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Iran’s security forces briefly detain Mahsa Amini’s father

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The father of Mahsa Amini was briefly detained on Saturday, human rights groups said, amid a heavy security force presence on the first anniversary of his daughter’s death in Iranian police custody that sparked months of anti-government protests.

Amjad Amini was warned against marking the anniversary of his daughter’s death before being released, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said. Iran’s official IRNA news agency denied that Amjad Amini was arrested, but it did not say if he was briefly detained or warned.

Earlier, social media and reports by rights groups spoke of security forces taking up positions around Amini’s home in Saqez, in western Iran, Reuters reported.

The death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last year for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code triggered months of protests that represented the biggest show of opposition to the authorities in years.

Many called for an end to more than four decades of Shi’ite clerical rule.

According to social media posts, Amini’s parents had said in a statement earlier this week that, despite government warnings, they would hold a “traditional and religious anniversary ceremony” at their 22-year-old daughter’s grave in Saqez.

A massive security force presence was deployed in Iran’s mostly Kurdish areas on Saturday in anticipation of unrest, according to human rights groups.

Widespread strikes were also reported in multiple cities in Iran’s Kurdistan region.

However, IRNA said Amini’s hometown of Saqez was “completely quiet” and that calls for strike in Kurdish areas had failed due to “people’s vigilance and the presence of security and military forces”.

It quoted an official in the Kurdistan province as saying: “A number of agents affiliated with counter-revolutionary groups who had planned to create chaos and prepare media fodder were arrested in the early hours of this morning.”

In the protests that followed Amini’s death more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested, rights groups said. Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.

In a report last month, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities “have been subjecting victims’ families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites, and destroying victims’ gravestones”.

Many journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and members of ethnic minorities accused of links with the protest wave, as well as relatives of protesters killed in the unrest, have been arrested, summoned, threatened or fired from jobs in the past few weeks, according to Iranian and Western human rights groups.

Iran’s Etemad daily reported in August that the lawyer for Amini’s family also faced charges of “propaganda against the system”. If convicted, Saleh Nikbakht faces a jail sentence of between one and three years.

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Pakistan to host talks with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt amid Iran war diplomacy

Turkish Foreign Minister ⁠Hakan Fidan said the meeting would seek to establish a mechanism aimed at ​de-escalation.

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Pakistan ​will host Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt for talks from Sunday ‌on the Iran war as Islamabad positions itself as a potential venue for U.S.-Iran negotiations on the month-old conflict, Reuters reported.

The four countries’ foreign ministers will hold “in-depth discussions on a range of issues, ​including efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region” during the two-day talks, ​Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Turkish Foreign Minister ⁠Hakan Fidan said the meeting would seek to establish a mechanism aimed at ​de-escalation.

“We would discuss where the negotiations in this war are heading and how ​these four countries assess the situation and what can be done,” he told broadcaster A Haber late on Friday.

The four nations have been involved in trying to mediate between Washington and ​Tehran in the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28, ​and all are acutely vulnerable to threats to energy supplies and trade routes.

Pakistan has conveyed to ‌Tehran ⁠a U.S. proposal for ending the war and offered to host talks, with Iranian officials indicating any negotiations could take place in Pakistan or Turkey.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said talks with Iran were going “very well,” but Tehran denies talking with ​Washington.

Iran has been reviewing ​the 15-point U.S. ⁠proposal, although one official has dismissed it as “one-sided and unfair”. Its demands range from dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme to curbing ​its missile development and effectively handing over control of the ​Strait of ⁠Hormuz, according to sources and reports.

Turkey’s Fidan told an Istanbul conference on Saturday that the world’s new “polycentric system” requires a solution to guarding vital energy and trade routes. ⁠He ​said Turkey’s high-level dialogue aims to swiftly chart ​out “actionable steps” to end the war before there is further destruction to the region and global economy.

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Twelve US troops wounded in Iran strike on base in Saudi Arabia, US official says

Earlier on Friday, ​the U.S. ​military ⁠said 273 of them had ​already returned to ​duty. ⁠Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed in ⁠the ​conflict.

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Twelve U.S. troops were wounded, ​two of them ‌seriously, in an Iranian military strike on Prince ​Sultan Air Base ​in Saudi Arabia, a ⁠U.S. official told ​Reuters on Friday.

The latest ​casualties add to the more than 300 U.S. ​military service members ​who have been wounded since ‌the ⁠war against Iran started on February 28. 

Earlier on Friday, ​the U.S. ​military ⁠said 273 of them had ​already returned to ​duty. ⁠Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed in ⁠the ​conflict.

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Trump extends deadline for striking Iranian energy plants to April 7

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U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new extension of his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy plants, after Iran rejected his ​15-point proposal to end the war he launched with Israel.

Iran gave no direct indication that it was ready for negotiation or compromise. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement reaffirming that all shipping “to ‌and from ports of allies and supporters of the Israeli-American enemies” to any destination was prohibited.

The war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and causing the biggest disruption in history to energy supplies, hitting the global economy with soaring oil, gas and fertiliser prices that have fuelled inflation fears.

The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 during talks with Tehran about its nuclear programme that had not yet yielded a deal. Attacks on Israel by Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah then triggered an Israeli onslaught there that has displaced a fifth of Lebanon’s population.

On Thursday, Trump threatened during ​a cabinet meeting to increase pressure on Iran if it did not make a deal. He later posted on social media that he would pause threatened attacks on Iranian energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at ​8 p.m. Eastern daylight time (0000 GMT on April 7).

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” ⁠he added in his Truth Social post.

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