Category World News

Tehran, Iran – Several of Iran’s former leaders, including some who are currently imprisoned or under house arrest, have released damning statements over the killing of thousands during nationwide protests, garnering threats from hardliners.

The Iranian government claims that 3,117 people were killed during the antiestablishment protests. The government has rejected claims by the United Nations and international human rights organisations that state forces were behind the killings, which were mostly carried out on the nights of January 8 and 9.

The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified 6,854 deaths and is investigating 11,280 other cases.

“After years of ever-escalating repression, this is a catastrophe that will be remembered for decades, if not for centuries,” wrote Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former reformist presidential candidate who has been under house arrest since the aftermath of the Green Movement of 2009.

“How many ways must people say that they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough. The game is over.”

Mousavi told state forces to “put down your guns and step aside from power so that the nation itself can bring this land to freedom and prosperity”, and stressed that this must be done without foreign intervention amid the shadow of another war with the US and Israel.

He said that Iran is need of a constitutional referendum and a peaceful, democratic transition of power.

A group of 400 activists, including figures from inside and outside the country, backed Mousavi’s statement.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent jailed former reformist politician, said that he wants Iran to “move beyond the wretched conditions that the guardianship of Islamic jurists and the failed rule of the clergy have imposed on the Iranian nation”.

In a short statement from prison last week, he said this would be contingent upon the “resistance, wisdom, and responsible action of all citizens and political actors” and called for an independent fact-finding mission to uncover the true aspects of “atrocities” committed against protesters last month.

‘Major reforms’

Other former heavyweights have heavily criticised Iran’s current course, but have avoided calling for the effective removal of the Islamic Republic from power.

Former President Hassan Rouhani, who many believe is eyeing a potential future return to power, last week gathered his ex-ministers and insiders for a recorded speech, and called for “major reforms, not small reforms”.

He acknowledged that Iranians have been protesting for a variety of reasons over the past four decades, and insisted the state must listen to them if it wants to survive, but did not mention the internet blackout and killing of protesters during his tenure in November 2019.

Rouhani added that the establishment must hold public votes on major topics, including foreign policy and the ailing economy, in order to avoid further nationwide protests and prevent the population from looking to foreign powers for help.

Mohammad Khatami, the reformist cleric who was president from 1997 to 2005, adopted a softer tone and said violence derailed protests that could have helped “expand dialogue to improve the country’s affairs”.

He wrote in a statement that Iran must “return to a forgotten republicanism, and an Islamism that embraces republicanism in all its dimensions and requirements, placing development together with justice at the core of both foreign and domestic policy”.

Mehdi Karroubi, another senior reformist cleric who had his house arrest lifted less than a year ago after 15 years, called the protest killings “a crime whose dimensions language and pen are incapable of conveying” and said the establishment is responsible.

“The wretched state of Iran today is the direct result of Mr. Khamenei’s destructive domestic and international interventions and policies,” he wrote, in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in absolute power for nearly 37 years.

Karroubi noted one prominent example as the 86-year-old leader’s “insistence on the costly and futile nuclear project and the heavy consequences of sanctions over the past two decades for the country and its people”.

Political prisoners rearrested

Three prominent Iranian former political prisoners were arrested and taken to prison by security forces once again last week.

The Fars news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the reason for the arrests of Mehdi Mahmoudian, Abdollah Momeni, and Vida Rabbani was that they had sneaked out Mir Hossein Mousavi’s statement from his house arrest.

Mahmoudian is a journalist and activist, and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated political drama movie, It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Momeni and Rabani are also political activists who have previously been arrested by the Iranian establishment multiple times.

The three were among 17 human rights defenders, filmmakers and civil society activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and internationally recognised lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who co-signed a statement last week that put the blame for the protest killings on the supreme leader and the theocratic establishment.

“The mass killing of justice seekers who courageously protested this illegitimate system was an organised state crime against humanity,” they wrote, condemning the firing on civilians, the attacks on the wounded, and the denial of medical care as “acts against Iran’s security and betrayal of the homeland”.

The activists called for holding a referendum and constituent assembly to allow Iranians to democratically decide their political future.

Hardliners incensed

In hardline-dominated circles and among their affiliated media, the mood has been entirely different.

On Sunday, lawmakers in parliament donned the uniforms of the IRGC, which was last week designated a “terrorist” organisation by the European Union.

They chanted “Death to America” and promised they would seek out European military attaches working at embassies in Tehran to expel them as “terrorists”.

Nasrollah Pejmanfar, a cleric who represents northeast Mashhad in the parliament, told a public session of parliament on Sunday that former President Rouhani must be hanged for favouring engagement with the West, echoing a demand also made by other hardline peers in recent years.

