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Iranian Uprising Gains More Momentum as Regime Marks 1979 Revolution

Iranian women chanting against the regime in Tehran (Iran International)
Iranian women chanting against the regime in Tehran (Iran International)
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Iranian Uprising Gains More Momentum as Regime Marks 1979 Revolution

Iranian women chanting against the regime in Tehran (Iran International)
Iranian women chanting against the regime in Tehran (Iran International)

As the Iranian government marks the anniversary of the 1979 revolution in various parts of the country, the popular uprising against the regime gained momentum, Iran International reported on Friday.

In parallel, the authorities released a journalist on Friday and seven female activists the day before, according to AFP.

Those released included Saba Kordafshari, Alieh Motalebzadeh, Fariba Asadi, Parastoo Moini, Zahra Safaei, Gelareh Abbasi and Sahereh Hossein.

The Iranian authorities have arrested thousands of people since the outbreak of protests across the country, following the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, on Sept. 16, days after she was arrested by the morality police for violating the strict dress code for women in the country.

A group of civil and political activists chanted slogans such as, “down with oppressors” and “Woman, Life, Freedom” in front of Tehran’s Evin Prison on Thursday night, after the release of the detainees.

The destruction of government symbols continued in various places, as a video clip posted on social media showed a citizen lowering the flag of the regime and throwing it in a trash can in the city of Ganrud, in the west of the country.

Another footage, obtained by Iran International, showed demonstrators burning government banners commemorating the 1979 revolution in the eastern Kerman province.

Meanwhile, residents of Zahedan, southeastern Iran, took to the streets for the 19th week in a row. In Sanandaj, the people organized a march to demand the release of the cleric, Ibrahim Karimi, who was arrested by the Tehran regime.

Meanwhile, Iran released on Friday hunger-striking jailed dissident Farhad Meysami, Reuters reported, citing the Iranian judiciary.

Supporters had been warning that the man risked dying for protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab.

Images on social media of an emaciated Meysami, who had been in jail since 2018 for supporting women activists protesting against Iran’s headscarf policy, had gone viral and caused outrage among social media users and international rights group, Reuters said.

Also on Friday, the reformist Shargh daily reported that Hossein Yazdi, a political activist and journalist, was released from Dastgerd Prison in the central city of Isfahan.

Yazdi was arrested on Dec. 5, sentenced to one year in prison and banned from traveling for two years, the newspaper had earlier reported, without providing details about the charges against him.

It had said Yazdi was the “manager of Mobin 24 website and Iran Times news channel.”

Earlier this week, Iran released a young protester, Armita Abbasi, whose case sparked international concern after she was arrested in October in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, outside Tehran.

In November, a CNN report cited leaks and an anonymous medical source as saying that she had been taken to hospital after being raped while in detention. The Iranian authorities denied the accusations.

After her release, Abbasi posted a video on Instagram, thanking all those who supported her case.

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World

US Envoys in Berlin for Another Round of Ukraine Peace Talks

14 December 2025, Berlin: Jared Kushner (R), entrepreneur and former chief advisor to the President of the United States, arrives at the Hotel Adlon. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
14 December 2025, Berlin: Jared Kushner (R), entrepreneur and former chief advisor to the President of the United States, arrives at the Hotel Adlon. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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US Envoys in Berlin for Another Round of Ukraine Peace Talks

14 December 2025, Berlin: Jared Kushner (R), entrepreneur and former chief advisor to the President of the United States, arrives at the Hotel Adlon. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
14 December 2025, Berlin: Jared Kushner (R), entrepreneur and former chief advisor to the President of the United States, arrives at the Hotel Adlon. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa

US envoys arrived in Berlin Sunday morning for another round of talks intended to secure a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were spotted in downtown Berlin by a photographer for German news agency dpa.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, US and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days.

“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late Saturday.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces, and security guarantees for Ukraine.

“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” The Associated Press quoted Zelenskyy as saying. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all — that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control and abandon its bid to join NATO among the key conditions for peace — demands Kyiv has rejected.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan — a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as US-led negotiations drag on.

Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the US proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive," warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.”

Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position," he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”

He warned that Putin's aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”

“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.

Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.

As peace efforts continued, Russia and Ukraine exchanged another round of aerial attacks.

Ukraine’s air force said overnight Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones at Ukraine. In its daily report, the air force said 110 had been intercepted or downed but missile and drone hits were recorded at six locations.

Zelenskyy said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the south, east and north-east regions and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to multiple regions following a large-scale attack the previous night.

The Ukrainian president said that in the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types at Ukraine.

“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.

In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house ablaze in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, triggering a fire, according to the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov.

In the Krasnodar region, the Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. The authorities said that explosions shattered windows in residential buildings but didn’t report any damage to the refinery.
 

