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.



Russia's Lavrov, US' Rubio Meet in Kuala Lumpur

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd L) meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd R) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd L) meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd R) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
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Russia's Lavrov, US' Rubio Meet in Kuala Lumpur

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd L) meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd R) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd L) meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2nd R) on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, the US State Department and Russia's foreign ministry said. 

It would be the second in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, and comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on. 

The first meeting between the top diplomats took place in Saudi Arabia in February as part of the Trump administration's effort to re-establish bilateral relations and help negotiate an end to the war. 

"I can confirm: such a meeting is being worked out," TASS state news agency cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Thursday. 

Trump, who returned to power this year promising a swift end to the war that began in 2022, had taken a more conciliatory tone toward Moscow in a departure from predecessor Joe Biden's staunch support for Kyiv. 

But on Tuesday, a day after Trump approved sending US defensive weapons to Ukraine, he aimed unusually direct criticism at Putin, saying the Kremlin leader's statements on moving towards peace were "meaningless". 

Trump has also said he was considering supporting a bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500% tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. 

When asked on Wednesday about Trump's criticism of Putin, the Kremlin said Moscow was "calm" regarding the criticism and that it would continue to try to fix a "broken" US-Russia relationship. 

At a conference of Ukraine-friendly nations in Rome on Wednesday, Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Kyiv described as a "substantive" conversation. 

Russia targeted Ukraine with a record 728 drones early on Wednesday, the latest attack in a series of escalating air assaults in recent weeks that have involved hundreds of drones in addition to ballistic missiles, straining Ukrainian air defenses at a perilous moment in the war. 

In his first visit to Asia since taking office, Rubio is in Kuala Lumpur to meet with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and with senior Malaysian government officials. 

The trip is part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific and look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration's attention, with Rubio balancing dual responsibilities as secretary of state and national security adviser.