World Economic Forum boots Iranian foreign minister from Davos summit amid deadly crackdown on protesters
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday withdrew an invitation for Iran’s foreign minister to attend the Davos summit in Switzerland after an advocacy group urged it to bar Iranian regime officials amid nationwide anti-government protests that have left thousands dead.
In a post on X, the WEF confirmed that Abbas Araghchi would not be permitted to attend the five-day event.
“Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year,” the organization said.
The announcement comes after the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) sent a letter to WEF President Børge Brende on Friday, urging him to rescind the invitation and bar Iranian regime officials from attending amid a brutal crackdown on civilians.
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UANI CEO Ambassador Mark Wallace welcomed the decision, telling Fox News Digital in a statement after Araghchi’s invitation was withdrawn: “UANI commends the World Economic Forum for revoking the invitation of Iran’s Foreign Minister from this year’s gathering in Davos. Iranian regime representatives should not be platformed at international events given their crimes against the Iranian people and their long history of supporting terrorism.”
Iran is currently facing nationwide anti-government protests that have drawn a violent response from security forces and placed growing pressure on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which tracks human rights violations in Iran, said on Sunday that nationwide protests continued into the 22nd day as President Donald Trump weighs possible U.S. military action.
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The group’s aggregated figures showed 624 recorded protests, the arrest of at least 24,669 people and the confirmed deaths of 3,919 individuals.
HRANA said 3,685 of those killed were protesters, including 25 children under the age of 18.
Nearly 9,000 deaths remain under investigation.
White House press secretary Karoline Levitt said at a press briefing last week that the Trump administration was closely watching the situation in Iran.
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“All options remain on the table for the president,” she told reporters.
Iran state TV hacked to show exiled Crown Prince Pahlavi
Multiple Iranian state TV channels were hacked on Sunday amid a near-total internet shutdown to air footage of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and images of anti-government protests that have rocked Tehran in recent weeks.
Two clips of Pahlavi were shown as well as a graphic calling on Iranian security forces to side with the public, The Associated Press reported.
“Don’t point your weapons at the people. Join the nation for the freedom of Iran,” one graphic read, according to a translation from the outlet.
Pahlavi himself called on Iran’s military to break with the Islamic Republic and side with the people.
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“I have a special message for the military. You are the national army of Iran, not the Islamic Republic army,” he said in the hacked broadcast. “You have a duty to protect your own lives. You don’t have much time left. Join the people as soon as possible.”
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which tracks human rights violations in Iran, said on Sunday that nationwide protests continued into the 22nd day as President Donald Trump weighs possible U.S. military action.
The group’s aggregated figures showed 624 recorded protests, the arrest of at least 24,669 people and the confirmed deaths of 3,919 individuals.
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HRANA said 3,685 of those killed were protesters, including 25 children under the age of 18.
Nearly 9,000 deaths remain under investigation.
Iran International reported that witnesses across multiple cities told them security forces stormed hospitals, removed injured protesters and interfered with medical care, while reports from other areas described overwhelmed morgues and a strong security presence around medical facilities.
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The outlet also reported that witnesses described injured protesters being left without medical care after shootings, as ambulances failed to arrive and phone networks were unavailable.
Others said hospitals were inaccessible or refused treatment, resulting in some wounded protesters bleeding to death while taking shelter in nearby buildings.
Iran strikes could signal limits of Beijing, Moscow’s power as US flexes strength
President Donald Trump is weighing whether to pull the trigger and launch strikes against Iran — a move that could potentially expose the weaknesses of both Russia and China, according to experts.
While Russia and China have sought to make inroads in areas of Africa and Latin America — presenting themselves as partners for infrastructure and military equipment — neither Russia nor China intervened to defend their ally Venezuela when the U.S. took action Jan. 3 to topple dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Potential strikes in Iran, coupled with the strikes in Venezuela to overthrow Maduro, would drive home just how formidable the U.S. is and even near-peer adversaries like Beijing can’t compete, according to experts.