World

Gunmen Kill, Injure Scores at Sydney's Bondi Beach as Hundreds Gathered for Jewish Festival

This screen grab made from UGC handout video footage courtesy of Timothy Brant-Coles shows two gunmen dressed in black firing multiple shots on a bridge at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This screen grab made from UGC handout video footage courtesy of Timothy Brant-Coles shows two gunmen dressed in black firing multiple shots on a bridge at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
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Gunmen Kill, Injure Scores at Sydney's Bondi Beach as Hundreds Gathered for Jewish Festival

This screen grab made from UGC handout video footage courtesy of Timothy Brant-Coles shows two gunmen dressed in black firing multiple shots on a bridge at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This screen grab made from UGC handout video footage courtesy of Timothy Brant-Coles shows two gunmen dressed in black firing multiple shots on a bridge at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

Two gunmen shot dead at least 11 people on Sunday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, police said. One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second arrested.

The suspect was in critical condition, authorities said. A massive emergency response was underway, with injured people loaded into ambulances.

At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, according to a statement by police in New South Wales state, where Sydney is located. Two of those hurt were police officers.

Australian authorities haven't confirmed what the target of the mass shooting was. Hundreds had gathered for an event at Bondi Beach called Chanukah by the Sea, that was celebrating the start of the Hanukkah Jewish festival.

Police said their operation was “ongoing" and that a “number of suspicious items located in the vicinity” were being examined by specialist officers.

Dramatic footage apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels showed someone appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man's weapon at him.

Emergency services were called to Campbell Parade about 6.45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired, The Associated Press quoted police as saying.

Local news outlets spoke to distressed and bloody bystanders who witnessed the horror. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns described the reports and images coming from the scene as “deeply distressing."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with all those affected,

“The scenes in Bondi are shocking and distressing,” he said. “Police and emergency responders are on the ground working to save lives.”

According to Agence France Presse, Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the attack as a "cruel attack on Jews" and urged the Australian authorities to step up the fight against antisemitism.

A British tourist told AFP he saw "two shooters in black" after the gunfire broke out.

"There was a shooting, two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles," Timothy Brant-Coles told AFP, saying he saw multiple people who had been shot and wounded.

World

US Seizes Shipment Headed to Iran with Military-Related items

An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
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US Seizes Shipment Headed to Iran with Military-Related items

An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo
An arms shipment belonging to Iran seized by the US in May 2021. AP file photo

A US special operations team raided a dual-use items ship in the Indian Ocean last month and seized military-related articles headed to Iran, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said the ship’s cargo consists of components potentially useful for the Iranian conventional weapons.

A US special operations team in the Indian Ocean raided a ship headed to Iran from China last month and seized military-related articles, the Journal said citing US officials.

US forces boarded the ship several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the newspaper, which added the vessel was later allowed to proceed.

It said the shipment consisted of dual-use items — ones with potential applications in civilian and military fields — that could be used in Iran’s missile program.

The report cited a US official as saying US intelligence indicated the shipment was headed for Iranian companies known to be intermediaries for the country’s missile development efforts.

The action was part of a campaign by the US Defense Department to cut off Iran’s covert arms supply networks.

A US official told The New York Times that “the rare operation at sea aimed at blocking Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal.”

In a separate incident, Iran seized an oil tanker it claimed was illegally transporting Iranian fuel in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian media said overnight Friday to Saturday. Tehran’s move came amid suggestions it was a retaliatory measure against another country.

Iranian media said 18 crew members from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were on board the oil tanker.

“An oil tanker carrying six million liters of contraband diesel fuel has been boarded off the coast of the Sea of Oman,” the Fars news agency said, quoting an official from the southern province of Hormozgan.

“The vessel had disabled all its navigation systems.”

Iranian forces regularly announce the interception of ships it says are illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.

Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the Judiciary in Hormozgan Province, said Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Sea of Oman. He claimed the operation targeted fuel smuggling networks and their operators.

He confirmed to state television that the tanker was carrying 6 million liters of diesel in the Sea of Oman, and was intercepted in Iranian territorial waters near Jask.

Ghahramani added that the vessel was operating without valid maritime travel documents or a cargo manifest for its fuel shipment. All navigation and auxiliary systems aboard the ship had been deliberately turned off, he said.

The information has not yet been confirmed by independent sources. State broadcaster did not mention the name of the vessel or give its nationality on its website.

According to Ghahramani, the tanker carried a crew of 18, composed of nationals from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

The latest interception came two days after the United States seized the oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

According to Washington, the ship’s captain was transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran. The US Treasury sanctioned Venezuela in 2022 for alleged ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.

“The seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Friday.

Sources told Reuters that the US is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil.

Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters last month “for carrying an unauthorized cargo.”