Iran agrees to discuss missiles, militant groups in US talks - NYT

An Iranian teachers union said it had published the names of 163 children and teenagers killed during a two-day security crackdown on nationwide protests on January 8 and 9.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, a national umbrella union linking teachers’ trade associations across multiple provinces, said it compiled the list using information from families and local sources.

The union’s announcement comes as families of victims and civil society groups continue to seek accountability for deaths and injuries during Iran’s security response to the unrest.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that fears of a further escalation in the conflict with Iran dominated his talks during a visit to the Persian Gulf region.

Speaking at a press conference in Doha, Merz said concerns about rising tensions with Iran was raised repeatedly in meetings over the past two days.

“In all my conversations yesterday and today, great concern has been expressed about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran,” he said.

Merz called on Iran to end aggression and to move toward negotiations, stressing that Berlin would work to lower tensions.

China supports Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and opposes the use of force and sanctions pressure, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday.

“China supports Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said during talks in Beijing with Iran’s deputy foreign minister, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Liu said China would continue to promote what he described as the proper resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they seized two vessels involved in fuel smuggling in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island.

The navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it discovered more than one million litters of smuggled fuel on board the two vessels and detained 15 foreign crew members, who were handed over to judicial authorities.

The vessels were operating near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, the Guards said in a statement carried by state media.

The Guards said the vessels were part of an organized network that had carried out fuel smuggling operations over recent months and were identified through surveillance and intelligence work before being seized.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Ankara was doing its utmost to prevent tensions between the United States and Iran from dragging the region into a new conflict.

Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Egypt, Erdogan said diplomacy remained possible and negotiations at lower levels could pave the way for leader-level talks if progress was made.

He added that both the United States and Iran wanted to open a path for diplomacy, describing that approach as positive.