“Beijing would likely respond with familiar condemnations and calls for restraint, but the deeper takeaway would be uncomfortable: China’s partnerships offer little protection when the United States decides to act,” Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement Wednesday. “Venezuela made that clear regionally; Iran would underscore it globally. Chinese officials will brand Washington reckless or rogue, but privately this episode would validate long-standing Chinese views about how power is actually exercised and that the U.S. is the only country willing and able to project force across multiple theaters on short notice.”
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“Two complex military operations in two regions just two weeks apart would reinforce a core assessment inside China’s system: America’s military might remains unmatched, and Washington is willing to use it when it judges the risks manageable,” Singleton said. “That combination commands professional respect even as it sharpens Chinese unease.”
Mark Cancian, a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ defense and security department, voiced similar sentiments and said that countries like Iran and Venezuela who’ve cozied up to Russia and Beijing are likely realizing the pitfalls of those ties.
For example, Venezuela has had long-standing ties to Russia and has purchased Russian military equipment — yet Russia was not there to safeguard Caracas from U.S. strikes or prevent the U.S. from capturing Maduro, Cancian said. Another military strike in Iran would only expose Russia and China’s limitations further, Cancian said.
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“I think many countries are seeing that Russia and China can’t protect them, that those alliances have severe limitations,” Cancian told Fox News Digital Friday.
“I think that a strike on Iran would make the same point,” Cancian said.
According to Cancian, the reason Moscow and Beijing can’t defend their allies and partners is because neither maintains a global military like the U.S. does.
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“The United States does maintain United bases all over the world,” Cancian said. “It has a Navy that deploys all over the world. The Chinese don’t have that. The Russians don’t have that. So although they have powerful militaries, they don’t have the global capability to protect allies and partners.”
Meanwhile, Trump is still weighing whether he’ll conduct strikes on Iran again. The president told reporters Jan. 11 on Air Force One that the administration was “looking at some very strong options,” and Tuesday said that all meetings with the Iranian regime were scrapped until “the senseless killing of protesters STOPS.” He said that those who’ve killed anti-regime demonstrators will face consequences.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that even though “killing in Iran is stopping,” he wouldn’t rule out military action and that the U.S. would “watch and see” what happens. Meanwhile, Trump said Friday that he had held off on strikes for now because Iran had canceled executions for more than 800 people.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that warnings of potential military strikes against Iran were “categorically unacceptable,” and said that it amounted to “subversive external interference.”
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning similarly told reporters it opposes any interference in other countries’ affairs, when asked about potential strikes.
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Protests broke out across Iran in December 2025 in response to economic hardships facing the country, as well as a referendum against Iran’s theocratic regime.
More than 2,000 people — including at least nine children — have died in the recent protests, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. According to The Sunday Times, that number is much higher. The outlet reported Sunday that a report doctors in the region created estimates roughly 16,000 protesters have been killed.
Trump authorized several major military operations in recent months, on top of the strikes in Venezuela. For example, he also signed off on strikes in Nigeria and Syria in December targeting those affiliated with the Islamic State.
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This also wouldn’t be the first time Trump has conducted strikes against Iran — should he choose to go through with them. In June, he signed off on strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear sites Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Iran accused of killing 16,500 in sweeping ‘genocide’ crackdown: report
Iranian protesters are facing their deadliest days yet as security forces unleash mass killings and executions in a sweeping crackdown some have labeled “genocide,” new reports say.
According to The Sunday Times, a report compiled by doctors entrenched in the region and reviewed by the outlet estimates that security forces have killed at least 16,500 protesters and injured more than 330,000 others.
The report also described the violence as an “utter slaughter,” warning that the true toll may be even higher due to restricted access to hospitals and the near-total shutdown of communications.
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Most of the victims, the report says, are believed to be under the age of 30, underscoring the heavy toll on Iran’s younger generation as the regime intensifies its efforts to crush dissent.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged Sunday that “several thousands” have been killed since protests erupted Dec. 28.
In a televised address, he blamed demonstrators, calling them “foot-soldiers of the U.S.” and falsely claiming protesters were armed with imported live ammunition.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that as of day 22 of the protests, verified figures show 3,919 people killed, with 8,949 additional deaths under investigation, 2,109 severely injured, and 24,669 detainees.
