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Iran Protesters Call For Three-Day Strike from Monday

People walk in a street on a rainy day in Tehran, Iran, 04 December 2022. (EPA)
People walk in a street on a rainy day in Tehran, Iran, 04 December 2022. (EPA)
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Iran Protesters Call For Three-Day Strike from Monday

People walk in a street on a rainy day in Tehran, Iran, 04 December 2022. (EPA)
People walk in a street on a rainy day in Tehran, Iran, 04 December 2022. (EPA)

Protesters in Iran called on Sunday a three-day strike this week as they seek to maintain pressure on authorities over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, with protests planned on the day President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students in Tehran. 

Raisi is expected to visit Tehran University on Wednesday, celebrated in Iran as Student Day. 

To coincide with Student Day, protesters are calling for strikes by merchants and a rally towards Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square, according to individual posts shared on Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters. 

They have also called for three days of boycotting any economic activity starting on Monday. 

Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilization have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest which has swept the country - some of the biggest anti-government protests since Iran's 1979 revolution 

The activist HRANA news agency said 470 protesters had been killed as of Saturday, including 64 minors. It said 18,210 demonstrators were arrested and 61 members of the security forces were killed. 

Iran's Interior Ministry state security council said on Saturday the death toll was 200, according to the judiciary's news agency Mizan. 

The nationwide protests began after Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, died in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16, after she was detained for violating the hijab restrictions governing how women dress. 

Residents posting on social media and newspapers such Shargh daily say there have been fewer sightings of the morality police on the streets in recent weeks as authorities apparently try to avoid provoking more protests. 

On Saturday, Iran's Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded. 

"The same authority which has established this police has shut it down," Montazeri was quoted as saying. 

Iran's Interior Ministry, which is the authority in charge of the morality police, has yet to comment on the status of the force, which is tasked with monitoring Iranians' clothing and public behavior. 

Montazeri said the morality police was not under the judiciary's authority, which "continues to monitor behavioral actions at the community level." 

Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would not change its mandatory hijab policy, nor the way it enforces this policy. 

Executions 

State media said four men convicted of cooperating with Israel's spy agency Mossad were executed on Sunday. 

They had been arrested in June - before the current unrest sweeping the country - following cooperation between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, Tasnim news agency reported. 

Tehran has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. Tehran has recently accused Israeli and Western intelligence services of plotting a civil war in Iran. 

Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that the country's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence handed out to the four men "for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping". 

Three other people were handed prison sentences of between five and 10 years after being convicted of crimes that included acting against national security, aiding in kidnapping, and possessing illegal weapons, the Mehr news agency said.  

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World

Indonesia Flood Death Toll Passes 1,000

The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra. (AFP)
The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra. (AFP)
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Indonesia Flood Death Toll Passes 1,000

The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra. (AFP)
The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra. (AFP)

Devastating floods and landslides have killed 1,003 people in Indonesia, rescuers said Saturday as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with relief efforts.

The disaster, which has hit the northwestern island of Sumatra over the past fortnight, has also injured more than 5,400, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in its latest toll.

The deadly torrential rains are one of the worst recent disasters to strike Sumatra, where a tsunami wreaked havoc in 2004 in Aceh province, which lies at the northern tip of the island.

The final toll is expected to rise, with the disaster agency reporting 218 people are still missing.

With vast tracts of territory hit, 1.2 million residents have been forced to take refuge in temporary shelters.

Frustration has grown among flood victims, who have complained about the pace of relief efforts.

President Prabowo Subianto said Saturday the situation has improved, with several areas which had been cut off now accessible.

"Here and there, due to natural and physical conditions, there have been slight delays, but I checked all the evacuation sites: their conditions are good, services for them are adequate, and food supplies are sufficient," Prabowo said after visiting Langkat in North Sumatra province.

Costs to rebuild after the disaster could reach 51.82 trillion rupiah ($3.1 billion) and the Indonesian government has so far shrugged off suggestions that it call for international assistance.

