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400 Protesters Jailed over Tehran Protests

Iranian women protest in New York against executions in their home country. AFP
Iranian women protest in New York against executions in their home country. AFP
    Asharq A-Awsat
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400 Protesters Jailed over Tehran Protests

Iranian women protest in New York against executions in their home country. AFP
Iranian women protest in New York against executions in their home country. AFP

Courts in Tehran have sentenced 400 people to jail terms of up to 10 years over their involvement in protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, AFP quoted Iran's judiciary as saying Tuesday.

Iran has been gripped by nearly three months of protests -- which officials describe as "riots" -- since the death of Amini after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's dress code for women.

"In hearings on cases of rioters in Tehran province, 160 people were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years and 160 people of up to two years," Tehran's judiciary chief Ali Alghasi-Mehr said, quoted by the judiciary's Mizan Online website.

Tehran has drawn widespread international condemnation after executing two men in the past week in connection with the unrest.

Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, both 23, were hanged on Monday and Thursday respectively on the charges of "moharebeh.”

Prior to the two executions, Iran's judiciary said it had issued death sentences to 11 people over the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others face charges that could see them also receive the death penalty.

Since September 16 when the protests broke out, thousands of people have been arrested. Iran's top security body said on December 3 that more than 200 people had been killed in the unrest.

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Türkiye Says NATO Deploying More Defenses to Guard Southern Base

This handout picture taken and released by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense press office on March 12, 2026 shows Turkish soldiers waiting in front of Incirlik military base in Adana. (Turkish Defense Ministry / Turkish Ministry of National Defense / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense press office on March 12, 2026 shows Turkish soldiers waiting in front of Incirlik military base in Adana. (Turkish Defense Ministry / Turkish Ministry of National Defense / AFP)
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Türkiye Says NATO Deploying More Defenses to Guard Southern Base

This handout picture taken and released by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense press office on March 12, 2026 shows Turkish soldiers waiting in front of Incirlik military base in Adana. (Turkish Defense Ministry / Turkish Ministry of National Defense / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense press office on March 12, 2026 shows Turkish soldiers waiting in front of Incirlik military base in Adana. (Turkish Defense Ministry / Turkish Ministry of National Defense / AFP)

NATO ‌is deploying another US Patriot missile defense system to the southern Turkish province of Adana, where personnel from the United States and other countries are located in the Incirlik Air Base, Türkiye’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

Türkiye, which has NATO's second-largest army and neighbors Iran, said last week ‌the alliance ‌had deployed a Patriot ‌system to ⁠its southeastern Malatya ⁠province, near a NATO radar base, as part of steps to boost air defenses against missile threats from the Iran war.

Adana hosts Türkiye’s Incirlik Air Base, where personnel ⁠from the United States, ‌Spain, and ‌Poland are located, as well as Turkish troops.

"In ‌addition to national-level measures taken ‌to ensure the security of our airspace and our citizens, another Patriot system, commissioned by Allied Air Command in Ramstein/Germany, is ‌being deployed in Adana, in addition to the existing ⁠Spanish Patriot ⁠system stationed there," the ministry said at a weekly briefing.

Türkiye, an emerging leader in the global defense industry, lacks its own fully fledged air defenses despite development efforts, and has relied on NATO air defenses stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to intercept three missiles it says were fired from Iran since the war began.

World

China Makes Energy Security ‘Reunification’ Offer to Taiwan Amid Middle East War

People hold Taiwan flags at an event where Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, makes a speech, in Taipei, Taiwan March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
People hold Taiwan flags at an event where Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, makes a speech, in Taipei, Taiwan March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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China Makes Energy Security ‘Reunification’ Offer to Taiwan Amid Middle East War

People hold Taiwan flags at an event where Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, makes a speech, in Taipei, Taiwan March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
People hold Taiwan flags at an event where Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, makes a speech, in Taipei, Taiwan March 12, 2026. (Reuters)

China offered on ‌Wednesday what it said would be energy stability to Taiwan if it agreed to Beijing's rule, part of a campaign by China to convince the island of the benefits of "reunification", which it has long rejected.

Governments around the world are scrambling for alternative energy supplies during the Middle East War and severing of shipping lanes through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Taiwan, which had received a third of its LNG from Qatar and sources no energy ‌from China, has ‌said it has secured alternative supplies ‌for ⁠the months ahead, including ⁠from the United States, the island's main international backer.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters in Beijing that "peaceful reunification" would bring better protection of Taiwan's energy and resource security with a "strong motherland" as its backing.

"We are willing to provide Taiwan compatriots ⁠with stable and reliable energy and resource security, ‌so that they may ‌live better lives," he said, responding to a question about ‌Taiwan's energy supplies during the war in the Middle ‌East.

There was no immediate response to the comments from Taiwan's government, which rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only the island's people can decide their future.

China has long offered the ‌island "one country, two systems" autonomy if it agrees to be brought under Beijing's control, which ⁠no ⁠major political party in Taiwan supports.

In October, China's official Xinhua news agency mapped out what it said were the advantages Taiwan would enjoy after "reunification", including economic support, but said the island had to be run by "patriots".

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

China, the world's top oil importer, last week banned fuel exports until at least the end of March, in an attempt to pre-empt domestic shortages, sources said, curbing exports that last year totaled $22 billion.

World

Iran Says Nuclear Doctrine Unlikely to Change, Hormuz Strait Needs New Protocol

09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
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Iran Says Nuclear Doctrine Unlikely to Change, Hormuz Strait Needs New Protocol

09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)

Iran's stance against the development of nuclear weapons will not significantly change, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Al Jazeera in remarks relayed by Iranian media on Wednesday, cautioning that the new supreme leader is yet to publicly express his view on the matter.

Former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed early in the US-Israeli war against Iran, opposed the development of weapons of mass destruction in a fatwa, or religious edict, issued in the early 2000s.

Western countries, including the US and Israel, have for years accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, while Iranian authorities have said their nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.

Araqchi ‌said fatwas depend ‌on the Islamic jurist issuing them and added he ‌was ⁠not yet in ⁠a position to judge the jurisprudential or political views of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader.

A NEW PROTOCOL FOR THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Iran's foreign minister said he believed that after the war comes to an end, countries that border the Gulf should draft a new protocol for the Strait of Hormuz, to ensure that safe passage through the narrow waterway is carried out under certain conditions aligned ⁠with Iranian and regional interests.

Iran shut the vital energy ‌gateway, through which a fifth of global oil ‌and liquefied gas passes, saying it "won't even allow a liter of oil" to reach ‌the US, Israel and their partners.

On Tuesday, Iran's parliament speaker tweeted ‌that the Strait of Hormuz' situation won't return to its pre-war conditions.

The US has sought to build a naval coalition to escort vessels navigating the strait, with most NATO allies saying they don't want to get involved in military operations against Iran.

NATO-member France said ‌it would only consider a joint international coalition to secure passage through the strait following a ceasefire and prior negotiations ⁠with Tehran.

Araqchi ⁠said an end to the war was only conceivable if the conflict is permanently over throughout the region and Iran receives compensation for damages incurred.

STRIKES NEAR URBAN AREAS BLAMED ON US RELOCATION

Asked about Iranian strikes in the Gulf not only targeting US military bases but also impacting residential or commercial areas, Iran's foreign minister said this was because US forces relocated to urban areas.

"Wherever there were American forces gathering, wherever there were facilities belonging to them, they were targeted. It is possible some of these places were near urban areas," the top Iranian diplomat said.

Araqchi acknowledged that regional countries are "upset and their people have been harmed or bothered" by Iranian strikes, but added that the blame lay entirely with the US for starting the war on February 28.