Iranian FM: The Region will Enter New Phase through 'Resistance Forces'

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian receives his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi at the Iranian Foreign Ministry headquarters in central Tehran (IRNA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian receives his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi at the Iranian Foreign Ministry headquarters in central Tehran (IRNA)
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Iranian FM: The Region will Enter New Phase through 'Resistance Forces'

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian receives his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi at the Iranian Foreign Ministry headquarters in central Tehran (IRNA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian receives his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi at the Iranian Foreign Ministry headquarters in central Tehran (IRNA)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned of the expansion of the war amid the renewed Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying that the region will enter a new phase "through resistance forces."

On Sunday, the foreign minister made the remarks during a press conferen with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi in Tehran.

The two ministers discussed the recent developments in Gaza amid reports about a possible Oman mediation in the Iranian nuclear program.

Amirabdollahian said that the new phase of the Israeli attacks on Gaza began with the presence of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the ministerial meeting of the Zionist entity.

He added that the US must bear the consequences of this hypocritical behavior in supporting Israel, saying Washington claims it recommends Israel does not kill civilians while granting it the green light for genocide.

For more than 50 days, "we have been following the developments in Palestine to return stability and security in the region and stop the killing and genocide of the Zionist regime in Gaza," he said.

The leaders of the resistance warned that if the Israeli attacks continue, the region will enter a new phase, he indicated, warning that the killing of children and women must stop before it is too late.

He asserted that Iran never wanted the war to expand, but the warmongers in the region were strongly warned to stop their support for Israeli crimes.

He said that there is documented evidence that the Zionist regime is seeking to displace people in the Gaza Strip forcibly.

"In a part of the documents that were seized by the Resistance forces during the al-Aqsa Storm operation and in a part of the laptops that were captured, this hypothesis has been proven that the Israeli regime seeks to relocate all the residents of Gaza to a part of the territory and land of Egypt, and it seeks to transfer the residents of the West Bank to parts of Jordan," he noted.

"We hope that our brothers in Egypt will take immediate and serious action to reopen the Rafah border crossing and prevent this Israeli conspiracy against the territorial integrity of Jordan and Egypt."

- Discussing nuclear power

Earlier, the official IRNA agency reported that the two ministers were scheduled to discuss developing cooperation, achieving a ceasefire in the Strip, and delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Ahead of his visit to Tehran, Busaidi and his Iranian counterpart discussed over the phone Israel's resumption of war crimes in Gaza without any regard to the international community and global public opinion.

Busaidi warned against the outbreak of war and its expansion in the region, stressing the necessity of establishing a sustainable truce, sending humanitarian aid on a large scale, and establishing an effective international action.

Iranian media expected Busaidi's visit to Tehran to be within the context of exchanging messages between Tehran and Washington to prevent the expansion of tension in the region.

During the past two months, Iranian officials welcomed an Omani initiative proposed by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

However, they noted it was not a new agreement or a new plan but rather a practical initiative to converge views between Washington and Tehran and the return of all parties to the 2015 agreement.

Last week, the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said in press statements that talks with Iran might require a new framework rather than an attempt to revive the 2015 accord.

- Borrell urges Tehran to cooperate constructively

The nuclear agreement was part of the telephone conversation between Amirabdollahian and EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell.

The Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday that Amirabdollahian called on Borrell to stop the Israeli military attacks on the Strip and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.

The Iranian diplomat repeated previous warnings against displacing Palestinians and warned of the possibility of expanding the war in the region.

The two officials also addressed Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency's cooperation, and Amirabdollahian noted that the "cooperation will continue within a technical and legal framework."

Borrell expressed hope that constructive cooperation between Iran and the IAEA will continue.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi defended his country's positions in the Gaza war.

Speaking on Sunday at the "Second National Conference on Responsibility for the Implementation of the Constitution," Raisi said Iran's support for Gaza and Palestine is wholly based on the constitution's principles, which considers the protection of the oppressed as one of its duties.

"Since the beginning of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, one of the basic principles and approaches of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been to support the rights of the Palestinian people and to recognize this issue as the first issue of the Islamic world."

He asserted that the principle is still standing and that global political developments will not change the primary direction of foreign policy.

Raisi reiterated that 6,000 children killed by the "Zionist usurpers will bring down this fake, cruel and usurping regime."



Thousands March in US to Back Iranian Anti-government Protesters

Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
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Thousands March in US to Back Iranian Anti-government Protesters

Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Thousands in the United States staged large demonstrations Sunday denouncing the Iranian government's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in Iran.

Several thousand people marched in Los Angeles, home to the world's largest Iranian diaspora, while several hundred others gathered in New York, AFP journalist's in both cities reported.

