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held calls with the leaders of Israel and Iran, the Kremlin said, offering mediation amid protests in Iran that have raised fears of a military confrontation in the region.

Iran on Wednesday vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over a massive wave of protests, after US President Donald Trump threatened "very strong action" if the Islamic republic goes ahead with hangings.

US President Donald Trump urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting against the country's theocratic leadership, telling them "help is on its way" as international outrage grows over a crackdown rights groups say has left at least hundreds dead.

Widespread jamming of the Starlink satellite internet service used by some Iranian opposition members is a likely first in peacetime but impossible to sustain nationwide, experts told AFP.

Pezeshkian accused the United States and Israel of "trying to escalate this unrest with regard to the economic discussion and solutions we are working on".

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday insisted the Islamic republic would "not back down" in the face of protests after the biggest rallies yet in an almost two-week movement that has shaken the clerical authorities.

Iran has been rocked this week by protests that started in Tehran and have spread to other cities, with at least six people killed in clashes with security forces.

Huge numbers turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe on Saturday, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostage Square -- which has been a focal point for protests throughout the war. Demonstrators also blocked roads, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they set tires on fire

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in London and Berlin on Saturday calling for an end to the war in Gaza, amid concerns that the Iran-Israel conflict could spark wider regional devastation.

The Turkish opposition will fight "until the end" against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the opposition CHP party told AFP in an interview Wednesday, accusing the head of state of staging a "coup" with the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Morocco's capital on Sunday against the conflict in the Gaza Strip where Israel has resumed its anti-Hamas offensive after a two-month ceasefire.

The leader of Turkey's main opposition party has called for a boycott on Wednesday to protest the detention of students rallying in support of Istanbul's jailed opposition mayor.

The protests erupted on March 19 after the arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a graft and "terror" probe, which his supporters denounced as a "coup". Vast crowds have hit the street daily, defying protest bans in Istanbul and other big cities and the arrests.

Tens of thousands of people in Paris and other French cities on Saturday rallied against racism and the rise of the far right, with some taking aim at the administration of Donald Trump in the United States and others carrying Palestinian flags.

Bashar al-Assad's whereabouts not clear, but his key backer Russia said he had resigned from the presidency and left Syria. Crowds loot his home and vandalize the Iranian embassy.

Chanting "yes, to peace, yes, to a deal", hundreds of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis marched noisily through Tel Aviv on Thursday night, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the cycle of violence. While Tel Aviv's various protest groups may diverge on politics, they overlap in the call...

What began as demonstrations against politicized admission quotas for sought-after government jobs snowballed into some of the country's worst unrest.

Former premier Barak said if Netanyahu launches a ground offensive on Rafah, the "hostages will return in coffins. The one who abandoned them on October 7 is now sacrificing them on the altar of absolute victory." He called for snap elections, saying "the man responsible" for the calamity should be...

TEHRAN, IRAN – Tehran on Saturday strongly condemned a UN report on the Islamic republic's response to mass protests in 2022, denouncing Western countries' "Iranophobia". The report was built on "baseless claims" and "false and biased information, without a legal basis", foreign affairs ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement. International experts...

Head of Tunisia's trade union confederation Noureddine Taboubi said in a speech to protestors that the economic and social situation continues to worsen in the country, slamming the implementation of "diktats from the International Monetary Fund" (IMF) at the expense of ordinary Tunisians.

Tripoli, Libya -- Libya's state-owned energy firm said on Sunday it had declared a state of "force majeure" at Al-Sharara oilfield after production at the major facility was suspended due to protests. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement it had taken legal action for the southwestern oilfield, which...

Tehran, Iran - Authorities in Iran's southwest have arrested six people accused of "organizing riots" on the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in custody which triggered nationwide protests, state media reported on Saturday. Amini, an Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, 2022, after her arrest in Tehran for alleged breach...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran on Sunday appointed Mohammed Jafar Montazeri, who is under US and British sanctions, to head the Islamic republic's top court. Montazeri was named the supreme court chief after the "opinions of all the court judges" were taken into consideration, the judiciary's Mizan Online website said. The 75-year-old,...

Tehran, Iran--Iranian authorities have banned the editor-in-chief of reformist daily Etemad "from any press activity for a year" over coverage of last year's nationwide protests, the newspaper reported on Saturday. The journalist, Behrooz Behzadi, was "accused of publishing false content", Etemad said, citing a decision by the prosecutor's office following a...

Amnesty International expressed concern over the crackdown launched by Iran against women deemed to have violated the Islamic republic's dress rules. Iran was roiled by months of unprecedented protests triggered by custody death of Mahsa Amini in September last year, who had been arrested by the morality police for breaking...

AMMAN, JORDAN- Jordanian forces have killed three fugitives including two who had recently escaped jail in a raid near the kingdom's border with Saudi Arabia, authorities said on Sunday. Security forces raided on Saturday the hideout of three wanted fugitives "near the kingdom's southeastern border",  Public Security Directorate spokesman Amer Sartawi...

