عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

US Deports Iranian Pro-democracy Activist to Central African Republic

A general view shows a part of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola Purchase Licensing Rights
A general view shows a part of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola Purchase Licensing Rights
TT
TT

US Deports Iranian Pro-democracy Activist to Central African Republic

A general view shows a part of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola Purchase Licensing Rights
A general view shows a part of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola Purchase Licensing Rights

The United States has deported an Iranian pro-democracy activist to Central African Republic, her lawyer said on Friday, describing it as a "super dangerous" transfer to a country with which the activist has no connection.

The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF) said on Thursday that three Iranian women who fled persecution were at risk of deportation, including one who had converted to Christianity.

In the end, only the activist was on the flight which took off from Louisiana on Thursday night, said her lawyer, Emily Trostle, while not ruling out that the others could potentially be deported later.

The plane landed in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, shortly before 10 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), after a stop in Ghana's capital Accra, according to the ICE Flight Monitor managed by ‌Human Rights First.

It ‌was not immediately clear where the deportees would be housed or how long ‌they ⁠would be able ⁠to stay in Central African Republic.

"They have absolutely no connection to this place. In all of my filings I submitted tons of information about how this was super dangerous," Trostle told Reuters.

"These individuals are being removed from the United States and abandoned in a country where they have no status, no connection and no support network. We fear they will ultimately be forced to return to the countries they originally fled," Trostle said. 

The US State Department and Central African Republic's presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the deportations to Central African Republic.  

⁠The US Department of Homeland Security said last week that all deportees would receive ‌full due process.  

Ghana and Central African Republic have signed deals ‌with President Donald Trump's administration to take in third-country deportees who in many cases secured legal protections from US courts so that ‌they could not be repatriated.  

The United States has used the deals — including with Central African Republic's ‌neighbor Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing an Ebola outbreak — to deport people it cannot legally send home. 

The Trump administration has said the deals are lawful. Rights groups and advocates have said that the details of the deals are opaque and many of the deportees are ultimately repatriated. 

RISK OF REPATRIATION 

The IALDF said the Iranians facing deportation had their asylum claims denied ‌because of a rule requiring that asylum seekers first apply in countries they transit through before reaching the US. A federal court in California vacated that rule ⁠in May. 

The group said ⁠deporting Iranians to Central African Republic was "a potentially fatal action," citing security issues in the country and the risk that they would be sent back to Iran. 

President Faustin-Archange Touadera signed peace deals last year with several rebel groups. Others were weakened as Russian mercenaries and troops from Rwanda were deployed to shore up Touadera's government as well as UN peacekeepers. 

Ali Rahnama, interim executive director at the IALDF, said the Russian presence in Central African Republic was concerning because Russia had close intelligence ties with Iran. The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, starting a now three-month-old war. 

Trump said in April that he thought that the Iranian people should rise up against the government in Tehran if a ceasefire were declared, but understood that it was too dangerous for them to do so. 

It was unclear how many people would be deported to Central African Republic on the first flight. 

An official briefed on the matter told Reuters on Thursday it was expected to transport about 20 people, including Syrians and Afghans. The official said hundreds of migrants could ultimately be deported there under the deal. 

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Russia Hits Ukraine with Drones and Missiles, At Least 19 Dead

Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
TT
TT

Russia Hits Ukraine with Drones and Missiles, At Least 19 Dead

Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Russia pounded Ukraine with waves of missiles and drones on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and hitting residential buildings, industrial facilities and infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said.

One Russian missile slammed into an apartment block in the northern city of Pryluky, killing at least 13 people including four children, regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus said.

Dozens of rescuers picked through the rubble at the site where several sections of the five-story building collapsed, Reuters video showed.

Emergency workers used ladders to get to the upper floors of what remained of the building. Around 50 people were wounded, the governor said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said six other people were killed in Kyiv, Oleksandria and Kremenchuk during the heavy overnight attack.

"This was one of the most vile strikes: 70 missiles in total, many of them ballistic," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. "One of the key targets was ⁠our energy infrastructure. ⁠The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively."

Russia's defense ministry said its forces had carried out a "massive strike" on military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions, using high-precision land-, sea- and air-launched weapons, as well as drones.

Ukraine's air force said it had downed just over 80% of the 46 jet-powered drones launched by Russia — a sharp increase from recent weeks when, on average, air defenses took down 50% to 60%.

Since the summer, Russia has used increasing numbers of the new high-velocity drones in round-the-clock attacks on Kyiv and other cities, stretching Ukraine's air defenses which have struggled to cope with their speed.

The air force ⁠did not explain the jump in the interception rate and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Zelenskiy said that the Russian ballistic missiles remained the major challenge for Ukraine, adding that he and his team were "every day looking for Patriot (missile interception) systems that can and must protect people's lives.”

