Iran hardliner rejects win-win talks with US

Iran’s parliament said nuclear talks must proceed from a position of strength, with the country’s nuclear industry treated as a non-negotiable red line.

Abbas Goudarzi, spokesman for the parliament’s presiding board, said the negotiating team should keep the experience of the 2015 nuclear deal firmly in mind, warning that the United States has a record of “breach of commitments and bad faith.”

He said diplomacy must safeguard Iran’s nuclear industry “as an untouchable red line” and be conducted strictly on that basis.

Iran’s parliament held a closed-door session on Monday to discuss negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the United States, state media reported.

Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the session as guests, the reports said.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the parliament, said issues related to diplomacy and defense were reviewed during the closed-door session.

At least 1,800 people were killed in Tehran during a crackdown on protests on Jan. 8, according to aggregated hospital data presented at an emergency meeting of medical officials, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.

The emergency session, held on the morning of Jan. 9, heard from a senior health official who said consolidated figures from medical centers across the city indicated that at least 1,800 people had died in the violent suppression of protests the previous night.

The figures cover only data from civilian medical facilities within Tehran city, not the wider province, and include those whose bodies were transferred to hospitals between 8 p.m. on Jan. 8 and 10 a.m. on Jan. 9, as well as individuals who died of their injuries while receiving treatment.

The toll does not include casualties from violence reported later on Jan. 9, which sources said was more deadly.

An elementary school teacher arrested during protests in southwestern Iran is at risk of receiving a death sentence on security-related charges, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.

Mastoureh Narimani, a primary school teacher, was detained on Jan. 11, in the city of Ahvaz, sources told Iran International

She faces security-related accusations over what authorities described as “sending videos and footage to foreign media outlets,” according to the sources.

The messages from people inside Iran appeal directly to Trump to abandon diplomacy and instead support what they describe as a nationwide struggle for freedom and democracy.

“If you want to help the people of Iran, what does negotiating with our enemies mean?” one message from Tehran said, adding: “Negotiations with this regime only buy time for repression.”

Other messages from inside Iran cite recent protests and the deadly response by security forces, saying negotiations would legitimize a government they say has blood on its hands.

“Negotiating with this clerical government means trampling on the blood of young people killed in the streets,” one message reads.

Messages received from the city of Qazvin warn that talks would demoralize protesters and undermine months of resistance. “We came to the streets to free Iran from these criminals,” one message said. “Trading with this regime is trading with the blood of the people.”

Several messages from Tehran reference Trump’s past statements and promises, saying many Iranians trusted his rhetoric about standing for freedom.

“You said you support liberty,” one message from Tehran reads. “Please be the voice of the Iranian people. We are dying in the streets for freedom.”

A message sent from Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan offers condolences to families of those killed and urges Trump to “stand with the Iranian nation, not the Islamic Republic.”

Other messages from inside Iran warn of what they describe as a long pattern of deception, saying past deals with Iranian authorities helped ease international pressure on the Islamic Republic even as repression continued at home.

Some messages stress that the protest movement will endure even without foreign assistance. “Even if there is no outside intervention, we will stand together,” one message says.

'Not our representatives'

Across the messages, a shared demand emerges that world leaders not view the Islamic Republic as representing the Iranian people and avoid negotiations that could confer legitimacy on it.

“Please negotiate with the brave people of Iran, not with this suppressive regime,” one message says. “Do not turn a blind eye to these crimes.”

“Tell Trump that no one negotiates with a killer; killers should only be punished,” another message said.