Teachers Union Says More Than 160 Students Died In Regime Crackdown
Mohammad Habibi, spokesman for the Coordination Council of Teachers' Unions, announced that the number of students killed in the crackdown on protests has exceeded 160.
"This number means that at least five entire classrooms have been massacred so far," he wrote in a post on X. "Nowhere in the world is the answer to a student's 'slogan' a 'bullet.'"
Habibi has published, in a file titled Empty Benches, the names of 150 students who were killed in the violent crackdown.
The teachers' council says it is aiming to publish the names and pictures of these children -- once the identities are verified.
According to the latest verified cumulative data compiled by the US-based HRANA, the total number of confirmed deaths has reached 6,883.
Good morning,
As White House officials have confirmed that Iran-US talks will now go ahead in Oman on February 6, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a news briefing at the State Department.
On the talks: "We don't view meetings as a concession. We don't view meetings as even legitimization…. At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage and has always been prepared to engage with Iran."
"They will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles...their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region...the nuclear program...the treatment of their own people."
On the Iranian regime: "They're spending all their resources, of what is a rich country, sponsoring terrorism...proxy groups around the world, exporting as they call it, 'their revolution.'"
"The Iranian regime does not reflect the people of Iran, nor their culture rooted within a deep history. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there."
US Vice President JD Vance spoke to Megyn Kelly in an interview published on February 4:
"The person who makes the decisions in Iran is the supreme leader.... The president doesn't really matter. The foreign minister seems to talk to the supreme leader and that's mainly the person that we've communicated with. But it's a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can't even talk to the person who's in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated. And it makes the whole situation much more absurd. [Trump] can pick up the phone and call Putin. He can pick up the phone and call Xi. Even countries that we have very hostile relations with.... It is bizarre that we can't just talk to the actual leadership of [Iran]. It really makes diplomacy very difficult."
According to the latest verified cumulative data compiled by HRANA, as of February 4, the total number of confirmed deaths has reached 6,883. Based on these figures, 6,445 individuals have been classified as protesters, while 164 victims fall under the category of children under the age of 18.
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. CET to follow all the latest developments in Iran.
Trump Says Khameini Should Be 'Very Worried'
Amid the ongoing tensions in Iran, US President Donald Trump was asked today by NBC news about what he thought would be going through Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini's mind right now.
"I would say he should be very worried," he said.
"As you know they are negotiating with us." he added, apparently referring to upcoming US-Iran talks on Tehran's nuclear program.
Trump also said that Iran had sought to build a new nuclear site after US attacks on the country's atomic facilities in June.
"They were thinking about starting a new site in a different part of the country," he said. "We found out about it." I said: "You do that... [then] we're going to do very bad things to you."
White House Officials Confirm Iran-US Talks Will Go Ahead
After being contacted by RFE/RL correspondent Kian Sharifi, White House officials have confirmed that the Iran-US talks will now go ahead in Oman on February 6.
In confirming the talks, the White House cited an X post by Axios correspondent Barak Ravid, in which he said that nuclear discussions "are back on track after several Arab and Muslim leaders applied urgent pressure on Wednesday afternoon on the Trump administration not to follow through on threats to withdraw from the talks."
Quoting a senior US official, Ravid said that Washington "told the Arabs that we will do the meeting if they insist. But we are very skeptical."
Ravid added that, according to the US officials, at least nine countries in the region conveyed messages to the White House at the highest levels, including a strong request that the US not cancel the meeting with the Iranians in Oman, and that the Trump administration agreed to participate in the discussions "to be respectful" of the request by US allies and "in order to continue pursuing the diplomatic track."
Iran, US Prepare To Resume Talks As New Activity Spotted At Iranian Nuclear Sites
With US warships heading toward Iran, diplomats from the two countries look set to resume high-stakes talks at a meeting on February 6. The officials will reopen discussions over Iran's nuclear program, which was disrupted by US strikes on key nuclear facilities last June. Recent satellite images suggest that Iran has begun restoring some of those sites, raising new questions about its nuclear ambitions.
Amid reports that the upcoming US-Iran talks may be canceled, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has just posted this on X:
Jailed Iranian Nobel Prize Winner Mohammadi Goes On Hunger Strike
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi is on hunger strike while being detained by Iranian authorities, according to a statement from her family-run foundation.
In a statement shared with CNN on February 4, the Paris-based Narges Mohammadi Human Rights Foundation said it had received credible information that Mohammadi began her strike on February 2 “to protest her unlawful detention and the dire conditions in which she is being held, realities faced by numerous political prisoners currently held in Iran.”
Her son, Ali Rahmani, said he was “deeply worried” about his mother and others jailed by the regime.
“What is happening in our country is a crime against humanity,” he said. He added that before her arrest, his mother was “calling for solidarity, unity, and peace.”
The Narges Foundation warned that the continued detention of Mohammadi, who suffers from a number of medical issues, was “extremely dangerous and a violation of human rights laws.”
The 53-year-old, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for more than two decades of fighting for women's rights in Iran, was detained in December by Iranian security forces during a memorial ceremony in Mashhad for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer and human rights activist whose death sparked controversy and allegations of foul play..
Iran Talks Must Include Missiles and Rights Abuse, Says Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States is ready to meet Iran this week, but any discussions must address both its missile and nuclear programs as well as its support for regional militias.
“In order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles, that includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, that includes their nuclear program, and that includes the treatment of their own people,” Rubio told reporters on February 4.
Tehran has previously insisted that any negotiations should be confined to its nuclear program, and that it refuses to discuss its missile capabilities or support for regional allies.
Meanwhile, the US news site Axios is reporting that Washington has said it will not agree to Tehran's demands to change the location and format of talks planned for February 6, according to two US officials it spoke to.
Although the US and Iran were reportedly set to meet in Istanbul alongside regional observers, Tehran said it would rather relocate the talks to Oman and keep them bilateral, arguing this would ensure the agenda stays focused on nuclear issues alone.
The Key Sticking Points To A US-Iran Deal Aimed At Averting War
- By Kian Sharifi
White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi are set to meet on February 6 in a last-ditch bid to avert war. As a US naval armada nears, Tehran is facing a tough choice: Make a slew of concessions for an end to Washington's "maximum pressure" policy, or risk war.
Read the full article by Kian Sharifi and Hannah Kaviani here.