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Lufthansa Says Canceling Tehran Flights due to Security Uncertainty

Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
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Lufthansa Says Canceling Tehran Flights due to Security Uncertainty

Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
Planes stand on the tarmac during a pilots strike of German airline Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport, Germany, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa said on Friday that its group airlines were canceling flights to and from Tehran until Jan. 20 inclusive due to the uncertain security situation of the airspace around the Iranian capital.

Lufthansa said the move was a "precautionary measure" and it would decide if and when its flights to Iran would resume when it had more information.

US officials said on Thursday that the government believed Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner shortly after Iran fired missiles at two US military bases in Iraq, while Iran was on high alert.

Iran has denied the allegations.

All 176 people on board the jetliner were killed.

A US official, citing satellite data, said Washington had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane in error.

The official said the data showed the plane airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected. There was an explosion in the vicinity and heat data showed the plane on fire as it fell.

US military satellites detect infrared emissions from heat.

US President Donald Trump said he believed "somebody could have made a mistake".

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World

Iran’s Leadership Is in Its ‘Final Days and Weeks’, Germany’s Merz Says

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
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Iran’s Leadership Is in Its ‘Final Days and Weeks’, Germany’s Merz Says

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday he assumes Iran's leadership is in its "final days and weeks" as it ​faces widespread protests.

Demonstrations in Iran have evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to calls for the fall of the clerical establishment in the country.

"I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this ‌regime," Merz said ‌during a trip ‌to ⁠India, questioning ​the Iranian ‌leadership's legitimacy.

"When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime."

Merz said Germany was in close contact with the United States ⁠and fellow European governments on the situation in ‌Iran, and urged Tehran to end ‍its deadly crackdown ‍on protesters.

He did not comment on ‍Germany's trade ties with Iran.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that any country that does business with Iran will face a tariff ​rate of 25% on trade with the United States.

Germany maintains limited trade ⁠relations with Iran despite significant restrictions, making Berlin Tehran's most important trading partner in the European Union.

German exports to Iran fell 25% to just under 871 million euros ($1.02 billion) in the first 11 months of 2025, representing less than 0.1% of total German exports, according to federal statistics office data seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

World

Finland Summons Iran Envoy Over Deadly Protests

A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
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Finland Summons Iran Envoy Over Deadly Protests

A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo

Finland's foreign minister said Tuesday that she would summon Iran's ambassador, after Tehran's nationwide shutdown of the internet and violent crackdown on protests.

"Iran's regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence," Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen wrote on X.

"This will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran — women and men alike", she said, adding that she would "summon the Iranian ambassador this morning."

Valtonen also said the Nordic country was also "exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people" together with the EU.

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday that the violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran has killed at least 648 people.

A nationwide shutdown of the internet by authorities in Iran, which activists fear is aimed at masking the scale of a crackdown, has now lasted over 108 hours, a monitor said on Tuesday.

World

North Korea's Kim Revamps Private Security Detail, South Says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
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North Korea's Kim Revamps Private Security Detail, South Says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has replaced three top officials in charge of his personal security, Seoul said Tuesday, a sign the despot may increasingly fear assassination plots.

Seoul's Unification Ministry -- responsible for managing relations with Pyongyang -- said three state agencies handling Kim's security had new bosses, AFP said.

The reshuffle was spotted during a military parade in October, the ministry said.

The changes at the Bodyguard Command in particular, which handles security measures against drone or electronic attacks, could be linked to Kim's decision to send troops to aid Russia's war in Ukraine, an expert said.

"Change in the pattern of Kim's security detail was detected from October 2024, when he deployed North Korean troops to Russia," Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

"He could have judged there could be an assassination attempt against him involving Ukrainians amid heightened international spotlight due to the deployment," he added.

Seoul's spy agency previously said Kim had upgraded the level of security around him due to the risk of attempts on his life.

Kim's office sought to obtain equipment capable of jamming communications and drone detection gear in response, the agency said.

In the past year, Kim has often been seen accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae on official duties including the inspection of a nuclear-powered submarine.

Analysts say she is likely next in line to run the nuclear-armed dictatorship.

This month's capture by the United States of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has also likely heightened security fears in Pyongyang, analysts say.

The operation represents a nightmare scenario for North Korea's leadership, which has long feared a so-called "decapitation strike" of that kind and accused Washington of seeking to remove it from power.