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Security Forces Intensify Crackdown on Iran’s Kurdish Area, 4 Killed, Says Rights Group 

This grab taken from a UGC video made available on the ESN platform on November 15, 2022, reportedly shows Iranian Students chanting slogans at the Kermanshah university in support of the protest movement in western Iran's city of Kermanshah. (Photo by Anonymous/AFP)
This grab taken from a UGC video made available on the ESN platform on November 15, 2022, reportedly shows Iranian Students chanting slogans at the Kermanshah university in support of the protest movement in western Iran's city of Kermanshah. (Photo by Anonymous/AFP)
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Security Forces Intensify Crackdown on Iran’s Kurdish Area, 4 Killed, Says Rights Group 

This grab taken from a UGC video made available on the ESN platform on November 15, 2022, reportedly shows Iranian Students chanting slogans at the Kermanshah university in support of the protest movement in western Iran's city of Kermanshah. (Photo by Anonymous/AFP)
This grab taken from a UGC video made available on the ESN platform on November 15, 2022, reportedly shows Iranian Students chanting slogans at the Kermanshah university in support of the protest movement in western Iran's city of Kermanshah. (Photo by Anonymous/AFP)

Iran's clerical rulers have stepped up suppression of persistent anti-government protests in the country's Kurdish region, deploying troops and killing at least four demonstrators on Sunday, social media posts and rights groups said. 

Nationwide protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September in the custody of morality police, have been at their most intense in the areas where the majority of Iran's 10 million Kurds live. 

Videos on social media, unverifiable by Reuters, showed a convoy of military vehicles with heavily armed troops, purportedly in the western city of Mahabad. The sounds of heavy weaponry could be heard in several other videos. 

The Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said military helicopters carried members of the widely feared Revolutionary Guards to quell the protests in the Sunni-dominated Kurdish city of Mahabad. 

Prominent Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid, a powerful dissenting voice in the Shiite-ruled Islamic Republic, called on security forces to refrain from shooting at people in Mahabad. 

"Disturbing news is emerging from the Kurdish areas, especially from Mahabad ... pressure and crackdown will lead to further dissatisfaction. Officers should refrain from shooting at people," Abdolhamid tweeted.  

Hengaw said at least four protesters were killed in the Kurdish area. The widely-followed activist account 1500Tasvir said a 16-year-old student and a school teacher were killed in the Kurdish city of Javanrud. The details could not be independently confirmed. 

Confirming the unrest in Kurdish region, Iran's state media said calm had been restored in the area, but activists and Hengaw said on Twitter that "the resistance" continued in several Kurdish cities. 

"In (the Kurdish city of) Marivan repressive forces have opened fire at people," Hengaw said. 

The uprising has turned into a popular revolt by furious Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leaders since the 1979 revolution that swept them to power. 

Iranian authorities, who have blamed Amini's death on pre-existing medical conditions, say the unrest has been fomented by foreign adversaries and accuse armed separatists of perpetrating violence. 

Protests have stretched into a third month despite violent state clampdown and death sentences issued for at least six protesters. 

HRANA said 410 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Saturday, including 58 minors. Some 54 members of the security forces were also killed, it said, adding that more than 17,251 people have been arrested. Authorities have not provided an estimate of any wider death count. 

Two Iranian actresses, who had posted pictures of themselves on Instagram without the compulsory headscarf in solidarity with the protest, were arrested on Sunday for stoking protests, Iranian state media reported. 

Videos posted on social media showed Iranians in several other cities kept up protests, from Tehran to the northwestern city of Tabriz, calling for the toppling of the republic and chanting "Death to (Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei". 

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World

Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they had struck a tanker attempting to take an “illegal route” through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has sought to blockade since the outset of the Middle East war.

Maritime trackers also reported on Friday that an unknown projectile sparked a fire aboard a ship off the UAE coast, but named a different vessel.

In a statement carried by official media, the Guards said its naval forces were acting in accordance with “the orders of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the Iranian people’s desire to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“In carrying out this mission, a few hours ago, a giant LPG carrier named NV Sunshine, owned by NatWit, which was attempting to transit via the illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz, was struck,” they added, according to AFP.

Iran has attempted to impose its control over the Hormuz over the course of the war, insisting that vessels seek its permission to cross via its preferred routes.

However, ships have increasingly been willing to risk transiting via an alternative route hugging the strait's southern coast.

Britain's UKMTO maritime agency said on Friday that a ship 13 nautical miles (24 kilometers) off the UAE's Al Jazeera Al Hamra, southwest of the strait, was struck by a projectile, which caused a fire on board.

“Status of the crew, damage assessment and environmental impact are unknown at present. Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said in a statement.

British security firm Vanguard also reported the incident, and identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged crude tanker GEM NO2.

The incident comes days after a tanker was hit off Qatar, around 500 kilometers west of the vital strait.

Ships in the Gulf and those attempting to transit the strait -- the only maritime route in or out of the oil-rich region -- have come under repeated attack since the US and Israel sparked the Middle East war on February 28.

Iran has blockaded the strait ever since, though some vessels do manage to cross, and US media has reported on American military efforts to protect ships on the southern route.

The United States has set up its own counter-blockade of Iranian ports and occasionally fires on vessels linked to Tehran.

