UK not pausing ratification of Chagos deal - Reuters
Britain has not paused the ratification process for a deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago - including an island with the strategically important US-UK air base Diego Garcia - to Mauritius, Reuters reported citing an unnamed government source.
Earlier on Wednesday, foreign office minister Hamish Falconer told lawmakers the ratification process in parliament had been paused and that discussions were underway with the United States.
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed new Iran-related sanctions on four individuals as well as several entities and tankers, a notice on the department’s website showed.
“Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and support its terrorist proxies,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Under President Trump’s strong leadership, Treasury will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people,” Bessent added.
Wednesday's sanctions target over 30 individuals, entities, and vessels which the US Treasury said enable illicit Iranian petroleum sales and Iran’s ballistic missile and advanced conventional weapons (ACW) production.
Saudi Arabia is increasing oil production and exports as part of a contingency plan in case any US strike on Iran disrupts Middle East supplies, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the plan.
The plan involves raising output to boost exports but scaling back later to remain in line with OPEC+ quotas if no disruption occurs, the report said, citing the sources.
Saudi Arabia adopted a similar approach last year, lifting exports by about 0.5 million barrels per day and shipping more crude to overseas storage when the United States attacked Iranian nuclear sites.
The kingdom will dial back on the plan if no disruption happens and will produce less oil later to keep in line with its OPEC+ quotas, the report cited one of the sources as saying.
A 53-year-old Iranian man was shot dead with what live ammunition while taking out his household trash, as videos and witness accounts point to a pattern of security forces firing on bystanders during unrest last month.
Behzad Nikyar, also known as Behzad Kimasi Selkhori, was killed on the evening of January 9 in the city of Qazvin, according to relatives who spoke to Iran International.
They said he was not taking part in protests and had walked a few meters from his home to leave a garbage bag at the end of his alley when he was struck.
The bullet entered one side of his body and exited the other as he was returning home, relatives said.
Behzad Nikyar
A video said to have been filmed the following morning shows blood stains along an alley in the Khaghani area of Qazvin, which family members say trace the path Nikyar tried to crawl back to his front door. He later died of his injuries. He was the father of one daughter, according to those accounts.
Nikyar’s death comes amid a wave of social media videos and testimonies alleging that security forces opened fire on pedestrians on January 8, 9 and 10, including people described by witnesses as not participating in demonstrations.
One video from Tehran’s Sattarkhan district, recorded by a building’s surveillance camera and circulated online, appears to show three people walking along a sidewalk when two armed men on a motorcycle stop ahead of them and fire in their direction without visible warning.
In Mashhad, a man was shot in the neck on the evening of January 9 while buying groceries about 50 meters from security forces, according to a witness account sent to Iran International.
In the northern city of Rasht, a resident said his elderly mother was hit by multiple pellet rounds in the head and legs after leaving a pharmacy at dusk that day. Another report described a pregnant woman shot outside a pharmacy in Isfahan.
Separately, a 16-year-old boy, Kasra Vafapour, was killed by a gunshot wound to the heart on January 9, according to citizen reports, which said he had gone out to buy medicine for his younger sister.
Residents from several cities, including Neyshabur, Borujerd and Sari, have said that security forces fired pellet rounds “indiscriminately” at passersby in recent weeks.
At least 36,500 people have been killed during the national uprising. Tens of thousands more have been reported injured or detained.
OPEC+ is considering an increase in oil output for April as tensions between the United States and Iran push crude prices higher, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the group’s discussions.
The move comes as fears grow that a possible US strike on Iran could disrupt oil flows from the Middle East. Reuters also reported that top producer Saudi Arabia has activated a contingency plan to boost output and exports in case conflict affects regional supplies.
Eight OPEC+ members are set to meet on March 1 to discuss production policy, the report said.
A video shared with Iran International shows a banner addressed to US President Donald Trump that reads in Persian, “You are a man of action, but each day of delay means dozens of executions.”
