Iran committed crimes against humanity during protest crackdown, UN finds
The same UN report also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
The probe found the Iranian authorities carried out a widespread and systematic attack against civilians during protests that erupted in late December last year, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression.
Rights groups say bystanders were among those killed during the biggest crackdown since Shi’ite Muslim clerics took power in the 1979 revolution.
Tehran blamed “terrorists and rioters” backed by exiled opponents and foreign foes the US and Israel.
The probe said it could not independently verify the death toll, but that it believed the number of dead and injured was likely far higher than official figures which say 3,038 people were killed, and 25,000 people injured.
The government’s response to the protests – including violence and killings, cutting off the internet and use of the death penalty, marked a significant escalation from previous patterns of suppressing dissent, the report said.
Sam Rkaina17 September 2026 12:21
UN fact-finding mission on Iran says US may have committed war crimes
The UN fact-finding mission on Iran said it had reasonable grounds to believe US forces carried out two strikes in Iran in February that amounted to war crimes – one on a primary school in Minab, where more than 150 people were reportedly killed, including about 120 children, and another on a sports centre in Lamerd that killed or injured 22 civilians.
The report will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The mission said the US had intelligence that a senior Iranian commander was at the school but failed to adequately verify the information, and found no evidence the school was being used for military purposes.
It also said the Lamerd strike was indiscriminate.
“The US directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen.”
The graves of children killed during the strike on the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in iran (AFP/Getty)
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 10:46
South Korea says no decision made on military deployment to Strait of Hormuz
South Korean foreign minister Cho Hyun said on Thursday that no decision had been made on any military deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.
Cho was speaking to reporters before departing for Washington, where he is due to hold talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Earlier this month, it was reported that South Korea was considering deploying military assets to the Strait of Hormuz as it faced growing pressure from the US to do more in the Middle East.
Later, Seoul said that the military deployment was an option but clarified that nothing had been decided yet.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 10:00
China calls on Iran and US to revive diplomatic process
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has called on Iran and the US to “rebuild the negotiation mechanism based on the consensus reached so far” and revive their stalled diplomatic process.
“We urge all parties to take effective measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at an early date” to safeguard the stability of international energy transport and supply chains Wang said, according to China’s foreign ministry, adding that China “does not want to see regional tensions to spill over further into Yemen and the Red Sea”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a one-day visit to Beijing, said that Tehran was “fully prepared to powerfully defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity and safeguard its security… against aggressors” and that it “welcomes diplomatic solutions that ensure the rights of the Iranian nation”.
Wang said: “The current situation once again demonstrates that the existing security architecture in the Middle East is inadequate and needs to be reformed and strengthened.”
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 09:30
US military helping to keep Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping, Centcom says
Despite an ongoing blockade of Iranian maritime trade and attacks by Iran’s military on commercial ships, the US military has said its forces have kept the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping.
The US also claimed that they are helping facilitate the movement of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil through the strategic waterway.
On Wednesday, US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said traffic through the strait “continues to flow”, rejecting suggestions that Iran controls the waterway.
“Since early May, we have assisted commercial vessels moving more than 900 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz to the global energy market,” Hawkins told Al Jazeera.
The US and Iran have continued to make competing claims over who has greater control of the critical Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 09:00
Iran’s threat of acquiring a nuclear weapon ‘taken care of’, US house speaker says
US house speaker Mike Johnson has said the threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon has been “taken care of”.
Johnson made the remarks during a press conference in which he announced that the House would adjourn until after the midterm elections, CBS reported.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Johnson said, adding that preventing Iran from acquiring one had been “an important objective of American foreign policy for the last half-century”.
“That’s taken care of, and now we got to get gas prices down,” he said.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 08:30
Iran’s national security chief says ‘no trust whatsoever’ in US
Iran’s national security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said that Tehran has no trust in the United States, urging Washington to take practical steps to rebuild confidence.
He said Iran had “no trust whatsoever” in the United States.
This comes as Donald Trump told reporters that the US is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran, adding that he has spoken with Tehran “directly”.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 07:52
Iran’s foreign minister backs Xi’s plan and hails China talks
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called talks with Chinese officials “successful”, saying Tehran values the strategic partnership it has built with Beijing.
He wrote on X: “Successful consultations in China with our partners. Iran values strategic partnership we have built over time.
“Today’s decisions will decide future strategic balance in the region, with immeasurable knock-on effects.
“4 principles for peace outlined by President Xi are key.”
Xi has called for peaceful coexistence, respect for national sovereignty, adherence to international law, and coordination between development and security to promote peace and stability in the Middle East.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 07:05
Trump says US ‘hopefully’ nearing end of war
President Donald Trump told reporters that the US is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran, adding that he has spoken with Iran “directly”.
He also repeated his claim that Tehran was seeking a deal.
He told the crowd in North Carolina that gas and oil prices will “come down very quickly” after the war ends in Iran.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 06:50
US House approves bill imposing sanctions on Iran and Russia
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, voting 262-159 to impose sweeping sanctions and tariffs aimed at increasing economic pressure on Iran and Russia, Reuters reported.
The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, introduced by Graham himself, was approved by the Senate last month in an 86-11 vote.
While the legislation primarily targets Russia, it also extends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, signed by then-president Bill Clinton.
The 1996 law was due to expire in 2026 but has now been extended for another five years.
Dozens of Democratic representatives joined most Republicans in backing the bill, sending it to president Donald Trump to be signed into law.
Maroosha Muzaffar17 September 2026 06:00
