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Iran Hangs 11 on Drug Charges in 48 Hrs

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Hangs 11 on Drug Charges in 48 Hrs

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran hanged 11 on drugs charges within a 48-hour period, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Wednesday.

They were hanged between the early morning on Sunday and early Tuesday, it noted.

The group added that it recorded a total of 61 executions across Iran in July as Iran presses ahead with a surge in capital punishment that has now seen the country put to death 423 people this year.

Campaigners accuse Iran of using capital punishment as an instrument to spread fear throughout the population in the wake of the protest movement that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22. The Iranian-Kurdish woman had been detained for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

Eight men were executed on drugs charges in the main prison of Zahedan between July 30 and August 1, it said.

Another man was executed on similar charges on July 31 at a prison in Birjand city in the eastern province of Khorosan, it added.

Mohammad Arbab, 30, and 32-year-old Asadollah Amini, two Afghan nationals, were secretly executed in Zabol Prison in Sistan-Baluchistan on 30 and 31 July, it said, AFP reported.

The number of executions in Iran on drug-related charges dropped dramatically in 2018 following amendments to the anti-narcotics law but has surged again since 2021.

Rights groups say the demonstrations were targets of deadly crackdowns by the security forces in Iran's poorest region.

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World

Germany's Merz Says Iran is Humiliating US as Talks Stall

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a press conference after taking part in an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia on April 24, 2026. (AFP)
Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a press conference after taking part in an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia on April 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Germany's Merz Says Iran is Humiliating US as Talks Stall

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a press conference after taking part in an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia on April 24, 2026. (AFP)
Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a press conference after taking part in an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia on April 24, 2026. (AFP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday Iran's leadership was humiliating the United States and getting US officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict.

Merz also said he not see what exit strategy the US was pursuing in the Iran war- comments that underlined deep divisions between Washington and its European NATO allies, which had already been festering over Ukraine and other issues.

"The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result," he said during a talk to students in the town of Marsberg, Reuters reported.

"An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible," he added at the venue in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

US President Donald Trump has harshly criticized NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict. The waterway has remained virtually shut, causing market turmoil and unprecedented disruption in energy supplies.

Merz reiterated that Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the US and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28, and that he had conveyed his scepticism directly to Trump afterwards.

"If I had known that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically," Merz said, comparing it to previous US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hopes of reviving peace efforts have receded since Trump scrapped a visit on Saturday by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi travelled to Russia on Monday after failed talks in Pakistan and Oman.

Merz said it was evident the Strait of Hormuz had been at least partially mined. "We have offered, also as Europeans, to send German minesweepers to clear the strait, which has obviously been mined in part," he said.

He said the conflict was costing Germany "a lot of money, a lot of taxpayers' money and a lot of economic strength."

World

German Foreign Minister: We Need Deterrence in Face of Nuclear Threats

27 April 2026, Berlin: Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister, gives a statement on the military section of Berlin Brandenburg Airport on an aircraft of the air force before his departure to the United Nations in New York. (dpa)
27 April 2026, Berlin: Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister, gives a statement on the military section of Berlin Brandenburg Airport on an aircraft of the air force before his departure to the United Nations in New York. (dpa)
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German Foreign Minister: We Need Deterrence in Face of Nuclear Threats

27 April 2026, Berlin: Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister, gives a statement on the military section of Berlin Brandenburg Airport on an aircraft of the air force before his departure to the United Nations in New York. (dpa)
27 April 2026, Berlin: Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister, gives a statement on the military section of Berlin Brandenburg Airport on an aircraft of the air force before his departure to the United Nations in New York. (dpa)

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that deterrence is needed amid nuclear threats, even as he underscored support for nuclear non-proliferation.

"As long as nuclear threats against ‌us and ‌our partners continue, we ‌will ⁠need a credible ⁠deterrent," he said in a statement ahead of meetings on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that he ⁠is due to attend ‌this ‌week at the United ‌Nations in New York.

He ‌added the conference would seek new ways of safeguarding the treaty's achievements ‌and focus on nuclear disarmament.

France and Germany ⁠last ⁠month announced plans to deepen cooperation on nuclear deterrence, marking a significant shift in defence policy as Europe faces rising threats from Russia and instability linked to the Iran conflict.

World

Too Early to Drop Sanctions Against Iran, Says EU’s von der Leyen

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks the opening press conference of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s executive committee meeting in Berlin, Germany April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks the opening press conference of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s executive committee meeting in Berlin, Germany April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Too Early to Drop Sanctions Against Iran, Says EU’s von der Leyen

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks the opening press conference of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s executive committee meeting in Berlin, Germany April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen speaks the opening press conference of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s executive committee meeting in Berlin, Germany April 27, 2026. (Reuters)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that it was too early to drop sanctions imposed on ‌Iran.

"We think ‌the dropping ‌of ⁠sanctions would be ⁠too early," she said in Berlin at a meeting of the ⁠conservative CDU and ‌its ‌CSU Bavarian sister party, ‌adding that ‌the sanctions were in place due to Iran's suppression of ‌its own population.

"We first have to ⁠see ⁠a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions," von der Leyen added.