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Iranian police say 139 foreigners arrested over unrest in Yazd province

Iranian police said 139 foreign nationals have so far been arrested in the central province of Yazd for their participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, without specifying their nationalities. Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population above 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January. The protests, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political, were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official death toll stands at 3,117, although rights groups say many more people have been killed. US-based rights group HRANA has said that nearly 50,000 people have so far been arrested. Authorities blame Israel and the United States for fomenting the violence. "These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with netwo...

Trump lauds British troops ‘brave warriors’ after Europe criticism

United States President Donald Trump on Saturday praised "brave" British soldiers, calling them warriors, a day after remarks he made about NATO troops in Afghanistan were described as "insulting and appalling" by Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump provoked widespread anger in Britain and across Europe after he said European troops had stayed off the front lines in Afghanistan. Britain lost 457 service personnel in Afghanistan, its deadliest overseas war since the 1950s. For several of the war's most intense years, it led the allied campaign in Helmand, Afghanistan's biggest and most violent province, while also fighting as the main US battlefield ally in Iraq. "The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added, "In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It's a bond too strong to ever be broken". The Sun on Sunday newspaper reported that King Charles' concern over Trump's initial remarks had been relayed to the president, who last year expressed his admiration for the monarch during a state visit to Britain. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the report. Read: Romancing Trump Trump had also provoked an unusually strong reaction from Starmer, who has tended to avoid direct criticism of the president in public. The British leader's office stated that the prime minister had spoken to the president on Saturday about the issue. "The prime minister raised the brave and heroic British and American soldiers who fought side by side in Afghanistan, many of whom never returned home," the statement said. "We must never forget their sacrifice," he said. Read More: Joined Trump's Board of Peace after cabinet's nod: PM Veterans in Britain and elsewhere have been lining up to condemn the US president's comments to Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" on Thursday, in which he said that the US had "never needed" the transatlantic alliance and accused allies of staying "a little off the front lines" in Afghanistan. Among them was King Charles' younger son, Prince Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan. "Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect," he said in a statement.

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