Germany says Iran must open Strait of Hormuz without limits
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions.
“Iran must enter serious negotiations with the United States, stop threatening its neighbors and open the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions,” Merz said in a post on X.
He also condemned renewed Iranian airstrikes against the United Arab Emirates and other countries, saying attacks on nuclear facilities threatened people across the region.
“There must be no further escalation of violence,” Merz said.
At least 2,707 people were executed across 17 countries in 2025, the rights group said in its annual report on the global use of the death penalty, describing the figure as the highest recorded since it began tracking executions in 1981.
Iranian authorities carried out at least 2,159 executions in 2025, more than double the figure recorded the previous year and by far the largest contributor to the global rise, according to the report.
“A shameless minority are weaponizing the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent and punish marginalized communities,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said.
Drug-related executions drove increase
A resurgence of punitive anti-drug policies, Amnesty said, fueled much of the increase in executions globally.
Nearly half of all known executions in 2025 – 1,257 cases – were linked to drug-related offenses, including in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Kuwait.
Iran accounted for 998 of those executions, the highest number among countries identified in the report.
Saudi Arabia carried out at least 356 executions in 2025 and made extensive use of capital punishment in drug-related cases, Amnesty said.
The organization also reported increases in executions in several other countries, with Kuwait nearly tripling its total from six to 17 executions. Egypt’s number rose from 13 to 23, Singapore’s from nine to 17 and the United States from 25 to 47.
The report did not include the thousands of executions Amnesty believes continued to take place in China, which it said remained the world’s leading executioner.
Executing states remain minority
Despite the sharp rise in executions, Amnesty said countries carrying out the death penalty remained “an isolated minority.”
China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the United States, Vietnam and Yemen have all carried out executions every year for the past five years, according to the report.
Four countries resumed executions in 2025 – Japan, South Sudan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates – bringing the total number of executing states to 17.
“It’s time for executing countries to step into line with the rest of the world and leave this abhorrent practice in the past,” Callamard said.
Amnesty highlights abolition efforts
The global trend toward abolishing the death penalty nevertheless continued, Amnesty said.
When the organization began campaigning against capital punishment in 1977, only 16 countries had abolished it. That number has now risen to 113, according to the report.
Vietnam abolished the death penalty for eight offenses including drug transportation, bribery and embezzlement, while Gambia removed capital punishment for murder, treason and other offenses against the state.
The organization also pointed to legislative efforts in Lebanon and Nigeria aimed at abolishing the death penalty, while Kyrgyzstan’s Constitutional Court ruled attempts to restore executions unconstitutional.
“With human rights under threat around the world, millions of people continue to fight against the death penalty each year in a powerful demonstration of our shared humanity,” Callamard said.
“We will definitely have inflation,” Pezeshkian said at a gathering of public relations officials from state institutions.
“We are fighting and we must accept the hardship that comes with it.”
Some critics questioned why prices continued to rise, Pezeshkian said, but argued that economic pain was unavoidable under the current circumstances.
They want to have their cake and eat it too, he said, using a Persian idiom.
The war between the United States, Israel and Iran began with coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iranian military, nuclear and government targets on February 28. Iran launched missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, the US allies in the region and their infrastructure, while tensions around the Strait of Hormuz disrupted global energy market.
Although direct fighting has eased amid ceasefire and mediation efforts, tensions remain high as disputes over Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions, regional influence and maritime security continue without a lasting diplomatic breakthrough.
The president also opened his remarks with an unusual comment hinting at a lack of control over his own movements and schedule.
“I myself did not know where they were taking me. Suddenly they brought me here,” Pezeshkian said.
Damage and shortages acknowledged
Iran, Pezeshkian said, had suffered serious economic and infrastructure damage and could not pretend conditions were normal.
“It is not the case that we have not been harmed,” he said. “We must take on a wartime condition.”
Attacks, he said, had damaged around 230 million cubic meters of gas infrastructure as well as power plants, petrochemical facilities and major industrial sites, including Iran’s largest steel producer.
“We cannot say the enemy is collapsing and we are flourishing,” he said. “They have problems and we have problems too.”
The president said the public need to lower expectations and reduce consumption in order to withstand the situation.
Oil exports and fuel production under pressure
Pezeshkian also acknowledged growing difficulties in exporting Iranian oil and securing revenues under sanctions and regional pressure.
“They blocked the way and we are not exporting oil either,” he said. “We cannot export oil easily.”
Tax collection, he added, had become increasingly difficult because businesses and trade sectors were under economic strain.
Pezeshkian warned that fuel shortages and inflation would worsen without tighter management of energy consumption, saying gasoline production had fallen after damage to production facilities.
“Our gasoline production capacity has fallen. They hit it,” he said.
According to Pezeshkian, Iran currently produces around 100 million liters of gasoline per day while domestic demand has reached roughly 150 million liters daily.
“Do we even have the dollars to import gasoline and burn it?” he said.
The president called for stricter management of water, electricity, gas and gasoline consumption, saying economic problems, unemployment and inflation would deepen without conservation measures.
