US troops withdraw Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq - defense ministry
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday the withdrawal of US forces from the Ain Al-Asad air base in the country's western Anbar province, stressing that the Iraqi army had taken full control of the base.
The base came under Iran's missile attacks in 2020 as part of an operation to avenge Soleimani's killing which led to the injuries of 110 US military personnel.
The withdrawal of US forces comes within the framework of an understanding reached by Baghdad and Washington in 2024 on setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led international coalition forces from Iraq.
Argentine President Javier Milei on Saturday signed a decree proscribing the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and thirteen individuals linked to the IRGC's overseas arm as terrorist.
"The Quds Force is a division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, specializing in training for carrying out terrorist attacks in other countries," the decree signed by the Argentine president said.
"The Argentine Republic was a victim of its operations in the 1990s through the attacks on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994. As of today, this group has been included in the Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Its Financing," it added.
In 1992, a bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires left 29 dead. Two years later, a truck loaded with explosives drove into the AMIA Jewish center and detonated, leaving 85 dead and 300 injured – the deadliest terror act in Argentina’s history.
"This decision means that members of the Quds Force and their allies are now subject to financial sanctions and operational restrictions aimed at limiting their capacity to act, as well as protecting Argentina’s financial system from being used to economically support their activities."
The decree said Ahmad Vahidi, commander of the Quds Force between 1989 and 1998, is implicated in the AMIA bombing and is the subject of an INTERPOL red notice.
"Despite this, the Iranian regime has not only failed to cooperate with his prosecution, but has promoted him, currently appointing him as deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This individual is already included in the RePET."
The designation of the Quds Force comes shortly after Iran International reported the unit's involvement in the massacre of at least 12,000 Iranian protesters.
The Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force and its allied proxy forces in the region played a central role in the killing of protesters on January 8 and 9, Iran International has learned.
According to the information, the Quds Force's Fatemiyoun Brigade of Afghan fighters, Zainebiyoun Brigade of Pakistani fighters, and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces carried out a significant part of the killings.
The United States, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Ecuador have blacklisted the IRGC. Australia has also proscribed the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The United States has long urged other countries to blacklist the group.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday called for an end to Ali Khamenei's reign in Iran, responding to comments by the Supreme Leader who blamed Trump for the protest deaths in Iran.
“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” Politico quoted Trump as saying.
Trump said Iran’s rulers rely on repression and violence to govern, after reading the hostile X posts by the Supreme Leader who called Trump a criminal and accused him of inciting "sedition" in Iran.
“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “In order to keep the country functioning — even though that function is a very low level — the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control.”
“Leadership is about respect, not fear and death,” Trump added.
“The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” Trump said. “His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership.”
Iran’s security forces shot and killed a 24-year-old protester during demonstrations in the city of Yazdanshahr in central Iran, a source close to the family told Iran International.
Soheil Zilabi, a resident of Yazdanshahr, was killed on Friday, January 9, 2026, after security forces opened fire on protesters in the street, an informed source told Iran International.
The source said that Zilabi was present at the Yazdanshahr protests on January 9 when security forces shot him in the head on Motahari Boulevard.
He was taken later that night to Fatemeh Zahra Hospital, where he died, the source said.
According to the source, security forces handed over only Zilabi’s bloodstained clothes to his family and told them to go to the Bagh-e Rezvan cemetery in Isfahan to receive his body.
The family went to Bagh-e Rezvan for days and Zilabi’s body was handed over five days later, the source said.
“Soheil was an extremely kind and lovable young man,” the relative said. “His mother raised Soheil and his two sisters with great hardship,” the source said.
The source added that Zilabi had returned from military service about a year and a half earlier and worked as a car paint color-matching assistant, leaving for work at 5 a.m. and working until 5 p.m.
Japan decided on Satruday to evacuate some staff from its embassy in Tehran, a day after issuing an evacuation warning for its citizens from the country.
Citing the suspension or reduction of international flights, the Japanese government urged its citizens to leave Iran as soon as safe travel becomes possible.
Japan also issued a level-one travel advisory, calling for heightened caution, for the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, three neighboring countries that host US military bases.
