Iran-US tensions LIVE: Tehran’s new ‘reap the whirlwind’ warning to US as American carrier nears region

Payam Akhavan, a former UN prosecutor of Iranian-Canadian nationality, told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, “This is the worst mass murder in the contemporary history of Iran.”

He called for a “Nuremberg moment”, in reference to the international criminal trials of Nazi leaders after World War II.

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed the situations in Gaza and Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported.

A senior White House adviser, Josh Greenbaum, was also reportedly present at the meeting.

Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi alleged in a post on X that injured protestors admitted in hospitals and clinics are being identified and delivered to the “machinery of repression”.

“Many of our compatriots have been wounded on the path to the freedom of our homeland by the Islamic regime. Numerous reports indicate that regime agents and mercenaries embedded in hospitals and clinics identify the wounded and deliver them to the machinery of repression,” he said.

Pahlavi extended gratitude to healthcare workers. He also asked them to note the names of those who obstruct the treatment of the injured, saying that it will ensure that their crimes and acts of betrayal may be addressed at the right time.

Iran’s ambassador to India appreciated New Delhi’s stand at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) session, where it voted against a move to increase scrutiny of the Islamic Republic.

Ambassador Mohammad Fathali said, “I extend my sincere gratitude to the Government of India for its principled and firm support of Islamic Republic of Iran at the UNHRC, including opposing an unjust and politically motivated resolution. This stance reflects India’s commitment to justice, multilateralism, and national sovereignty.”

At the UNHRC 39th special session, which was held to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran amid massive protests, India voted against the resolution and, instead, aligned with a group of countries that opposed what they described as a selective initiative, news agency ANI reported.

IndiGo flights to and from Tbilisi(Georgia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), scheduled to operate on January 26, might take a brief halt at Doha, Qatar, for refuelling.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport Iranian migrants from the US despite the ongoing unrest in their home country, news agency AFP reported earlier, citing an Iranian-American NGO.

The deportation flights would reportedly be the first to Iran since the beginning of the protests and the deadly crackdown in the country.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said on Thursday it had learned that Trump’s administration was planning to restart deportation flights to Iran, after prior removals in September and December.

“The same administration that promised Iranians that ‘help is on the way’ amid a deadly crackdown is now forcibly sending Iranians back into danger,” said NIAC president Jamal Abdi.

More than 36,500 people have been reportedly killed in the deadly crackdown on Iranian protests, reportedly Iran International, citing classified documents that it reviewed.

However, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll has been placed at 5,848.

The UN rights body condemned Iran on Friday for rights abuses and mandated an investigation into a recent crackdown on anti-government protests that killed thousands of people.

“I call on the Iranian authorities to reconsider, to pull back, and to end their brutal repression,” High Commissioner Volker Turk told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The human rights council also passed a motion extending a previous inquiry set up in 2022 so UN investigators could also document the latest unrest “for potential future legal proceedings”.

The head of Iran’s judiciary warned on Sunday that those behind a recent wave of anti-Khamenei protests could expect punishment “without the slightest leniency”.

“The people rightly demand that the accused and the main instigators of the riots and the acts of terrorism and violence be tried as quickly as possible and punished if found guilty,” judicial chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted as saying by Mizan online news portal.

He further stated that the “greatest rigour must be applied in the investigations”.

The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln reportedly arrived in the Middle East on Sunday evening and is near Iran.

According to a report from Israel’s Channel 13, a ship carrying systems designed for missile defence is also approaching Israel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a telephone call with Iraq’s incumbent prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and warned against a pro-Iranian government amid the expected return of Nouri al-Maliki as PM.

Rubio told al-Sudani, “The secretary emphasized that a government controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq.”

Iran unveiled a new mural on a giant billboard in a central Tehran square on Sunday with a direct warning to the United States not to attempt a military strike on the country.

The mural has a bird’s-eye view of an aircraft carrier with damaged and exploding fighter planes on its flight deck.

The deck is strewn with bodies and streaked with blood that trails into the water behind the ship to form a pattern reminiscent of the stripes of the American flag.

A slogan is emblazoned across one corner: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”