Iran security forces kill 23-year-old student and futsal player

A mother was shot dead in front of her family by Iran’s security forces during protests on January 8 in the northeastern city of Gorgan, local sources told Iran International.

The sources said Atena Hosseinian, the mother of a 9-year-old child, was killed after security forces fired directly at her head while she was attending protests outside the governorate building.

According to the sources, violence escalated as security forces opened fire on protesters, and the Gorgan governorate building was seized for several hours before being set on fire.

Witnesses said security forces fired at demonstrators from inside the governorate building.

Security forces have arrested doctors and volunteer aid workers who treated people injured during the nationwide protests in Iran, raiding their homes and clinics, the Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights said.

IHR said security forces carried out raids on private residences, clinics and temporary medical shelters in an effort to prevent the treatment of injured demonstrators and to intimidate the medical community.

The rights group said Dr. Ameneh Soleimani, a physician and manager of a skin and hair clinic in the northwestern Iranian city of Ardabil, was arrested after treating people injured during protests in the city.

A volunteer aid worker, Khosrow Minaei, about 45, was arrested on January 13 after security forces raided his home, during which windows were smashed, household belongings were damaged and his car was wrecked.

IHR said at least four other doctors were arrested for assisting injured protesters, with no information available about their whereabouts.

Mowlavi Abdolhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, described the killings of protesters in Iran as an “organized massacre.”

“Despite severe internet restrictions, scenes of the harrowing and brutal killing of protesters in various provinces are gradually being published by the media, indicating an organized massacre, with further aspects of it gradually coming to light,” Abdolhamid said in a post on X.

“This catastrophe has created a deep and irreparable rift between the people of Iran and the ruling establishment,” he added.

The acting head of Iran’s Interests Section in Washington told state news agency IRNA that the group will depart from Mesa Airport in Arizona, make a brief stop in Egypt and return to Iran via Kuwait.

Abolfazl Mehrabadi added the office coordinated with US immigration authorities to issue return travel documents for the detainees.

The flight is the third to repatriate Iranian asylum seekers and others whose immigration cases were halted and who were detained by US immigration authorities for various reasons.

The planned deportation has drawn criticism in the United States, with Democratic Representatives Yassamin Ansari and Dave Min, citing human rights concerns in Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed on December 7 that 55 Iranian nationals had been detained to be deported from the United States amid President Donald Trump’s tightened immigration policies.

On September 29, a plane carrying 120 Iranians including three women landed in Iran, an Iranian expelled from the United States told Iran International, adding that detainees had faced mistreatment in US facilities and that force was used during their transfer.

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  US deports over 100 Iranians in rare deal with Tehran - NYT

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said a US delegation met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to discuss progress on the second phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza as well as “broader regional issues.”

In a post on X Witkoff said the meeting included Jared Kushner, senior advisor Aryeh Lightstone and White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum.

"The discussion was constructive and positive, with both sides aligned on next steps and the importance of continued cooperation on all matters critical to the region," he said.