“Today is the time for the ‘major reform’, which is arresting and executing you,” he said, addressing Rouhani.

Amirhossein Sabeti, another firebrand lawmaker, condemned the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian – but not Khamenei or the establishment – for proceeding with mediated talks with the US.

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son has pleaded not guilty to four rape charges as his trial opens in Oslo. Marius Borg Hoiby faces 38 counts, including assault and domestic violence, in a case that has shaken Norway’s royal family.

Walmart has reached a $1 trillion market valuation, a first for the big-box retailer.

The company’s shares hit a high on Tuesday morning trade as the stock continues to soar on the news of a new CEO and looming trade negotiations with India, where the Arkansas-based company maintains a large presence both in supply chain and domestic markets within India. The stock was up 2.1 percent from the market open in midday trading.

Walmart, which has 11,000 stores in 19 countries, joins a slate of nine corporate giants in the so-called trillion dollar club, including Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft, among others. Amazon is the only other retailer that has broken the barrier and is now valued at $2.6 trillion.

Trade deal bump

On Monday, United States President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India that would slash tariffs to 18 percent from 50 percent and that impacts Walmart, which has strategically shifted supply chain operations to India and away from China.

On Tuesday, in an interview with CNBC, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the White House is still ironing out the details of the deal, but that still hasn’t slowed Walmart’s stock from popping on the looming deal.

“We have an announcement of an India deal, but still no timeline about when it comes into effect and whether the secondary tariffs, the 25 percent linked to India’s purchase of Russian oil, when those would be removed, so I think there’s still a lot of questions,” economist Rachel Ziemba, founder of Ziemba Insights, told Al Jazeera.

While there are limited details on the specifics of the deal, markets are responding to tariffs likely to come down.

“Markets are, of course, forward-looking. I think this sort of reinforces a view in the marketplace that incremental tariffs will be less this year,” Ziemba said.

The big box retailer jumped from 2 percent of its global exports coming from India in 2018 to 25 percent in 2023, according to a Reuters review of import data in 2023. Walmart hopes to source $10bn in goods from India by next year.

At the time, the company also decreased its percentage of goods from China to 60 percent from 80 percent.

Walmart did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), a lobby for exporters, said the cut in US tariffs will significantly boost Indian exports, including textiles and apparel, putting them on par with Asian peers, such as Vietnam and Bangladesh.

According to data from ImportYeti, a platform that tracks import contracts for major companies, Walmart’s biggest import areas are in home fabrics, apparel and toys.

“Those are the products facing the highest tariffs, while consumer electronics and other categories have largely been shielded. If the India–US deal becomes a reality, it would put tariffs on Indian goods entering the US at roughly the same level as those from Southeast Asia, making that supply-chain realignment more attractive. You also highlight the importance of the Indian market,” Ziemba added.

While the trade deal is in focus, Walmart has also invested significantly in India domestically, as well, and holds an 80 percent stake in India’s e-commerce giant Flipkart.

C-suite changes

The surge also comes concurrently with a shake-up in the C-suite. On Monday, John Furner took over as Walmart’s chief executive, succeeding longtime CEO Doug McMillion who announced his retirement late last year.

Furner, who started at the company in a job stocking shelves, has climbed up the ladder. Most recently, he served as the CEO of Walmart US, where he focused on key initiatives driving growth, including curbside pick-up. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of Sam’s Club, Walmart’s wholesale chain.

Furner’s appointment comes as the company grows as an e-commerce giant and intends to double down in AI tech, healthcare services, e-commerce, and hybrid options with its brick-and-mortar footprint.

“As AI rapidly reshapes retail, we are centralizing our platforms to accelerate shared capabilities, freeing up our operating segments to be more focused on and closer to our customers and members,” Walmart said in a statement last month.

“Walmart is masterful at brick-and-mortar retail and remains highly competitive with Amazon. I love that because it shows consumerism is still alive and well. Five years ago, the narrative was the fall of the mall and the decline of retail. This confirms the opposite. Walmart also has a clear strategy for retaining consumers and managing the customer experience,” Brett Rose, CEO and founder of United National Consumer Suppliers (UNCS), a distributor that focuses on excess inventories, which it provides to more budget-friendly retailers, told Al Jazeera.

The tech-centric focus comes as e-commerce has grown for the company, which reported a 28 percent jump in e-commerce sales compared with the previous quarter. Walmart is slated to release its next earnings report on February 19.

“Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation to ensure the needs of people are met in Gaza.” As he prepared to leave Gaza, the Red Cross’s Patrick Griffiths is hopeful the Rafah crossing’s “opening” will give Palestinians a chance to heal, but says more must be done.