Hormuz is vital to the world economy, with around a fifth of the planet's oil and liquefied natural gas passing through the strait before the war began.

World

Police Official Killed in Roadside Bombing in Southeast Iran

Iranian people in a park, with Milad Tower in the background, in Tehran, Iran, October 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian people in a park, with Milad Tower in the background, in Tehran, Iran, October 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Police Official Killed in Roadside Bombing in Southeast Iran

Iranian people in a park, with Milad Tower in the background, in Tehran, Iran, October 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian people in a park, with Milad Tower in the background, in Tehran, Iran, October 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

A provincial police official was killed in a roadside bombing on Friday in southeastern Iran, the semi-official Fars ⁠news agency reported.

The ⁠police official had been travelling near ⁠Zahedan, capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is a drug trafficking route.

The incident follows ⁠clashes ⁠between security forces and armed groups including militants and separatists.

Gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying Iranian army personnel in Sistan-Baluchistan, killing one person and injuring three others on Thursday, state media reported.

"A minibus transporting personnel from a division stationed along the Makran coast... came under armed attack this morning," the official IRNA news agency said.

The agency gave the dead man's name, but did not specify whether he was army personnel.

In a separate incident in the same province, "a police patrol while carrying out its mission... came under a terrorist attack by armed outlaws," provincial police said in a statement on Thursday carried by IRNA.

"Several terrorists were wounded and fled the scene... while a police officer was martyred," it added.

Last week, Iran's Revolutionary Guards killed six members of a "terrorist" group in Zahedan, IRNA reported.

The IRNA report ⁠said security forces had discovered and confiscated explosive packages. It did not identify the six people killed and gave no further information on the incident.

World

Two Powerful Earthquakes and Multiple Aftershocks Rock Panama

Rescue workers walk past a building damaged by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Panama City, Panama, 09 October 2026. (EPA)
Rescue workers walk past a building damaged by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Panama City, Panama, 09 October 2026. (EPA)
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Two Powerful Earthquakes and Multiple Aftershocks Rock Panama

Rescue workers walk past a building damaged by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Panama City, Panama, 09 October 2026. (EPA)
Rescue workers walk past a building damaged by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Panama City, Panama, 09 October 2026. (EPA)

A second powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Panama Friday afternoon following a series of aftershocks, the US Geological Survey said. It came after a magnitude 7.7 quake shook the Central American country, collapsing buildings near its epicenter and prompting evacuations.

The first earthquake shook Panama on Friday morning, collapsing buildings near its epicenter and prompting evacuations across the country.

The quake, which was felt as far away as neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, the US Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The USGS initially reported the quake as magnitude 8, then revised it to 7.6 and later to 7.7.

Visibly shaken residents of Panama City gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake’s impact on Friday.

“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared," Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press by phone. “Everyone is outside, scared.”

Multiple aftershocks continued to rattle Panama, including several measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. Seismologists at the University of Panama recorded more than 45 aftershocks, though many were too weak to be felt.

Calls for calm and reports of collapsed buildings Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino called for calm on Friday, writing on X: “What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder.”

Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said on the Telemetro Reporta news channel that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. He said there were no reports of damage in the capital, which is known for its hundreds of skyscrapers.

Smith said several injuries have been reported, including one person struck by debris from a partially collapsed structure in the city of Penonomé, around 93 miles (150 km) from the capital. He confirmed a partial collapse and cracks at the cathedral in the district’s main square, as well as damage in the governor’s office building and the Dos Continentes hotel. No casualties were immediately reported.

Local news outlets also reported that the Church of San Atanasio, a colonial-style Catholic church in Panama’s Los Santos province, had collapsed. The church was declared a National Historic Heritage Site in 1938. Elsewhere, including in Veraguas province, large fissures ran along roadways.

Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, one of the region's busiest airports with more than 20 million travelers in 2025, said it would temporarily suspend operations and activated evacuation plans. It said operations would resume once security conditions have been checked.

The Panama Canal Authority said operations were continuing normally along the key global trade route. It said its priority was the safety of employees, vessels and crews and that specialized technical teams were inspecting facilities for possible damage.

Tsunami warnings

The last major earthquake to cause widespread damage in Panama struck in 1991. A magnitude 7.4 quake, centered in nearby Costa Rica killed 23 people, injured 559, and left thousands of people homeless in the border Bocas de Toro region.

Earthquakes are common, especially along Panama's border with Costa Rica and its Pacific coast, because of the interaction of several tectonic plates, including Cocos, Nazca, and Caribbean plates.

Panama lies along the “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin, where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning Friday for the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. It warned that waves ranging from 3 to 9 feet (1 to 3 meters) above tide may occur in some coastal areas of Panama.

Alerts were also issued in El Salvador and as far as Chile’s Easter Island, about 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) off Chile’s mainland coast. Chile's government placed the island under a precautionary advisory.

Nearby countries sent messages of support Friday afternoon. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, whose country was recently hit by earthquakes, expressed his solidarity with the Panamanian people and their government during what he called “difficult times.”

“Panama is not alone! You can count on Colombia’s support and our full willingness to provide whatever assistance is needed,” he wrote on X.

The US Embassy in Panama said it was “closely monitoring” the aftermath of the quake and accounting for the welfare of its citizens in Panama, a well-known retirement destination for Americans.