HRANA noted that the true toll is likely far higher due to the internet shutdown.
Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German eye surgeon and medical director of Munich MED, said in The Sunday Times report that doctors across Iran are “shocked and crying,” despite having experience treating war injuries.
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“This is a whole new level of brutality,” Parasta said. He added that Starlink terminals smuggled into Iran have been the only means of communication since authorities cut internet access on Jan. 8.
Eyewitnesses who fled Iran also described snipers targeting protesters’ heads, mass shootings and systematic blinding using pellet guns.
One former Iranian resident said in the report that doctors reported more than 800 eye removals in a single night in the capital alone, with possibly more than 8,000 people blinded nationwide.
“This is genocide under the cover of digital darkness,” Parasta said.
Alongside the street killings, executions have surged dramatically, according to Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Safavi told Fox News Digital that 2,200 people were executed in 2025, while 153 have already been hanged in the first 18 days of January 2026, averaging more than eight executions per day.
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“Ali Khamenei is continuing mass executions in parallel with the killing of young protesters,” Safavi said. “Three executions in the form of hanging are now happening every hour according to our data.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously disputed high death tolls reported in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, claiming fatalities were only in the hundreds and dismissing higher figures as “misinformation.”
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President Donald Trump sharply condemned Khamenei over the weekend, calling him a “sick man” and urging new leadership in Iran.
In an interview with Politico, Trump accused Khamenei of overseeing “the complete destruction of the country” and using “violence at levels never seen before,” adding that Iran’s leadership should “stop killing people.”
Viral protest video against Iran’s supreme leader sparks copycat demonstrations worldwide
A viral video showing an Iranian refugee lighting a cigarette using a burning image of Iran’s supreme leader has become a global flashpoint as protests rock the Islamic Republic and President Donald Trump weighs military action against the regime.
The Associated Press reported the 34-second video shows a woman believed to be living in Canada igniting a photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – a capital crime in Iran – before calmly lighting a cigarette and letting the image fall to the ground.
The images accompanying this story show protesters recreating the act at demonstrations outside Iran, not the woman featured in the original viral video.
The footage has spread rapidly across social media as Iran’s government carries out a violent crackdown on dissent that activists say has killed thousands.
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The video has been shared millions of times across platforms such as X, Instagram and Reddit, with many viewers seeing it as a stark act of defiance against Iran’s clerical rulers.
Others have questioned whether the moment was spontaneous or staged, highlighting the growing skepticism that surrounds viral images in an age of artificial intelligence and information warfare.
What is undisputed is the symbolism of the act. In Iran, burning an image of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can be punishable by death.
Smoking in public is considered immodest, and women are legally required to wear hijabs. In the brief clip, the woman defies all three norms at once, appearing without a headscarf as her hair hangs close to the flame.
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The gesture has leapt from the digital world into the real one. Photos and videos have surfaced from protests in Europe, Israel and the U.S. showing demonstrators lighting cigarettes using images of Khamenei, mimicking what has become known online as the “cigarette girl” moment.
Iranian state media has announced wave after wave of arrests, targeting those it labels “terrorists” and seizing Starlink satellite internet equipment – often the only way videos can escape the country during government-imposed internet blackouts.
Activists say the regime has intensified repression in recent weeks as unrest spreads amid economic collapse and political instability.
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The AP reported the woman has described herself in interviews with other outlets as an Iranian refugee living in Toronto, and said she fled Iran after repeated arrests and abuse by security forces.
She filmed the video on Jan. 7, according to The AP – one day before Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout. She did so to show solidarity with “friends” inside the country, she said. She has asked that her real name not be published, citing fears for her safety and for family members who remain in Iran.
The video’s explosive reach underscores how social media has become a central battleground in modern conflicts, with images shaping global perception faster than governments can control them.
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As Trump weighs next steps toward Tehran, the clip has become more than a viral moment – it has become a symbol of resistance, scrutiny and the high stakes of dissent under authoritarian rule.
