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Iranian Mourning Ceremonies Prompt New Crackdowns in Echo of 1979 Revolution
People walk near a mural featuring images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 17, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranians have returned to the streets this week to mourn those killed by security forces during last month’s anti-government demonstrations, sparking some new crackdowns in an echo of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought down the US-backed Shah.
The anti-Shah revolutionaries turned Shi’ite Muslim memorial processions 40 days after each death into new protests, which prompted renewed violence from the authorities and fresh “martyrs” for the cause.
The clerical establishment’s opponents, deploying the same tactics after five decades, have yet to match the momentum of those times, but Iran’s clerical rulers, threatened with military attack by US President Donald Trump over their nuclear and security policies, have demonstrated their concern.
They deployed security forces to some cemeteries and invited citizens to attend state-organized 40-day “Chehelom” ceremonies on Tuesday after apologizing to “all those affected” by violence they blamed on people described as “terrorists.”
“They tried to prevent history repeating itself by holding these ceremonies in mosques across the country. To prevent any gatherings of angry families in cemeteries, but they failed,” said one rights activist in Iran who declined to be named for fear of retribution.
SECURITY FORCES CLASH WITH MOURNERS
Videos circulating on social media showed families holding their own memorials across Iran on Tuesday, 40 days after security forces began two days of widespread shooting that human rights groups say killed thousands of protesters.
Some of Tuesday’s memorials turned into wider anti-government protests and some were met with deadly force.
In the Kurdish town of Abdanan in Ilam province, witnesses and activists said security forces opened fire on hundreds of mourners gathered at a cemetery.
Videos showed people scattering as gunfire rang out amid chants of “Death to the dictator,” a reference to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reuters journalists verified that the videos were filmed at the cemetery. They were unable to verify the date but found no versions posted before Tuesday: eyewitnesses and activists said that was when people gathered at the cemetery were fired upon.
Hengaw, a Kurdish Iranian rights group, said at least three people were injured and nine arrested in Abdanan. Similar clashes were reported in Mashhad and Hamedan. Sources in Iran said internet access was heavily restricted in those cities.
WEDNESDAY IS 40 DAYS SINCE HEIGHT OF JANUARY PROTESTS
More mourning ceremonies were expected to be taking place on Wednesday, 40 days since the deadliest two days of the January unrest, although communications restrictions meant that it was not immediately possible to tell how many or their outcome.
January’s unrest grew from modest economic protests in December among traders in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar into the gravest threat to Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy in nearly five decades, with protesters calling for ruling clerics to step down.
Authorities cut internet access, blaming “armed terrorists” linked to Israel and the United States for the violence, and have arrested journalists, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, and students, rights groups say.
Iranian officials have told Reuters the leadership is worried a US strike could erode its grip on power by fueling more protests. Repression, inequality, corruption, and the sponsorship of proxies abroad are the main grievances.
“How long can they kill people to stay in power? People are angry, people are frustrated,” said government employee Sara, 28, from the central city of Isfahan.
“The Islamic Republic has brought nothing but war, economic misery, and death to my country”.
Trump has deployed aircraft carriers, fighter jets, guided-missile destroyers, and other capabilities to the Middle East for a possible attack if talks to limit Iran’s nuclear program and weaken its foreign proxies do not yield results.
Even without a US attack, continued isolation from Western sanctions would likely fuel further public anger.
In 1979, the anti-Shah revolt in provincial towns and villages was amplified by oil workers whose strikes cut most of Iran’s revenue, and bazaar merchants who funded the rebel clerics.
This time there have been no reports of either, but people have adopted some of the small-scale tactics, chanting “Allah is great” and “Death to the dictator,” often from rooftops, during nightly demonstrations, according to witnesses and social media posts.
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Europe Should Focus on Own Security as Global Threats Mount, Dutch Intelligence Agency Says
Police officers stand outside a Jewish school following an explosion that caused minor damages, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 14, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security, the Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD said on Tuesday, citing pressure on long-standing Western alliances and China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The comment by MIVD Director Peter Reesink accompanied the release of its annual report for 2025.
“The international system we have relied on for decades – with institutions acting as guardians of rules and agreements – is under pressure,” Reesink said in a statement. “It is precisely in this space, where rules blur and power becomes more decisive, that threats grow. Europe must increasingly take responsibility for its own security.”
Spillover from other conflicts including the US-Venezuelan conflict and tensions in the Middle East posed threats to the Netherlands and its interests, the MIVD said in a report published on Tuesday. It also warned about the growing risks of Chinese cybersecurity attacks, which the agency expects to increase this year.
The report comes amidst heightened tensions between NATO and US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to leave the alliance due to its reluctance to join the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Reesink told journalists in The Hague that the Netherlands still has a strong relationship with the United States. At the same time, he said there is an increased push by European agencies to strengthen cooperation and rely less on what the Dutch intelligence agency called “unpredictable” politics in Washington.
