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Iran Investigates Launch of Israeli Drones from Azerbaijan

In this picture obtained from the Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan Online on June 25, 2025, rescuers sift through the rubble inside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (Mostafa Roudaki/mizanonline/AFP via Getty Images) 
In this picture obtained from the Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan Online on June 25, 2025, rescuers sift through the rubble inside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (Mostafa Roudaki/mizanonline/AFP via Getty Images) 
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Iran Investigates Launch of Israeli Drones from Azerbaijan

In this picture obtained from the Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan Online on June 25, 2025, rescuers sift through the rubble inside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (Mostafa Roudaki/mizanonline/AFP via Getty Images) 
In this picture obtained from the Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan Online on June 25, 2025, rescuers sift through the rubble inside the Evin prison complex in Tehran that was hit days ago by an Israeli strike. (Mostafa Roudaki/mizanonline/AFP via Getty Images) 

Iran has called on Azerbaijan to conduct a thorough investigation into whether Israeli drones entered Iranian airspace from Azerbaijan during the recent hostilities between both countries, Iran’s Ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani said on Saturday.

During a press conference at the National Press Club in Yerevan, Sobhani said if it is confirmed that Israel used Azerbaijani soil to launch attacks against Iran during the recent war, then Tehran will consider this a serious violation and expects Baku to provide an official and transparent response.

“We do not confirm some of the information and reports published by certain sources in this regard... Once all aspects of the situation become clear, we will decide on our response,” the ambassador said according to Fars news agency, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards.

“We have not permitted Iranian territory to be used for such purposes. If Azerbaijan has granted such permission, it must provide an explanation in accordance with international law,” the ambassador added.

Sobhani said Iranian intelligence has received information indicating that a small number of Israeli drones crossed into Iran from neighboring countries.

As a result, he said, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian raised the issue in a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterparty, Ilham Aliyev, requesting a serious investigation.

Sobhani indicated that Azerbaijan has assured Iran that it would not allow its territory to be used against it. However, he emphasized that Tehran needs to receive accurate information before responding.

Two weeks ago, Israel launched a preemptive attack on Iran and the two sides have since exchanged strikes, with growing civilian casualties on both sides.

Early last Sunday, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear sites after more than a week of Israeli strikes on Tehran's military and nuclear facilities.

In retaliation, Iran launched a missile attack on the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

Last April, Pezeshkian visited Azerbaijan and agreed with Aliyev on a road map to strategic and comprehensive cooperation.

Relations between the two countries have been tense for a long time because Azerbaijan in March 2023 opened an embassy in Israel. Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel, which Tehran views as its top regional enemy. Iran has repeatedly opposed improving relations between Azerbaijan and Israel.

In February 2023, Azerbaijan arrested seven people in the capital Baku and other regions in an operation against an Iranian "spy network.”

As part of their campaign, Azerbaijani forces also raided the offices of pro-Iranian news outlets SalamNews and InterAz.

This came after a gunman with a Kalashnikov rifle barged inside the Azerbaijani Embassy premises in Tehran and opened fire, killing the embassy's security chief and injuring two guards.

 

 

 

 

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China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
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China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)

China opposes any outside interference in Iran's ​internal affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington ‌would take "very ‌strong action" ‌against Tehran.

China ⁠does ​not ‌condone the use or the threat of force in international relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson at ⁠the Chinese foreign ministry, said ‌at a ‍regular ‍news conference when ‍asked about China's position following Trump's comments.

Trump told CBS News in ​an interview that the United States would take "very ⁠strong action" if Iran starts hanging protesters.

Trump also urged protesters to keep protesting and said that help was on the way.

World

South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
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South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)

The South Korean president's top advisor vowed on Wednesday to punish whoever is found responsible for a recent drone incursion into North Korea, after a furious Pyongyang demanded an apology.

North Korea accused the South over the weekend of sending a drone across their shared border into the city of Kaesong this month, releasing photos of debris from what it said was the downed aircraft.

And on Tuesday the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, demanded an apology over the incident from the "hooligans of the enemy state" responsible.

Seoul has denied any involvement but has left open the possibility that civilians may have flown the drone, a position reiterated by National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on Wednesday.

"Our understanding so far is that neither the military nor the government carried out such an operation," Wi told reporters on the sidelines of a summit between the leaders of South Korea and Japan in the Japanese city of Nara.

"That leaves us the task to investigate if someone from the civilian sector may have done it," he said.

"If there is anything that warrants punishment, then there should be punishment."

South and North Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Wi noted that despite Pyongyang's criticism and its demand for an apology, the North has also sent its own drones into South Korea.

"There have been incidents in which their drones fell near the Blue House, and others that reached Yongsan," he said, referring to the current and former locations of the presidential offices.

"These, too, are violations of the Armistice Agreement," he said.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a joint military-police probe into the drone case.

Any civilian involvement would be "a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula", he warned.

World

Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
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Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)

The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from US President Donald Trump.

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon.

Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 revolution.

Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television online.

“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly," he said. “If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”

His comments stand as a direct challenge to Trump, who warned Iran about executions an interview with CBS aired Tuesday. “We will take very strong action,” Trump said. “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”

Meanwhile, activists said Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran. The satellite internet service has been key in getting around an internet shutdown launched by the theocracy on Jan. 8. Iran began allowing people to call out internationally on Tuesday via their mobile phones, but calls from people outside the country into Iran remain blocked.

“We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran. “We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.”

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Security service personnel also apparently were searching for Starlink dishes, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.