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Deaths in Iran Crackdown Reach 7,000 02/12 06:17
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The death toll from a crackdown over
Iran's nationwide protests last month has reached at least 7,002 people killed
with many more still feared dead, activists said Thursday.
The slow rise in the number of dead from the demonstrations adds to the
overall tensions facing Iran both inside the country and abroad as it tries to
negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program. A second round of
talks remains up in the air as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
pressed his case directly with U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify his
demands on Tehran in the negotiations.
"There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that
negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be
consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a
preference," Trump wrote afterward on his TruthSocial website.
"Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and
they were hit. ... That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they
will be more reasonable and responsible."
Meanwhile, Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging
suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic. That rage may intensify in
the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day
mourning for the loved ones.
Activists' death toll slowly rises
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the latest
figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest
in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. The slow
rise in the death toll has come as the agency slowly is able to crosscheck
information as communication remains difficult with those inside of the Islamic
Republic.
Iran's government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117
people were killed. Iran's theocracy in the past has undercounted or not
reported fatalities from past unrest.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll,
given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in
Iran.
The rise in the death toll comes as Iran tries to negotiate with the United
States over its nuclear program.
Diplomacy over Iran continues
Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani met Wednesday in Qatar with
Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar hosts a major
U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June, after the U.S. bombed
Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. Larijani also
met with officials of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, and in Oman with
Tehran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on Tuesday.
Larijani told Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network that Iran did not
receive any specific proposal from the U.S. in Oman, but acknowledged that
there was an "exchange of messages."
Qatar has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares
a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf. Its state-run Qatar
News Agency reported that ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke
with Trump about "the current situation in the region and international efforts
aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace," without
elaborating.
The U.S. has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and
warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the
firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.
Already, U.S. forces have shot down a drone they said got too close to the
Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to
stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second
carrier to the region. "We have an armada that is heading there and another one
might be going," he said.
Concern over Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was "deeply appalled by
credible reports detailing the brutal arrest, physical abuse and ongoing
lifethreatening mistreatment" of 2023 Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.
The committee that awards the prize said it had information Mohammadi had
been beaten during her arrest in December and continued to be mistreated. It
called for her immediate and unconditional release.
"She continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical followup while
being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation," the committee said.
"She has fainted several times, suffers from dangerously high blood pressure
and has been prevented from accessing necessary followup for suspected
breast tumors."
Iran just sentenced Mohammadi, 53, to over seven more years in prison.
Supporters had warned for months before her arrest that she was at risk of
being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over
medical concerns.
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