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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.
Hundreds of messages sent to Iran International from Iranians inside the country urge US President Donald Trump not to negotiate with the Islamic Republic, warning that talks would legitimize repression and betray protesters killed by security forces.
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.
A US Republican lawmaker voiced skepticism about prospects of a deal with Iran, arguing that Tehran’s leadership would not make peace with Washington.
“Iran’s not going to make a deal with us they plan on keeping. They hate us,” Rep. Don Bacon said in an interview with Fox News.
Bacon pointed to his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying Iran-backed forces were responsible for American casualties.
“I served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq alone, 609 Americans were killed by Shia militias that were funded, trained, armed by the IRGC of Iran. And it goes way beyond just Iraq,” he said.
He called on the US president to stand by his promise of supporting protestors in Iran
“The president has dug himself a hole here that he’s going to have to get out of. He made a commitment publicly that if the Iranian people would take on their government, try to take over their institutions, that America would be there to help them,” Bacon said.
He said the only path to lasting peace between Washington and Tehran would be for the United States to side with the Iranian people against their government.
“I think the only answer left is for America to side with the Iranian people and to get rid of this regime once and for all, and ultimately, that’s the only way we’re going to have peace with Iran, because this regime will never make peace with the United States of America,” he said.