Iranian regime elites allegedly move millions of dollars out of country amid sanctions
Members of Iran’s ruling elite are said to have moved “tens of millions of dollars” out of the country as the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions over the regime’s violent protest crackdown, according to reports.
The regime’s “capital flight” came as the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on Jan. 15 in a release that it was taking “action against the shadow banking networks that allow Iran’s elite to steal and launder revenue generated by the country’s natural resources.”
“There are several reports, some of which are yet to be confirmed, about capital flight in various forms from the Islamic Republic,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
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If confirmed, Ben Taleblu said, the suspected exodus of money underscores the need for U.S. authorities to track and “freeze and seize” assets tied to sanctioned figures.
“If capital flight has taken place, then these are accounts that the U.S. government should be looking to monitor, block, freeze and seize,” he said.
“At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent also said in a statement on Jan. 15.
Bessent went on to reveal in an interview how his department had tracked the wiring of “tens of millions of dollars” out of Iran by leaders.
“We are now seeing the rats fleeing the ship, because we can see millions, tens of millions of dollars being wired out of the country, snuck out of the country by the Iranian leadership,” Bessent added.
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“So they are abandoning ship, and we are seeing it come into banks and financial institutions all over the world,” he added.
Iranian figures were said to be moving large sums abroad, with Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allegedly transferring roughly $328 million overseas as part of an estimated $1.5 billion shift in recent days, Channel 14 reported.
“There were also some reports on social media about large volumes of Bitcoin being transferred, or other kinds of financial assets. I haven’t been able to independently confirm that, but it is something that’s being discussed,” Ben Taleblu added.
“The fact that the Treasury Department is looking at this tells you quite seriously that Washington is also trying to link its foreign economic policy with its national security policy,” he said.
Ben Taleblu also claimed Iran’s shadow banking system has been deeply embedded in global finance, with billions of dollars routed through jurisdictions “including the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore.”
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“In the past, Washington has tracked the regime’s shadow banking activities, which, unfortunately, even include trade and money laundering through friendlier, more Western-leaning jurisdictions,” Ben Taleblu explained.
“In fact, the Treasury Department identified almost $9 billion of Iranian shadow banking activity that touched U.S. correspondent accounts throughout 2024,” he said.
Ben Taleblu added that the economic pressure campaign places renewed attention on President Donald Trump’s next move.
“All eyes right now are on President Trump to see if he takes a page from the Reagan playbook, the Obama playbook, or something else entirely,” Ben Taleblu said.
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“The million-dollar question is whether there will be something kinetic, especially after the most violent crackdown against protesters in the Islamic Republic’s history.”
“Economic sanctions are helpful and necessary,” he added, “but they are nowhere near sufficient to level the playing field between the street and the state.”
Keane warns Iran’s leadership to take Trump ‘at his word’ as military assets move into region
Retired Gen. Jack Keane said Iran’s leadership should take President Donald Trump “at his word,” arguing that the administration’s threat to hold the regime to account for violence against its own people remains in place as the U.S. moves military assets into the region.
Keane pushed back on the idea that the White House had softened its stance toward Tehran or might be trying to mislead Iran, saying Trump has been clear about his intent.
“I believe the president at his word. He intends to hold the regime accountable for what they have done,” Keane said on “The Sunday Briefing.”
The U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that more than 3,000 people were killed over roughly three weeks of unrest, though other reports put the death toll higher. Many thousands more have been arrested.
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“Certainly, the regime should take him at his word. They’ve completely disregarded it, obviously,” Keane said, adding that Iran’s “bloodbath” was not over.
He claimed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had brought in militias from other countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan to patrol the streets with loudspeakers and machine guns to suppress dissent.
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Trump has not yet taken action, Keane said, because the U.S. is still positioning assets and assessing how Iran might retaliate. He suggested American military bases and Israel were in danger of finding themselves in Iran’s crosshairs.
“What likely it means — I’m just speculating — is we’ve expanded the targets to ballistic missiles, which would do damage to us as well as to the Israelis. [We must] make certain that we have all the assets in the region to be able to accomplish that.”
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He said Trump has been explicit about his intentions and should not be underestimated.
“That threat is still on the table.”
World Economic Forum invites Iranian foreign minister to Davos after regime slaughter of Iranian civilians
The World Economic Forum is facing calls to freeze out members of the Iranian regime from a summit in Davos this week.
The Iran watchdog group United Against Nuclear Iran sent a letter to WEF President Borge Brende on Friday urging the group not to invite any officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The group tells Fox News Digital that WEF did not respond to the letter, and instead the forum added an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to the summit’s schedule on Sunday.
WEF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
UANI CEO Mark Wallace, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, cited human rights group reports regarding the mass slaughter of Iranian civilians by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
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“Just this month, the Iranian regime has carried out what some believe to be the largest massacre in its history,” Wallace wrote to Brende. “Araghchi is a member of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which reportedly issued an order to use live fire on Iranian civilians protesting. Estimates suggest the regime killed at least 12,000 and up to 20,000 Iranians over the course of a few days in January as they exercised their fundamental rights to demonstrate against the Ayatollah and his tyranny.”
“Hosting Iranian regime officials, such as Araghchi, who whitewash this record is deeply offensive and would be wholly inappropriate to platform at a Forum whose theme this year is ‘A Spirit of Dialogue.’ Instead of dialogue, the Islamic Republic offered bullets to these brave Iranians,” Wallace continued.
Iran’s supreme leader publicly acknowledged for the first time Saturday that thousands of people were killed during recent anti-government protests, according to reporting from the BBC.
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Khamenei made the remarks during a public address Saturday, blaming the U.S. for the unrest and violence and saying some protesters died “in an inhuman, savage manner.”
U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that more than 3,000 people were killed over roughly three weeks of unrest, though Iranian authorities have not released an official death toll and other estimates have been higher.
Videos authenticated by BBC Persian and BBC Verify show Iranian security forces firing on demonstrators during the unrest.
Trump told Politico on Saturday that “it’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” after being read a series of hostile posts from Khamenei’s X account accusing the president of responsibility for the violence.
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“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” Trump said, according to Politico. “Leadership is about respect, not fear and death.”
Read Wallace’s full letter to the WEF below (App users click here)
Trump’s leadership creates ‘rare opportunity’ for change in Iran, former Iranian political prisoner says
Former Iranian political prisoner Navid Mohebbi said President Donald Trump’s strong stance in confronting the government of Iran has presented a rare and potentially historic opportunity for change, as protesters challenge what he described as one of the world’s most brutal governments.
Mohebbi argued that the scale of unrest inside Iran, combined with U.S. leadership he believes has already demonstrated a willingness to stand up to Tehran, has placed the country at a turning point, with consequences for Iran’s future, U.S. national security and global stability.
“What’s happening right now is a historical test, not just for Iran, but for the entire world,” Mohebbi said Saturday on “My View with Lara Trump,” arguing that Trump’s actions in the coming days could change the course of history.
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“This is one of those moments that, in my opinion, will be written about for generations to come,” he added. “I think President Trump’s legacy is on the line here as well, and in the best possible way. I think his administration has a rare opportunity to redefine America’s global leadership by standing up with the people that are begging for freedom.”
He said Trump faces a rare, legacy-defining opportunity to both stand with Iranians seeking freedom and advance U.S. interests by “weakening a regime that funds terrorism, destabilizes the Middle East and threatens… global security, including President Trump’s life.”
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Mohebbi alleged that millions of Iranians had taken to the streets and that security forces had killed “more than 12,000 and up to 20,000 people.”
The U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that more than 3,000 people were killed over roughly three weeks of unrest, though Iranian authorities have not released an official death toll and nationwide internet shutdowns have made independent verification difficult.
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Mohebbi pointed to Trump’s past confrontations with Tehran, including the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani and more recent strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
“Today, Americans can really see why that mattered. If a regime is capable of slaughtering 20,000 of its own people, you can only imagine what it would do with a nuclear weapon.”