US protesters could be seen carrying signs condemning a "New Holocaust," a "genocide in the making," and the "terror" of the Iranian government.

"My heart is heavy and my soul is crushed, I'm at loss for words to describe how angry I am," said Perry Faraz at the demonstration in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the US.

The 62-year-old payroll manager, who fled Iran in 2006, learned this week that one of her young cousins had been killed during the overseas rallies held in her native country.

"He wasn't even 10 years old, that's horrible," she said.

Demonstrations sparked by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests late December in what has been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in recent years.

The rallies subsided after a government crackdown in Iran that rights groups have called a "massacre" carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within Iran’s health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.

The NGO warned that the true toll is likely to be far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll.

- Calls for US intervention -

"This mass murdering of the population is terribly upsetting," Ali Parvaneh, a 65-year-old lawyer protesting in LA said.

Like many protesters, Parvaneh carried a "Make Iran Great Again" sign and said he wanted US President Donald Trump to intervene by targeting the country's powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Some in the crowd in LA went as far as to call for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has been in power for more than 25 years.

After having attacked Iranian nuclear sites in June, Trump sent mixed signals on possible US intervention this week.

The Republican first threatened to intervene if Iranian protesters were killed, but then said he was satisfied by Iranian assurances that demonstrators would not be executed.

"I really hope that Trump will go one step beyond just voicing support," Parvaneh said.

Many protesting in the Californian city chanted slogans in support of the US president and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who was deposed by the popular uprising in 1979.

- 'Don't need a puppet' -

Parvaneh echoed Pahlavi's popularity among some segments of Iran's exiled and expatriate population.

"Had the monarchy stayed in place, it would be much different and Iran would be in a much better situation," he said.

Pahlavi's support base is concentrated abroad while his political sway within Iran is limited.

The former Shah's son, who lives in exile near Washington, said this week he would be ready to return to Iran -- but it is unclear if most Iranians want this.

The Iranian opposition remains divided, and memories of the Shah's brutal repression of his left-wing opponents remain vivid.

Last week, a man caused minor injuries when he drove a truck into a demonstration held by Iranians in Los Angeles, carrying a sign that read: "No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don't Repeat 1953. No Mullah."

The sign was referring to the 1953 coup that saw Iran's government overthrown in a US- and UK-backed operation that had seen Pahlavi installed as the country's leader.

In Los Angeles's Westwood neighborhood, nicknamed "Tehrangeles," Roozbeh Farahanipour believes the diaspora must support Iranians without infringing on their "right to decide their own future."

"They don't need a puppet implanted by the West," said the 54-year-old restaurant owner.

Others in California also share that view.

"Trump is playing the Iranian people," said poet Karim Farsis, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area.

Farsis, an academic, stresses that it is US sanctions -- including those imposed by Trump -- and the Republican's ripping up of a nuclear deal that have contributed in large part to the suffering of the Iranian people.

She also criticized the almost complete ban on Iranians entering the US since June.

"We're living in a really twisted moment," she said. "Trump is saying to Iranians: 'Keep protesting, take over your institutions.'

"But if they find themselves in danger, they can't even find refuge in the United States."


Iran President Says Any Attack on Supreme Leader Would Be Declaration of War

 In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
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Iran President Says Any Attack on Supreme Leader Would Be Declaration of War

 In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday that any attack on the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei would mean a declaration of war.

"An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation," Pezeshkian said in a post on X in an apparent response to US President Donald Trump saying it was time to look for a new leader in Iran.


Quake Hits Northeast Sicily, No Damage Reported

 A man feeds seagulls in Syracuse, Sicily, southern Italy on January 10, 2026. (AFP)
A man feeds seagulls in Syracuse, Sicily, southern Italy on January 10, 2026. (AFP)
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Quake Hits Northeast Sicily, No Damage Reported

 A man feeds seagulls in Syracuse, Sicily, southern Italy on January 10, 2026. (AFP)
A man feeds seagulls in Syracuse, Sicily, southern Italy on January 10, 2026. (AFP)

A light earthquake hit the northeastern corner of Sicily on Sunday, authorities said, but no damage was immediately reported.

The quake registering 4.0 on the Richter and Moment Magnitude scales was centered two kilometers (just over a mile) from Militello Rosmarino in the northeastern province of Messina, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV).

It occurred at 2:54 pm local time (1354 GMT) and had a depth of eight kilometers, INGV said.

Il Mattino newspaper said the earthquake was felt throughout the Messina area but no damage to people or buildings had been reported.

The town of approximately 1,200 inhabitants is located just north of the Nebrodi park, Sicily's largest protected area.

Tremors occur frequently in the northeast of Sicily, with a 2.5 magnitude quake occurring at Piraino, to the east, on Saturday.