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Calls in Iran for UN-Sponsored Referendum

Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. (AFP)
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. (AFP)
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Calls in Iran for UN-Sponsored Referendum

Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. (AFP)
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. (AFP)

Following calls by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani to hold a popular referendum to end political gridlock within the country, 15 prominent activists from several groups issued Monday a statement demanding that a referendum indeed be held in the country under the sponsorship of the United Nations.

One of the signatories, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the activists’ statement is an answer to the popular demands and calls voiced by demonstrators in the last protests that erupted across Iran against the dire internal situation.

“Iranians want to peacefully transfer authority from a Wilayet el-Faqih regime to a secular parliamentary democratic system,” she said.

Ebadi also expected that in case the referendum turns into a popular demand, the government would be forced to hold it.

“The percentage of people unsatisfied with the current situation in Iran has reached a high level, to an extent where we witness daily disturbances,” she added.

The activists’ statement had accused the authority of exploiting religion, hiding behind religious concepts, ignoring public opinion, violating people’s rights and freedoms and being greatly incapable of solving the political, social and economic crises in the country.

Rouhani had originally made the proposal to hold a popular referendum during a speech marking the 39th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Sunday.

However, Ebadi said that the activists’ statement was “independent” from the president’s speech.

She said that the 15 activists who signed the statement include Iranian film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, lawyer Nisreen Stouda, of Iran's Human Rights Defenders Center in Tehran, lawyer Narges Mohammadi, political activist Hassan Shariatmadari, political figure Abulfadl Qadiani and human rights activist Mohammad Nourizad.

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World

Iran Says Killed Six ‘Terrorists’ Linked to Israel

Iranians drive past a huge poster in the colors of Iran's flag and reading in Persian "Army sacrifices itself for the nation" at the Valiasr square in Tehran, Iran, 18 August 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a huge poster in the colors of Iran's flag and reading in Persian "Army sacrifices itself for the nation" at the Valiasr square in Tehran, Iran, 18 August 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Says Killed Six ‘Terrorists’ Linked to Israel

Iranians drive past a huge poster in the colors of Iran's flag and reading in Persian "Army sacrifices itself for the nation" at the Valiasr square in Tehran, Iran, 18 August 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive past a huge poster in the colors of Iran's flag and reading in Persian "Army sacrifices itself for the nation" at the Valiasr square in Tehran, Iran, 18 August 2025. (EPA)

Iranian forces have killed six militants in a raid in the restive southeast, state media reported Saturday, saying they were members of a "terrorist" group linked to arch enemy Israel.

"During an intense exchange of fire with terrorists in Sistan-Baluchistan province, six assailants were killed and two others arrested," official news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from the intelligence services.

The report did not provide an exact location or say when the raid took place.

Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a flashpoint for clashes between security forces and armed groups, including drug traffickers and separatists.

IRNA said there were "documents" indicating "the Zionist nature" of the group targeted in the latest raid, adding that its members had planned to attack a "vital" facility in Iran's east, without elaborating.

The report said that "the main operation team" was composed of "seven non-Iranian terrorists", but did not specify their nationality.

Two intelligence agents and a police officer were wounded in the gunfight, IRNA said.

Iran regularly reports deadly ambushes in the province targeting police or members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

On Friday, the Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) group, which Tehran outlaws as a "terrorist" organization, claimed an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed five police officers.

On Sunday, Iranian state media said security forces had killed seven members of another extremist group, Ansar al-Furqan, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.

The province is one of the poorest regions of the country.