JERUSALEM- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to advance the government's controversial judicial reforms, which have seen his premiership marred by mass protest against the proposed overhaul. "We will come together this week and begin the practical measures," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting...

Iran is set to reopen its embassy in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday following a seven year closure, Tehran and a diplomatic source said, sealing a Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal announced in March. Riyadh severed relations with Tehran in 2016 after its embassy and consulate in Iran were attacked during protests.

The European Union imposed an asset freeze on the investment arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. The sanctions - the eighth imposed by the EU over the repression - came after Iran hanged three more men convicted in relation...

Iran executed three men convicted of killing security force members during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death last year, the judiciary said, drawing condemnation from rights groups. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of waging "war against God" - at a demonstration in Isfahan on November...

The day after Israeli police on Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque -- Islam's third-holiest site -- more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel. The Israeli army said the attack was most likely carried out by the Palestinian armed movement Hamas.

Continuing with their protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to reform the judiciary, tens of thousands of demonstrators filled up Tel Aviv on Saturday despite the process being put on hold. According to organizers some 258,000 people attended the protest. The demonstration happened a day after a car-ramming attack...

Dubai, UAE -- Bahrain has revoked visas for two members of Human Rights Watch who planned to attend this week's Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly in the Gulf state, the activist group said on Friday. Visas that were issued for two members of the rights group on January 30 were cancelled on...

Colombo, Sri Lanka--Sri Lanka's president said Tuesday that China had agreed to restructure its loans to the bankrupt island nation, clearing the final obstacle to an International Monetary Fund bailout. China's state-owned Exim Bank "sent a letter to the IMF" on Monday night expressing Beijing's willingness to "restructure" credit to Sri...

Tehran, Iran--Iran's judiciary is prosecuting a woman for "disrespecting" the Islamic headscarf after she threw hers to the ground during a public meeting, an Iranian news agency reported Saturday. The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public, enshrined in law since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979, has...

SFAX, TUNISIA - Thousands of Tunisian trade unionists held protests across the country on Saturday over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official. The North African country is in drawn-out talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout loan, which the powerful UGTT workers' federation has...

TEHRAN, IRAN - One of Iran's main opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called for the "fundamental transformation" of a political system he said was facing a crisis of legitimacy amid protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death. "Iran and Iranians need and are ready for a fundamental transformation whose outline is...

Touching off a wave of outrage across the country, the death of a young YouTube Iraqi star at the hands of her father has shone a spotlight again on so-called "honor killings" inside the conservative country. Tiba al-Ali, 22, was killed by her father on January 31 in the southern...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron hoping to gain support against Iran's nuclear program. Israel's Paris embassy said the pair would discuss "the international effort to stop the Iranian nuclear program". The prime minister has also said Israel is considering sending military aid...

Lebanese protesters blocked roads and burnt tires near the central bank in Beirut as the local currency plummeted to a new low against the dollar. Since 2019, Lebanon has been in an economic crisis dubbed by the World Bank as one of the worst in recent global history, pushing much...

Iranian authorities have arrested three female journalists in the past two days, local media said, amid protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran has been gripped by protests since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict...

Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday to include the Guards on the 27-nation bloc's terror list in "light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters and its supplying of drones to Russia". The vote is non-binding but comes with EU foreign ministers already due to discuss tightening...

The EU will impose new sanctions on 37 Iranian officials and organizations over the crackdown on protests, but is still debating listing the Revolutionary Guard as a "terrorist" group, diplomats said. Foreign ministers from the bloc are to agree to adopt the fourth package of sanctions on Tehran over its...

PARIS, FRANCE - Iran has released a prominent chef and Instagram influencer who was detained earlier this month in its crackdown on nationwide protests, a human rights groups and supporters said. Navab Ebrahimi, known for his videos promoting Persian cooking, was arrested in Tehran on January 4 and taken to the...

PARIS, FRANCE -  Iran on Saturday executed two men for killing a paramilitary force member during unprecedented protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman. The latest hangings double the number of executions to four over the nationwide protests, which escalated since mid-September into calls for an end...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian authorities have arrested a journalist who published interviews with families of death row inmates sentenced in connection with nationwide protests, the reformist daily Etemad said Friday. Fourteen Iranians have been sentenced to death in connection with the unrest triggered by Mahsa Amini's death in custody on September...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian authorities have arrested football players who attended a mixed party east of Tehran, local media reported Sunday, without identifying them or giving their exact number. "Several current and former players of one of Tehran's prominent football clubs were arrested last night (Saturday) at a mixed party in...

TEHRAN, IRAN  - Iran's top court has ordered the retrial of a third man reportedly sentenced to death over nationwide protests, the judiciary said Saturday. The Islamic republic has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in...

Hundreds of Syrians in the rebel-held north protested against signs of a thaw between Ankara and Damascus after their defense ministers met in Moscow for the first time since 2011. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Al-Bab, a town controlled by rebel factions long backed by Ankara. "We will not reconcile,...