Iran Rejects UN Investigation into Repression of Protests

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
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Iran Rejects UN Investigation into Repression of Protests

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)

Iran rejected cooperation with the newly-appointed independent UN committee to investigate the country's repression and crackdown on anti-government protests.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Iran would not cooperate with the political committee set up by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

He stressed that the hasty use of human rights mechanisms and adopting "political and instrumental" approaches toward such issues were "rejected" and failed to contribute to the human rights concept.

Kanaani indicated that Tehran "strongly protested against the interventionist and baseless statements of the German authorities."

The 47 member states of the UNHRC decided during an urgent meeting held at the initiative of Germany and Iceland to appoint a team of investigators to shed light on human rights violations during the protests crackdown in Iran.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded Iran end its "excessive" use of force to quell the protests that erupted after the death of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while in the custody of the morality police.

In response to the UN move, Iran summoned the German ambassador to protest "interventionist" remarks by German officials and Berlin's key role in holding a UNHRC special session on Iran.

The official IRNA news agency reported that the German ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after Berlin's initiative to hold the special meeting.

Kanaani said that Iran has evidence of the involvement of Western countries in the protests sweeping the nation.

He added: "We have specific information proving that the US, Western countries, and some US allies have had a role in the protests."

Iran did not announce an official death toll of the protesters.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said that about 50 policemen were killed in the protests since September, in the first official death toll, without disclosing whether this number includes fatalities among the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or not.

Mahabad MP Jalal Mahmoudzadeh said earlier that 105 people were killed during the crackdown launched by the authorities to quell the protests.



Fireworks Workshop Explodes in Central Thailand, Killing at Least 9 

This photo released by Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office, shows the damage by an explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office via AP)
This photo released by Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office, shows the damage by an explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office via AP)
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Fireworks Workshop Explodes in Central Thailand, Killing at Least 9 

This photo released by Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office, shows the damage by an explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office via AP)
This photo released by Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office, shows the damage by an explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office via AP)

An explosion at a fireworks workshop in central Thailand killed at least nine people on Wednesday, local officials said.

The blast occurred in Suphan Buri province, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Bangkok in the heart of the country’s central rice-growing region. The cause was not immediately known.

The Samerkun Suphan Buri Rescue Foundation reported nine deaths and said two people were taken to hospital in critical condition. The provincial government's public relations department said one person had been injured. The number of people missing was not immediately clear.

Police Senior Sergeant Major Pinyo Chanmanee said the explosion took place in a building used to produce fireworks. It was not clear if it was licensed to do so.

Video and photographs from the scene showed shattered wooden buildings in green rice fields.

A similar incident in the same area in January 2024 killed around 20 people.

In July 2023, a large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 100, according to officials.