World

UK's Farage Sets Out Plan for ‘Mass Deportation’ of Asylum Seekers

An anti-immigrant protestor holds a Union Flag reading "Stop The Boats" during a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers, in Horley, south of London, on August 23, 2025. (AFP)
An anti-immigrant protestor holds a Union Flag reading "Stop The Boats" during a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers, in Horley, south of London, on August 23, 2025. (AFP)
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UK's Farage Sets Out Plan for ‘Mass Deportation’ of Asylum Seekers

An anti-immigrant protestor holds a Union Flag reading "Stop The Boats" during a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers, in Horley, south of London, on August 23, 2025. (AFP)
An anti-immigrant protestor holds a Union Flag reading "Stop The Boats" during a protest outside the Sheraton Four Points hotel, believed to be housing asylum seekers, in Horley, south of London, on August 23, 2025. (AFP)

Former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage set out plans on Saturday for "mass deportations" of migrants who have crossed the English Channel on small boats if his Reform UK party forms Britain's next government.

In an interview with Saturday's edition of The Times newspaper, Farage said he would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights and sign deals with Afghanistan, Eritrea and other top countries of origin to repatriate illegal migrants.

"We can be nice to people, we can be nice to other countries, or we can be very tough to other countries ... I mean (US President Donald) Trump has proved this point quite comprehensively," Farage said.

Asked if he was concerned that asylum seekers would be killed or tortured if they were sent to countries with poor human rights records, Farage said he was more worried about the threat he believed asylum seekers posed to Britons.

"I can't be responsible for despotic regimes all over the world. But I can be responsible for the safety of women and girls on our streets," he said.

Britain has seen regular small-scale protests in recent weeks outside hotels housing asylum seekers, spurred in part by concerns about public safety after some migrants were charged with sexual assault.

Broader opinion polls show that immigration and asylum are the public's greatest concern, just ahead of the economy, and Reform UK - which won five seats at last year's general election - has topped recent voting intention polls.

Last year 37,000 people - mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea - arrived in Britain from France by crossing the English Channel in small boats. The total was up by a quarter from 2023 and accounted for 9% of net migration.

About two-thirds of people who arrive via small boats and claim asylum are successful and only 3% have been deported, according to figures analyzed by the University of Oxford.

Farage told The Times he would end the right to claim asylum or to challenge deportation for those who arrived by small boats by replacing existing human rights legislation and opting Britain out of refugee treaties, citing a national emergency.

"The aim of this legislation is mass deportations," Farage said, adding that a "massive crisis" caused by asylum seekers was fueling public anger.

The Times said Farage wanted to create holding facilities for 24,000 migrants on air bases at a cost of 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) and operate five deportation flights a day with total deportations reaching the hundreds of thousands.

If that failed, asylum seekers could be held on Ascension Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic, to send a symbolic message, Farage said.

World

France Summons Italian Ambassador over Challenge to Macron on Ukraine

Italy's Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini speaks during a press conference to announce the approval of the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, after a meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
Italy's Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini speaks during a press conference to announce the approval of the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, after a meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
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France Summons Italian Ambassador over Challenge to Macron on Ukraine

Italy's Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini speaks during a press conference to announce the approval of the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, after a meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
Italy's Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini speaks during a press conference to announce the approval of the state-funded bridge over the Strait of Messina, after a meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

France summoned the Italian ambassador after Italy's deputy prime minister challenged the French president for suggesting that European soldiers be deployed in Ukraine in a post-war settlement, a French diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Asked earlier this week to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron's appeals to deploy European soldiers in Ukraine after any settlement with Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini used a Milanese dialect phrase loosely translatable as "get lost".

"You go there if you want. Put your helmet on, your jacket, your rifle and you go to Ukraine," he told reporters, referring to Macron.

Salvini, the populist leader of the right-wing League party and also Italy's transport minister in the nationalist, conservative government led by Giorgia Meloni, has repeatedly criticized Macron, especially over Ukraine.

The Italian ambassador was summoned on Friday, the diplomatic source said, marking the latest in a series of diplomatic clashes between Paris and Rome before and after Meloni took power in 2022.

"The ambassador was reminded that these remarks ran counter to the climate of trust and the historical relationship between our two countries, as well as to recent bilateral developments, which have highlighted strong convergences between the two countries, particularly with regard to unwavering support for Ukraine," the source said.

Macron, a vocal supporter of Ukraine over its war with Russia, has been working with other world leaders, notably British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to mobilize support for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.