World

Moscow, Tehran ‘Working Closely’ on Nuclear Program

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Peace Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (Tasnim). 
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Peace Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (Tasnim). 
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Moscow, Tehran ‘Working Closely’ on Nuclear Program

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Peace Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (Tasnim). 
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Peace Summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (Tasnim). 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that relations between Moscow and Tehran are “developing very positively,” stressing that the two countries are working in close coordination at the United Nations on Iran’s nuclear program.

He made the remarks during talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the International Peace and Trust Summit in Ashgabat.

According to Russian media, Putin said Russia is cooperating with Iran at the Bushehr nuclear power plant and on major infrastructure projects, including the North–South Transport Corridor.

He added that the two sides are also exploring cooperation in the gas and electricity sectors.

Pezeshkian, quoted by Iranian and Russian media, reaffirmed Tehran’s commitment to implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Moscow.

He said Iran is “determined to activate the agreement” and expects Russia to accelerate implementation of joint understandings, particularly in energy, transport and strategic transit corridors.

The Iranian president said Iran would complete its share of the groundwork for the North–South Corridor by the end of the year, noting growing economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

He also called for strengthening multilateral partnerships within frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS to counter what he described as “unilateralism.”

Russia and Iran aim to expand economic ties through projects such as the International North–South Transport Corridor, a multimodal route linking northern and southern Asia via sea, rail and road networks.

The corridor is intended to speed up cargo transport between Russia and India through Iran and other countries while reducing costs compared with traditional routes. The project is seen as part of Moscow’s efforts to deepen trade links with Central Asia and Europe and to lessen reliance on longer maritime routes.

Putin said bilateral trade between Russia and Iran increased by 13 percent last year and by 8 percent in the first nine months of the current year, underscoring continued cooperation in energy and infrastructure. He added that coordination between Moscow and Tehran on international issues remains “close and ongoing.”

On the sidelines of the summit, Pezeshkian also met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with both sides agreeing on the need to accelerate implementation of bilateral agreements and enhance cooperation in transport, transit, energy and border infrastructure, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.

 

 

 

World

US Says Mexico Agrees to Water Treaty Obligations

FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
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US Says Mexico Agrees to Water Treaty Obligations

FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The sun sets over the Rio Grande River in Salineno, Texas, US, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo

The United States and Mexico reached an agreement on water-sharing on Friday, after President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions.

Trump said Mexico owed 800,000 acre-feet of water to the US and demanded it release a quarter of this amount by December 31 or be hit with a new five percent tariff, AFP said.

The Republican leader accused Mexico of violating a 1944 treaty under which the US shares water from the Colorado River in exchange for flows from the Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the two countries.

"The United States and Mexico reached an understanding to meet the current water obligations of American farmers and ranchers," the US Department of Agriculture agency said in a statement.

It said the agreement includes both the current water cycle and the deficit from the previous cycle.

The two countries are expected to finalize the plan at the end of January.

The agreement as it stands would have Mexico releasing 202,000 acre-feet of water starting next week.

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement on Friday that Mexico "has delivered more water in the last year than in the previous four years combined," but fallen short of their obligations.

"Farmers across South Texas have been reeling from the uncertainty caused by the lack of water. Now they can expect the resources promised to them," Rollins added.

Rollins echoed Trump's threat saying that if "Mexico continues to violate its commitments, the United States reserves the right and will impose five percent tariffs on Mexican products."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not commented on the agreement, but on Tuesday expressed confidence in reaching a solution.

At the time, she also cautioned it would be physically impossible to meet the December 31 deadline because of limitations on the pumping equipment, but said: "We have the best will to deliver the amount of water that is owed."

Mexico acknowledged that it has been behind in its water deliveries to the US over the past five years, citing drought in 2022 and 2023.

Trump had previously threatened Mexico in April with economic repercussions over the water dispute, prompting Mexico at the time to immediately send water.

Mexican goods currently face a 25 percent tariff unless they fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade deal struck during Trump's first term and which Washington is aiming to renegotiate in 2026.