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Iran's Ex-crown Prince Calls for Fresh Anti-government Actions

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
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Iran's Ex-crown Prince Calls for Fresh Anti-government Actions

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

The exiled son of Iran's last shah has called for anti-government actions in his homeland to coincide with protests in Germany and other countries, as the key opposition figure was due to speak at the Munich security conference.

US-based Reza Pahlavi, who has not returned to his country since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, called for protests on Saturday in Munich, Toronto and Los Angeles to demand international action on Iran, AFP reported.

In an X post on Thursday, Pahlavi urged Iranians inside the country to join in by chanting slogans from their homes and rooftops, after street protests that peaked in January were violently suppressed by authorities in a crackdown that rights groups say left thousands dead.

Pahlavi said that Iranians abroad would demonstrate on Saturday "to mobilize broader international support" for what he described as "Iran's Lion and Sun Revolution", a reference to the insignia on the imperial flag.

"In this spirit, I invite you, on the evenings of February 14 and 15 at 8:00 pm, to raise your voices and chant from your homes and rooftops. Shout your demands. Show your unity. With an unbreakable will, we will prevail over this occupying regime," he added.

Pahlavi is due to address the Munich Security Conference at 1745 GMT on Friday, a rare chance for him to speak at an international event.

Videos verified by AFP showed people in Iran this week chanting anti-government slogans as the clerical leadership celebrated the anniversary of the Islamic revolution, despite the ongoing crackdown.

According to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, 7,005 people, mostly protesters, were killed in the crackdown, though rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher.

Pahlavi had encouraged Iranians to join the wave of protests, which caused US President Donald Trump to threaten military action in their support -- a move Pahlavi has urged.

Iranian authorities have blamed the violence on "rioters" instigated by their sworn enemies the United States and Israel, which waged a 12-day war against Iran in June.

Many protest chants had called for the monarchy's return, and Pahlavi, 65, has said he is ready to lead a democratic transition in the country.

The Iranian opposition remains divided and Pahlavi has faced criticism for his support for Israel, making a highly publicised visit in 2023 that fractured an attempt to unify opposition camps. He has also never distanced himself from his father's autocratic rule.

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Zelenskiy Says US Too often Asks Ukraine, Not Russia, for Concessions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2026. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2026. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
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Zelenskiy Says US Too often Asks Ukraine, Not Russia, for Concessions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2026. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2026. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy voiced hope on Saturday that US-brokered peace talks next week in Geneva would be serious and substantive, but said Ukraine was being asked "too often" to make concessions in the negotiations.

Ukrainian, Russian and American delegations are due to meet in the Swiss lakeside city on Tuesday and Wednesday as US President Donald Trump seeks to push through a deal to end Europe's biggest war since 1945.

"We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, helpful for all us but honestly sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things," Zelenskiy said in a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference.

Ukraine and Russia, which invaded its neighbour in February 2022, have engaged in two recent rounds of talks brokered by Washington in Abu Dhabi described by the sides as constructive but achieving no major breakthroughs.

Zelenskiy called for greater action from Ukraine's allies to press Russia into making peace - both in the form of tougher sanctions and more weapons supplies.

Recalling his appeal four years ago, when he spoke at the same conference days before tens of thousands of Russian forces poured into Ukraine, Zelenskiy said there was too much talk by Western officials and not enough action.

Trump has the power to force Putin to declare a ceasefire and needed to do so, Zelenskiy said. Ukrainian officials have said a ceasefire is required to hold a referendum on any peace deal, which would be organised alongside national elections.

The Ukrainian leader, a former television entertainer, acknowledged he was feeling "a little bit" of pressure from Trump, who yesterday said Zelenskiy should not miss the "opportunity" to make peace soon and urged him "to get moving".

"The Americans often return to the topic of concessions and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia," Zelenskiy said.

Instead, Zelenskiy said, he wanted instead to hear what compromises Moscow would be ready for, as Ukraine had already made many of its own.

DEADLOCK OVER TERRITORY

Land remains the major sticking point in negotiations, with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20% of the eastern area of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture - something Kyiv steadfastly refuses to do.

Zelenskiy said he was instead ready to discuss a US proposal for a free trade zone in that region, while freezing the rest of the 1,200-km (745-mile) front line.

Russia occupies about 20% of Ukraine's national territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Analysts say Moscow has gained about 1.5% of Ukrainian territory since early 2024. Its recent air strikes on Ukraine's cities and electricity infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without heating and power during the course of a bitterly cold winter.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly expressed concern in recent weeks that US. congressional mid-term elections in November could focus the Trump administration on domestic political issues after the summer.

