Son of British couple detained in Iran fears they have been abandoned by UK as regime packs jails with protesters

“It’s beyond imagination,” he told The Independent. “They wake up with rats in their beds. They’ve got rats in the kitchen. It sounds like hell on earth.”

“More have been piled into the rooms so there’s not as much space,” he said, adding that his mother is “not leaving her bed at the moment because there’s just either no room or she doesn’t feel up to it”.

James C Reynolds reports:

Alex Croft16 January 2026 22:29

‘All options on table to stop slaughter in Iran’ says US ambassador to UN’All options on table to stop slaughter in Iran’ says US ambassador to UN

Alex Croft16 January 2026 21:49

Mossad director visits US for Iran consultations, according to reports – ICYMI

The director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency David Barnea arrived in the US on Friday to discuss the ongoing unrest in Iran, according to reports by Axios.

He is expected to meet White House special envoy Steve Witkoff who is overseeing communication between the US and Iran.

Alex Croft16 January 2026 21:17

Trump thanks Iran for ‘cancelling executions’

Donald Trump has thanked Iran for cancelling 800 executions of protesters which he said had been scheduled.

“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” the US president wrote on Truth Social.

Iran has not publicly announced plans for such executions or said it had cancelled them.

Alex Croft16 January 2026 20:44

EU urges European airlines to avoid Iranian airspace

The European Union’s aviation regulator urged the bloc’s airlines to avoid flying in Iran’s airspace in an advisory issued on Friday.

“The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defence systems, combined with unpredictable state responses …. creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels.” the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a bulletin on potential conflict zones.

With ongoing tensions and the potential for U.S. military action, which has placed Iranian air defence forces on a heightened state of alert, there is an increased likelihood of misidentification within Iranian airspace, the advisory said.

Alex Croft16 January 2026 20:12

Iran protesters latched onto Trump’s message ‘help is on its way’ – but none cameIran protesters latched onto Trump’s message ‘help is on its way’ – but none came

Alex Croft16 January 2026 19:40

Protests die down but some unrest remains

Despite reports that the protests have largely died down in Iran, there are still indications of unrest in some areas.

Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw reported that a female nurse was killed by direct gunfire from government forces during protests in Karaj, west of Tehran.

The state-affiliated Tasnim news outlet reported that rioters had set fire to a local education office in Falavarjan County, in central Isfahan Province, on Thursday.

An elderly resident of a town in Iran’s northwestern region, where many Kurdish Iranians live and which has been the focus for many of the biggest flare-ups, said sporadic protests had continued, though not as intensely.

Describing violence earlier in the protests, she said: “I have not seen scenes like that before.”

Video circulating online, which Reuters was able to verify as having been recorded in a forensic medical center in Tehran, showed dozens of bodies lying on floors and stretchers, most in bags but some uncovered. Reuters could not verify the date of the video.

Alex Croft16 January 2026 19:08

Pictured: Supporters of Reza Pahlavi rally in Rome(REUTERS)(REUTERS)

Daniel Keane16 January 2026 18:44

Full report: Iran’s exiled crown prince says ‘the slaughter of protesters has not stopped’ in fresh appeal to Trump

Iran’s exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has accused the Tehran regime of killing an Iranian protester “every 14 seconds” as he declared the “slaughter has not stopped”.

Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah, said that the Islamic Republic “will fall soon” and called on the international community to support the Iranian people in the face of a brutal crackdown.

His comments came after the US moved the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a signal of mounting tensions between Washington and Iran.

Trump has warned the regime to halt the killing of protesters but appeared to step back from military action earlier this week, saying he had received assurances that planned executions were not taking place.

Alex Croft16 January 2026 18:21

Iran journalist in tears at UN over protest deathsIran journalist in tears at UN over protest deaths

Alex Croft16 January 2026 17:57