Iran Vows Response to Guards Deputy Commander Killing in Lebanon

A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Iran Vows Response to Guards Deputy Commander Killing in Lebanon

A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the killing by Israel of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander in Beirut was a "horrible crime" that would not go unanswered.

Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday in which Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah also died.

"There is no doubt that this horrible crime committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) will not go unanswered," Araqchi said in a statement addressed to the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that Iran-aligned armed groups would carry on confronting Israel with Tehran's help following the killing of Nasrallah, Iranian state media reported.

An alliance known as the Axis of Resistance, built up over decades with Iranian support, includes the Palestinian group Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Yemen's Houthis, and various Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.

"We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance," Qalibaf said.

He also issued a warning to the United States.

"The US is complicit in all of these crimes and...has to accept the repercussions," he said.

Iran's Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, asked about Nasrallah's assassination, told state media on Sunday Iran would react at an appropriate time of its choosing against Israel.



France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
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France Accuses Iran of ‘Repression’ in Sentence for Nobel Laureate

People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)
People cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP)

France accused Iran on Monday of "repression and intimidation" after a court handed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security.

Mohammadi, sentenced Saturday, was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for "propaganda" against Iran's system, according to her foundation.

"With this sentence, the Iranian regime has, once again, chosen repression and intimidation," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, describing the 53-year-old as a "tireless defender" of human rights.

Paris is calling for the release of the activist, who was arrested before protests erupted nationwide in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.

The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).


Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
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Iran's Supreme Leader Urges Iranians to Show 'Resolve' against Foreign Pressure

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on (File Photo/Supreme Leader's website).

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday called on his compatriots to show "resolve" ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution this week.

Since the revolution, "foreign powers have always sought to restore the previous situation", Ali Khamenei said, referring to the period when Iran was under the rule of shah Reza Pahlavi and dependent on the United States, AFP reported.

"National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and steadfastness of the people," the leader said, adding: "Show it again and frustrate the enemy."


UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
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UK PM's Communications Director Quits

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards, Britain, February 05, 2026. Peter Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides ⁠in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the ⁠US.

"I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from ⁠1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.