Zelenskiy said he hoped the US would stay involved in the negotiations, and that there would be an opportunity for Europe, which he said was currently sidelined, to play a bigger role.

'EUROPE NOT PRESENT'

"Europe is practically not present at the table. It's a big mistake to my mind," he said.

Russia said its delegation to Geneva would be led by Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, a change from negotiations in Abu Dhabi at which Russia's team was led by military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.

Ukrainian sources have criticised Medinsky's handling of previous talks, accusing him of delivering history lessons to the Ukrainian team instead of engaging in substantive negotiations.

Zelenskiy, who has long argued that the best way to achieve peace is to force Russia to the table with military and economic pressure, said he had discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen punitive steps against tankers that export Russian oil.

Oil exports are a key revenue source for the Russian state, and in recent months some empty tankers have been targeted by Ukrainian drones.

On Saturday France's foreign minister said some G7 countries have expressed readiness to enact a maritime services ban on Russian oil and that Paris was "reasonably optimistic" it would be included in the European Union's next sanctions package.

World

Nobel Winner Transferred to Prison in Northern Iran

A photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. © AFP
A photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. © AFP
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Nobel Winner Transferred to Prison in Northern Iran

A photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. © AFP
A photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. © AFP

Iranian authorities have, without prior warning, transferred Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a prison in the north of the country as concern grows over her health, her husband said on Saturday.

Mohammadi, who won the peace prize in 2023 in recognition for more than two decades of campaigning, was arrested on December 12 in the eastern city of Mashhad after speaking out against the clerical authorities at a funeral ceremony, AFP reported.

She spent time on hunger strike earlier this month and had been hospitalized before being returned to prison.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said this week it was "deeply appalled" by reports detailing "physical abuse and ongoing life-threatening mistreatment" of Mohammadi both during her arrest and in detention.

Since her arrest, Mohammadi had been held in Mashhad at the detention facility of the intelligence ministry and had only been allowed one phonecall with a brother inside Iran and another to her Iranian lawyer.

But she has now been transferred to prison in the city of Zanjan in the north of the country, said her husband Taghi Rahmani, who is based in Paris.

"This action was carried out without informing her family or her lawyer," he said on X, adding it was "intended to exile and displace Narges".

On December 7, she was handed a further six years in prison on charges of harming national security and was also given a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for propaganda against Iran's Islamic system.

On February 2 she began a hunger strike to protest the conditions of her imprisonment and the inability to make phone calls to lawyers and family but then ended the action after a week.

Her foundation has described her physical condition as "deeply alarming", saying she was transferred to hospital in Mashhad but then returned to prison "before completing her treatment".

Mohammadi was arrested before protests erupted nationwide later in December. The movement peaked in January, with authorities launching a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi, 53, who was born in Zanjan, has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her campaigning against Iran's use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

World

About 200,000 Join Iran Demonstration in Munich

Protesters wave flags - with a lion and a sun against horizontal green, white and red stripes, the emblem of the monarchy overthrown in 1979- during a demonstration in Munich (Reuters).
Protesters wave flags - with a lion and a sun against horizontal green, white and red stripes, the emblem of the monarchy overthrown in 1979- during a demonstration in Munich (Reuters).
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About 200,000 Join Iran Demonstration in Munich

Protesters wave flags - with a lion and a sun against horizontal green, white and red stripes, the emblem of the monarchy overthrown in 1979- during a demonstration in Munich (Reuters).
Protesters wave flags - with a lion and a sun against horizontal green, white and red stripes, the emblem of the monarchy overthrown in 1979- during a demonstration in Munich (Reuters).

About 200,000 people joined a demonstration against the Iranian government in Munich on Saturday, police said, as world leaders gathered nearby for a security conference, AFP reported. 

The protesters rallied on Munich's Theresienwiese fairgrounds, denouncing the leadership of Iran's Islamic Republic following the deadly repression of nationwide protests in January.

Some waved flags with a lion and a sun against horizontal green, white and red stripes, the emblem of the monarchy overthrown in 1979.

Human rights groups have reported that thousands of protesters have been killed in Iran.

Rallies calling for international action against Tehran are also planned in Toronto and Los Angeles on Saturday.

The exiled son of the former shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, spoke at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday and called on US President Donald Trump to "help" the Iranian people.

Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since his father was overthrown in the 1979 revolution, urged an outside "humanitarian intervention to prevent more innocent lives being killed" in Iran.

The Theresienwiese, which hosts the huge annual Oktoberfest folk gathering, is located less than three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the security conference venue.

Last week, an estimated 10,000 people gathered in Berlin in response to a call from the MEK, an exiled opposition group considered "terrorist" by Tehran.