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Iranian Security Opens Fire on People Celebrating World Cup Defeat

Part of a video circulated on the Internet, showing Iranian actors, including actresses without a veil.
Part of a video circulated on the Internet, showing Iranian actors, including actresses without a veil.
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iranian Security Opens Fire on People Celebrating World Cup Defeat

Part of a video circulated on the Internet, showing Iranian actors, including actresses without a veil.
Part of a video circulated on the Internet, showing Iranian actors, including actresses without a veil.

A human rights organization confirmed that at least one person was killed in the renewed Iranian protests, early on Wednesday, as Iranians took to the streets to celebrate the defeat of the their national football team in front of the United States.

Several Iranian cities witnessed protests to celebrate the exit of the Iranian national team from the World Cup.

Reports noted that the Iranian national team players were subjected to pressure from officers in the Revolutionary Guard after their first match against England, which they lost by six goals. The Iranian team tried to restore some of its balance in the match with Wales, winning 2-0, before being defeated by the US and eliminated from the world tournament.

After the defeat of the team, which some Iranians called the “national team of the Islamic Republic”, residents in north and west Tehran chanted slogans against the regime, while numerous videos on social networks showed the celebrations in roads and residential neighborhoods.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights confirmed the killing of Mahran Sammak, 27, during a festive gathering in the port of Anzali in the north of the country, noting that he was wounded in the head after security forces opened fire on the demonstrators. Reports said he was hit while driving his car.

Meanwhile, documents obtained by hackers from an agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard revealed that 84 percent of Iranians believe that the protests were the way out of the current situation.

The Black Reward group sent a number of secret letters, statements and recordings obtained from Fars agency.

One of the documents refers to a confidential news brief prepared by the agency for the commander of the Guard, Hossein Salami, and contains internal news, official statements and figures, including statistics on the protests.

The report says that 84 percent of Iranians believe that the protests are the way out of the current situation, and 56 percent believe that the demonstrations should continue. Fifty-one percent of Iranians demand “the freedom of the veil.”

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Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment for Moscow's army.

"There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army," Zelenskiy said on X after receiving a report from his top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

"We will have tangible responses to this," he added.

The estimate of North Korean losses is higher than that provided by Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which said on Monday at least 1,100 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded.

The assessment was in line with a briefing last week by South Korea's spy agency, which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the region.

Zelenskiy said he cited preliminary data. Reuters could not independently verify reports on combat losses.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as "fake news", but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.

According to Ukrainian and allied assessments, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to Russia.

Some of them have been deployed for combat in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a chunk of land after a major cross-border incursion in August.

JCS added that it has detected signs of Pyongyang planning to produce suicide drones to be shipped to Russia, in addition to the already supplied 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers.

Kyiv continues to press allies for a tougher response as it says Moscow's and Pyongyang's transfer of warfare experience and military technologies constitute a global threat.

"For the world, the cost of restoring stability is always much higher than the cost of effectively pressuring those who destabilize the situation and destroy lives," Zelenskiy said.