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The US-based advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has urged the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rescind an invitation to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the forum listed him as a speaker at its annual meeting in Davos.
According to the WEF website, Araghchi is scheduled to take part in a session titled “How can we cooperate in a more contested world?” on Jan. 20, moderated by Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at UANI, said in a post on X that the group had sent a letter to WEF organizers regarding Araghchi’s participation.
“The message WEF is sending is that you can shoot Iranians in the eyes and genitals, murder thousands of them, and shut off the internet for your people, but still be welcomed in Davos that same month,” Brodsky wrote.
Brodsky also shared a copy of the letter that UANI CEO Mark D. Wallace wrote to World Economic Forum President and CEO Børge Brende.
In the letter, Wallace wrote that UANI was seeking confirmation on whether Araghchi or any other Iranian official had been invited to Davos, and urged the forum to withdraw any such invitation.
This comes as Swiss officials say their long-standing intermediary role between Washington and Tehran will be active during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We are in principle the communication channel between Washington and Tehran,” Monika Schmutz Kirgöz, head of the Middle East and North Africa division at Switzerland’s foreign ministry, said in an interview with Swiss broadcaster SRF.
“The communication channels are open in both directions,” she said, adding that Switzerland was available to mediate under its US protecting power mandate.
Asked whether Switzerland’s role would come into play in Davos, Monika Schmutz Kirgöz confirmed that it would.
“We have the World Economic Forum next week. US President Trump will be there. And we also have a high-ranking Iranian delegation attending the WEF in Davos,” she added.
Mona Hosseini, a 54-year-old radiology specialist, was killed by pellet fire from security forces in the Malek Shahr district of the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Jan. 8, an informed source told Iran International.
Hosseini was struck while assisting her daughter with moving household belongings ahead of her wedding, the source said.
Pellets hit Hosseini in the face and also struck the hands of her daughter and son-in-law. All three were taken to Gharazi Hospital in Isfahan, but Hosseini died minutes after being admitted to the emergency ward, the source said.
While being transferred to hospital, Hosseini reported experiencing severe burning sensations in her body and face, the source said.
Authorities later proposed that the family declare her as a “martyr” and bury her in the martyrs’ section of Bagh-e Rezvan cemetery, but her husband rejected the proposal, the source said.
An Iranian protester was killed by live ammunition in the central Iranian city of Shahin Shahr earlier this month, according to information received by Iran International.
The man, identified as Davoud Jalili, was shot dead on Jan. 9.
His body was handed over to his family a week later after they were required to sign a written undertaking. Jalili was buried on Jan. 16 in Shahin Shahr.
A 23-year-old Iranian protester, Ariana Arjamandi, was killed in the western city of Borujerd after being shot at close range by security forces while attending protests on Jan. 8, informed sources told Iran International.
Security forces shot Arjmandi in the heart on Takhti Street in Borujerd, Lorestan province, the sources said.
Authorities later pressured Arjamandi’s family to declare him as a “martyr” and claim he was killed by protesters, and asked that he be buried in the southern city of Fasa.
The family rejected both demands, describing them as humiliating.
On Jan. 11, the family was informed they would be allowed to bury his body at midnight without notifying relatives. The burial was carried out within an hour in the presence of security agents.
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, said he hoped the United States would not need to take military action in Iran, as he defended President Donald Trump’s “strong show of moral support” for protesters.
In an interview aired by the BBC, Johnson was asked whether the United States was willing to use force to bring Iran’s government to an end after Trump said “help is on the way” and amid reports of protesters being killed.
“We certainly hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Johnson said, adding that Trump’s public comments had encouraged freedom.
Pressed on what Trump was willing to do beyond moral support, Johnson said: “Well, you would have to ask him that.”
Johnson added that under the US constitutional system, Congress has the role of declaring war and said: “I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that or in any necessity of that.”
He also said the “indiscriminate killing of innocent citizens and protesters is detestable” and called on world leaders to speak out.