The US-made Patriot system is the only weapon in Ukraine's arsenal capable of stopping high-velocity ballistic missiles but tight global supplies have been drained by the Iran war this year as well as the Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine's energy ministry said that it had started to roll out partial emergency power cuts in five Ukrainian regions due to the attacks.

Russia's defense ministry said its targets included sites where Ukrainian defense company Fire Point manufactures and stores its Flamingo cruise missiles and medium- and long-range drones in Kyiv as well as regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkiv.

Last week, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had fired its first domestically made ballistic missile in combat, produced ⁠by Fire Point.

In an interview with ⁠Reuters last week, Zelenskiy said he expected the company to have a longer-range FP-9 missile ready by the autumn. The company has said that weapon will be able to reach Moscow.

Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops hit four targets in Russia over the past 24 hours, including two Russian oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions.

In the Reuters interview, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would hit Russia's energy assets in response to Moscow's escalating strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Many Kyiv residents took shelter in the city's deep underground metro stations as warnings of the upcoming attacks were shared by Ukrainian officials and military intelligence.

Several loud explosions reverberated through the capital during the night, Reuters witnesses said.

"The metro is better, because we live on the 9th floor of a high-rise, and it's really scary when you're on the 9th floor and missiles are flying at you," Lesia, a 49-year-old Kyiv resident, told Reuters.

Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles targeted Kyiv in addition to the drones.

Overnight air strikes on the southeastern city of Dnipro damaged an industrial facility, transport infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia and apartment buildings in Kremenchuk, regional officials said on the Telegram messaging app.

World

India Says 12 Seafarers Injured in Hormuz Tanker Attack

A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
TT
TT

India Says 12 Seafarers Injured in Hormuz Tanker Attack

A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)

India said 12 crew members on a Panama-flagged tanker had been injured in an attack while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, with those hurt receiving medical treatment in Oman.

“We condemn the attack earlier today on a Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace... it was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” New Delhi’s foreign ministry said in a statement cited by AFP.

The ministry said the tanker had a 19-member crew, including 17 Indians. Of those injured, 11 are Indians.

“With the assistance of Omani authorities, the injured crew have since been evacuated and are receiving medical treatment in Khasab, Oman,” it said.

India is one of the largest contributors of sailors to merchant shipping worldwide, and several of its mariners have been killed in Hormuz attacks since the Middle East war began on February 28.

An attack on a cargo ship in the same region last month killed an Indian sailor, according to New Delhi.

“The continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region remain a cause of deep concern for India,” the ministry said.

Iran has sought to impose its control over the vital shipping lane for Gulf oil and gas since the start of the war, occasionally striking ships accused of failing to coordinate with its authorities or deviating from its preferred route.

In retaliation, the United States has been enforcing a counterblockade of Iranian ports, carrying out strikes of its own on ships it says refuse to comply.

“We reiterate our call for an immediate cessation of such attacks in the interests of peace and stability in the region,” the statement said.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest.”

World

Iran Nominates ‘Aerospace and Missile Official’ For Defense Minister Post

Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
TT
TT

Iran Nominates ‘Aerospace and Missile Official’ For Defense Minister Post

Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi, a senior official linked to the country’s missile industry, for the position of defense minister, an official said Monday.

Pezeshkian “in a letter, introduced Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi to Parliament to take up the post of defense minister and armed forces logistics,” Sasan Valizadeh, a presidential advisor, said, as cited by semi-official Mehr News Agency.

The nomination was sent to Parliament, requiring a confidence vote after lawmakers review Akhlaghi Ketabchi’s program.

In Iran, parliamentary approval of nominees for sensitive security positions is generally regarded as a formality, as the nomination and public announcement of a candidate typically indicate that he or she has already secured the Supreme Leader’s approval.

However, Iranian media outlets say the nomination of Akhlaghi Ketabchi has raised questions about how the appointment received approval at the highest levels of Iran’s political establishment, given the Supreme Leader’s continued absence from public view.

The nomination came to fill a post vacant since Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.

The ministry has been run by acting minister Majid Ebn-e-Reza since March 2. A former deputy defense minister, Ebn-e-Reza has represented Iran domestically and abroad but was not put forward for the permanent role.

A Longtime Defense Official

Akhlaghi Ketabchi is a longtime Defense Ministry official with deep ties to Iran’s missile and aerospace sectors.

The UN Security Council listed him in 2007 as head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program; his name reappeared on UN sanctions lists when earlier measures were re-imposed in September 2025.

In 2014 he was appointed head of the Aerospace Industries Organization. He was also sanctioned by the US in 2020 over his alleged links to Iran’s arms-related activities, while the UK sanctioned him in 2023 over his alleged involvement in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities.