Iran-US news highlights: US imposes fresh sanctions targeting Iran over crackdown on protesters

US-Iran tensions live: This blog is now closed and won't be updated.

US-Iran tensions live: The United States has announced sanctions against several Iranian officials, including the interior minister, following the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in the country in recent weeks. Among the officials sanctioned was Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni "who oversees the murderous Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a key entity responsible for the deaths of thousands of peaceful protestors," the US Treasury Department said.

US-Iran tensions live: The United States has issued fresh sanctions targeting Iran, including against interior minister over protest crackdown, Associated Press reported.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said his country's missile and defence capabilities would "never" be on the negotiating table. The remark comes as US President Donald Trump appeared to cool on threats of a strike after a military build-up in the region.

But the US president brought the temperature down late on Thursday, saying he hoped to avoid military action and that talks with Iran were on the cards, having pressured Tehran for a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said his country is ready for dialogue to resolve tensions but that there are no concrete plans for talks with the US. The remarks come even as Tehran faces the threat of US military action in response to the killing of protestors in recent protests.

Araghchi was speaking in Istanbul where he arrived earlier in the day for talks with Turkish officials. Turkey has been working to reduce tensions in the wider region following threats of a possible US military strike against Iran.

US-Iran tensions LIVE: Iran is ready to revive nuclear talks and welcomes any regional initiative that preserves peace and stability, reduces tensions, and neutralizes “malicious Zionist plots,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

US-Iran tensions LIVE: UK PM Keir Starmer on Friday said the UK was working with allies to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. The British prime minister made the remark when he was asked whether he would support possible US strikes on Iran. "The goal, or the aim, here is that Iran shouldn't be able to develop nuclear weapons and that is hugely important," Starmer told BBC.

US-Iran tensions LIVE: In a tit-for-tat move, Iran has stated it will list the armed forces of EU countries, which moved to designate the IRGC as a terror group, as “terrorist entities.”

“The European Union certainly knows that, in accordance with the resolution of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the armies of countries that have participated in the European Union's recent resolution against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are considered terrorist entities. Therefore, the consequences of that shall be borne by the European countries that undertook such an action,” wrote Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, on social media platform X.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran is ready for nuclear talks on 'equal footing'.

US-Iran tensions live: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that he hopes that the US will not attack Iran. He said that Turkey welcomes US and Iran to come to the negotiating table to resolve issues.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran has said Europe will 'suffer consequences of foolish act' after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was listed as a terrorist organisation.

US-Iran tensions live: Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, who is on a visit to Delhi, said any instability in the region is a concern for all. The Palestinian minister was speaking on the ongoing US-Iran tensions and Gaza peace.

US-Iran tensions live: A US Navy destroyer has docked at the Israeli port of Eilat, an Israeli media report said on Friday, citing the military. The development comes amid tensions between Washington and Iran. The report said that the arrival of the destroyer at the southern port on the Gulf of Aqaba, near Israel's borders with Egypt and Jordan, was pre-planned and part of ongoing cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries.

US-Iran tensions live: Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Turkey was ready to play a facilitator role between Iran and the United States to ease the tensions between the two sides.

"President Erdogan emphasised that Turkey was ready to take up a facilitator role between Iran and the United States to ease tensions and resolve issues," the presidency said in a statement on X.

US-Iran tensions live: A US Navy destroyer has arrived at the port of Eilat, Israel’s ynet news website reported on Friday, quoting the military, as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to rise.

The report said the vessel’s stop at the southern port on the Gulf of Aqaba, close to Israel’s border crossings with Egypt and Jordan, had been planned in advance and was part of ongoing cooperation between the Israeli and US armed forces.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran’s chief diplomat Abbas Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Friday for talks, as Turkey prepared to offer its support in easing tensions with the United States, which has raised the prospect of a possible military strike.

During the trip, Araghchi was expected to meet Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan and also hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement confirming his arrival.

The visit took place hours after US President Donald Trump said he hoped to avoid military action against Iran, which has warned it would target American bases and aircraft carriers if it comes under attack.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran said it has deployed 1,000 new “strategic drones” across the four branches of its armed forces as it prepares for possible US strikes, Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported.

US President Donald Trump has sent what he described as an “armada” of warships to the Middle East and has warned of military action against the clerical regime in Tehran.

US-Iran tensions live: On Wednesday, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the violence in Iran has killed at least 6,373 people in recent weeks, with many more feared dead. Its count included at least 5,993 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 113 children, and 53 civilians who were not demonstrating. More than 42,450 have been arrested, it added.

Iran's government, as of January 21, put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labelled the rest “terrorists.”

US-Iran tensions live: Iran on Thursday warned of a "crushing response" to any attack after US President Donald Trump said time was running out for a nuclear agreement, and as the European Union moved towards declaring the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation.

Iran’s army chief Amir Hatami repeated the warning on Thursday, state television reported. The broadcaster said 1,000 "strategic drones" had been added to the combat units.

US-Iran tensions live: Witness accounts suggest that the main force seen on the streets was the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iran International reported.

The UK-based outlet said it has received new information showing that the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, along with allied proxy groups in the region, played a role in the killing of Iranian protesters on January 8 and 9.

US-Iran tensions live: Dutch foreign minister David van Weel said on Thursday ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers that recent footage from Tehran showing a harsh crackdown had gone beyond limit for EU nations.

Van Weel said videos showing the repression had crossed “a big line” for EU countries.

US-Iran tensions live: Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi welcomed the European Union’s decision to label the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. He said it was a clear sign that the Islamic Republic does not have international legitimacy and called for more practical steps to safeguard Iranians.

"This important step sends a message to the criminal regime that it has no global legitimacy," he wrote on X. "We now need further concrete action to protect the Iranian people and to support a legitimate transitional government leading Iran to democracy."

US-Iran tensions live: Plainclothes Iranian security forces have detained thousands of people in a wave of arrests and pressure aimed at stopping further protests, sources told news agency Reuters. The move comes after the deadliest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country.

"They are arresting everyone," one activist said. "No one knows where they are being taken or where they are being held. With these arrests and threats, they are trying to inject fear into society."

US-Iran tensions live: The European Union on Thursday listed Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the designation as a “PR stunt” and said Europe would be affected if energy prices surge as a result of the sanctions.

“Several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. None of them are European,” he wrote on X.

US-Iran tensions live: The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said on Thursday that Iranian officials and their families should not be allowed to live in the United States while, he said, people in Iran face repression.

"The families of Iranian regime elites live lives of luxury in the U.S. while their people are massacred. Not any more!" Waltz posted on X.

The comments came after the state department said earlier that Washington had taken steps to remove the ability of senior Iranian officials and their family members to stay in the country. No details were given on how many people are affected or how the move would be put into effect.