UN rights council to hold emergency Iran session on Friday

German MEP Hannah Neumann called for clear demands to show solidarity with protesters in Iran and punish those responsible for the violent crackdown ahead of the European Parliament debate on Iran on Tuesday and a vote on a resolution on Thursday.

Neumann said she was pushing for the parliament to urge the European Union to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, freeze assets of Iranian banks and strictly enforce sanctions.

She also called for emergency visas for individuals at risk and for measures against what she described as transnational repression, including expelling Iranian diplomats.

Neumann said the resolution should condemn the authorities’ response to protests and set out additional steps the EU should take.

Iran’s judiciary said it has begun collecting information and documenting what it described as “crimes committed by Israel and the US” with the aim of pursuing legal cases in international forums.

The prosecutor general’s office formed teams and issued instructions nationwide to gather information and begin documentation, the judiciary spokesman said, adding that the measure had begun from the start of the 12-day war.

Asghar Jahangir vowed to pursue the matter until what he called the “aggressors” are convicted and punished.

Witnesses in the northern Iranian city of Lahijan, in Gilan province near the Caspian Sea, have told Iran International that security forces have intensified street patrols and vehicle checks, detaining people over protest-related material found on their phones and impounding some vehicles.

According to the accounts, inspections involved thorough searches. Cars were seized if officers found items they considered suspicious, such as wooden sticks or farming tools.

People were also detained if images or videos linked to the protests were found on their mobile phones, the witnesses said.

They added that large numbers of Basij militia members were deployed at major squares and intersections, including Hashmat, Golestan, Abrisham, Bagh-e Melli and Enghelab squares.

Some of the forces remained stationed overnight in unmarked vehicles with tinted windows, according to the reports.

Witnesses also said a number of doctors and nurses who had treated people wounded by pellet shots or live ammunition had been summoned by security agencies.

Videos sent to Iran International showed protesters in Lahijan chanting “This is the final battle, Pahlavi will return” on Sunday night, Jan 4.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Iran’s leadership kills protesters and directs militant groups across the Middle East, responding to remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi about the cancellation of his planned appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Herzog made the comments in a post on X on Tuesday, replying to Araghchi, who said the WEF had canceled his appearance due to what he described as political pressure from Israel and its allies.

“The same murderous Iranian regime massacring its own people day after day, executing innocent women and men for daring to call for their freedom, and spreading terror and death across the Middle East is in no position to lecture others on ‘morality,’” Herzog wrote.

He added that international criticism of Iran was not political but, in his words, based on what he called Tehran’s actions.

“The Iranian regime is the head of the snake that arms, funds, and directs Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist proxies committing crimes against humanity,” Herzog wrote.

Araghchi had earlier said on X that the WEF had canceled his appearance based on what he described as “lies and political pressure” from Israel and its US-based supporters.

US President Donald Trump is weighing broader options toward Iran as protests and violence escalate inside the country, a former White House national security official said on Monday.

Richard Goldberg told Fox News that Trump is responding to mass demonstrations in Iran, killings in the streets and executions “happening right now in secret to try to avoid triggering the president's red line again.”

Goldberg said Trump believes a previous red line has been obliterated, and that he views the Islamic Republic as responsible for American deaths over decades. He cited attacks in Beirut, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, violence against US forces in Iraq, as well as assassination plots against Trump himself.

He said Trump is building a force to expand available options, including a “decapitation strike,” targeting command, control and communications assets, and pressure points such as oil flows and Iran’s missile program.

Goldberg contrasted Trump’s approach with Barack Obama’s policy toward Tehran, which he criticized as prioritizing a nuclear deal while protests were underway in Iran.