“Europe needs to stand on its own two feet. That applies for the defence sector … and also for the intelligence community,” he said.
The greatest security threat to the Netherlands remains the conflict in Ukraine – Europe‘s largest since World War Two – he said, citing military cooperation between North Korea, China, Iran, and Russia.
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Eight Arrested as UK Police Probe Suspected Antisemitic Arson Attacks
A member of Shomrim, a community security patrol group operating in Jewish neighborhoods, stands on a road near emergency vehicles at the scene, after four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
British counter-terrorism police said on Tuesday they had arrested eight people in an investigation into a series of suspected arson attacks in London, including an alleged plot targeting a venue linked to the Jewish community.
Seven of the arrests were made within the past 48 hours as part of a probe into a suspected conspiracy to commit arson, the police statement said.
While they did not identify a specific venue, police said an intended target was connected to the Jewish community.
The arrests come as British police have been investigating a string of attacks on Jewish-linked sites in the capital, part of a wider rise in threats and criminal activity since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October 2023.
UK security officials have warned that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity in the UK, and the pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya has claimed some of the latest attacks on social media.
Police made no connection between the group and the latest arrests.
SERIES OF INCIDENTS TARGETING JEWISH SITES IN LONDON
In the latest operations, police said detectives had arrested three men aged 24, 25, and 26 in Harpenden, north of London, on Sunday evening before releasing them on bail.
On Monday, a 25-year-old man had been arrested in Stevenage, north of London, while a 26-year-old and two women aged 50 and 59 had been arrested in a vehicle near the central English city of Birmingham and taken to a London police station, where they remained in custody.
On Tuesday morning, officers arrested a 39-year-old man at an address in west London under Britain’s Terrorism Act 2000. Police said the arrest had been linked to an investigation after jars containing a non-hazardous substance had been found in Kensington Gardens in central London last week. Searches were continuing at a premises in east London, officers added.
Separately, a 17-year-old British teenage boy pleaded guilty on Tuesday to arson not endangering life, the BBC reported, following an attack on a synagogue in north London over the weekend. The fire caused minor damage and no injuries.
Since an attack last month on several ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, counter-terrorism police said they had arrested 23 people.
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EU Divided on Suspension of Israel Pact as Spain Pushes for Action
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, and Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin hold a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron
European countries including Spain and Ireland pushed on Tuesday to suspend a pact governing the EU‘s ties with Israel but failed to garner enough support from the bloc’s other members for any action.
Arriving at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, a number of ministers called for suspending or partially suspending the pact over concerns about settlements in the West Bank, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and a new death penalty law.
“Today, Europe’s credibility is at stake,” Spain‘s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters, calling for a discussion on suspending the association agreement, which came into force in 2000.
But member countries have diverging positions as to whether – and how – to shift the bloc’s policies on Israel.
Speaking after the ministers’ discussions, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was not sufficient support to suspend the agreement, but that discussions on the relationship with Israel would continue.
“I didn’t see the shifting of positions in the room regarding the suspension,” she said in a press conference.
Kallas said she would bring up ideas raised by ministers with the EU‘s trade commissioner.
GERMANY CALLS FOR DIALOGUE
The European Commission proposed in September suspending some trade-related provisions of the association agreement, an arrangement affecting about 5.8 billion euros of Israeli exports. Israel said at the time the proposals were “morally and politically distorted.”
Suspending the trade arrangement would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments – the support of 15 out of 27 EU members representing 65% of the EU population. A full suspension of the association agreement would require a unanimous decision from all member countries.
Germany and Italy indicated they were sticking to their existing positions.
Berlin remains committed to creating the conditions for a two-state solution with the Palestinians “but this must be done through critical, constructive dialogue with Israel,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters.
TRADING PARTNER
Ministers from countries including Ireland and Belgium pushed for a shift in the EU‘s policy.
However, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot added that Belgium was “aware that a full suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European countries.”
The European Union is Israel‘s biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two amounting to 42.6 billion euros in 2024, according to the EU.
The EU also has proposals on the table to impose sanctions on violent settlers and Israeli ministers it deems to be extremist.
These proposals require unanimous backing from member countries, with diplomats hoping that the measures targeting violent settlers could move ahead once a new Hungarian government comes in to office in May. Israel has blamed settler attacks on a “fringe minority.”
Sweden and France circulated a paper ahead of Tuesday’s meeting calling for the EU to take stronger action to limit commercial engagement with settlements.
Much of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area. It says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. Defenders of Israel also note that, while about one-fifth of the country’s population is Arab and enjoys equal rights, Palestinian law forbids selling any land to Israelis.