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China’s top ranking general under investigation for alleged violations amid ongoing purge of leadership

China’s most senior general is under investigation, China’s defence ministry has confirmed, in the highest profile case to date in an aggressive anti-graft purge of senior military leadership in recent months. Zhang Youxia serves as second-in-command under president Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission – the supreme command body – and has long been seen as Xi’s closest military ally. The ministry announced on Saturday that Zhang and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the CMC’s joint staff department, were under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. The Wall Street Journal reported that Zhang was accused of leaking information about the country’s nuclear-weapons program to the US, and accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to defence minister, citing people familiar with a high-level briefing on the allegations. The Guardian was unable to independently verify the reports. Zhang is also a member of the elite politburo of the ruling Communist party and is one of just a few leading officers with combat experience. The military was one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012. That drive reached the upper echelons of the People’s Liberation Army in 2023 when the elite Rocket Force was targeted. Zhang’s removal is the second of a sitting general on the Central Military Commission since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. He has not been seen in public since 20 November, when he held talks with Russia’s defence minister in Moscow. Foreign diplomats and security analysts are watching developments closely, given Zhang’s closeness to Xi and the importance of the commission’s work in terms of command as well as the PLA’s ongoing military modernisation and posture. While China has not fought a war in decades, it is taking an increasingly muscular line in the disputed East China Sea and South China Sea, as well as over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which is claimed by China. Beijing staged the largest military exercises to date around Taiwan late last year. Singapore-based China security scholar James Char said the military’s daily operations could carry on as normal despite the purges but the targeting of Zhang showed Xi was reacting to criticism that the crackdown had been too selective. “Xi has been tapping on second-line PLA officers to fill those roles vacated by their predecessors – on an interim basis in most cases,” said Char, a scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “China’s military modernizers will continue to push for the two goals Xi has set for the PLA - namely, 2035 to basically complete its modernisation and 2049 to become a world-class armed forces.“ Zhang is the second vice-chair of the CMC to fall from grace in recent months. Former CMC vice-chair He Weidong was expelled from the party and PLA in October last year for corruption. He was replaced by Zhang Shengmin. Eight top generals were expelled from the Communist party on graft charges in October 2025, including He Weidong. Two former defence ministers were also purged from the ruling party in recent years for corruption. The crackdown is slowing procurement of advanced weaponry and hitting the revenues of some of China’s biggest defence firms. Born in Beijing, Zhang joined the army in 1968, rising through the ranks and joining the military commission in late 2012 as the PLA’s modernisation drive gathered pace. He fought Vietnam in a brief but bloody border war in 1979 that China launched in punishment for Vietnam invading Cambodia the previous year and ousting the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge. Zhang was 26 when he was sent to the frontlines to fight the Vietnamese and was quickly promoted, according to state media. He also fought in another border clash with Vietnam in 1984 as the conflict rumbled on. “During the battle, whether attacking or defending, Zhang Youxia performed excellently,” the official China Youth Daily wrote in a 2017 piece entitled, “These Chinese generals have killed the enemy on the battlefield“. Some China scholars have noted that Zhang emerged from the conflict an avowed moderniser in terms of military tactics, weapons and the need for a better trained force.

Ukraine war briefing: US security agreement ‘100% ready’ to be signed, Zelenskyy says

A US security agreement for Ukraine is “100% ready” to be signed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia – indicating some progress was made. Further discussions are expected next weekend. Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a time and place for the signing of the security guarantees document, after which it would go to the US Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification. “For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100% ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” Zelensky said. Ukraine sought more air defence support from allies on Sunday as hundreds of buildings in Kyiv were without heating in freezing temperatures for a second day after Russian strikes. More than 1,300 apartment buildings Kyiv were still without heating, mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Sunday. Sub-zero temperatures and repeated airstrikes have slowed efforts by repair crews working to restore heating and electricity. Zelenskyy has also emphasised Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.” He described the talks in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. Zelenskyy acknowledged fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point. Polish president Karol Nawrocki called for unity among countries under threat from an “imperial Russia”, at a Vilnius event commemorating the 1863 uprising in Poland and Lithuania against Tsarist Russia, which Zelenskyy also took part in. “The message of these celebrations is that by looking to the past for what we have in common, it’s easier today to face the problems ahead of us. Especially in an era of the revival of imperial Russia,” Nawrocki’s office said on X. “Whether it’s tsarist Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia, our countries [Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine], now independent, still face the same problem: the threat posed by the Russian Federation,” Nawrocki said in his speech. Zelensky, in his speech, said Europe should cherish its independence and remain alert. “It is too early for Europe to relax while Russia’s war machine is still running, and while dictators around Europe are not weakening,” he said. “They all look at Europe – at us – as prey.” European nations committed to a new clean energy pact, the Hamburg Declaration, aimed at boosting the region’s energy security. The deal, to be signed at a summit in the German port city on Monday, will bring an “unprecedented fleet” of offshore wind projects to the North Sea that will supply multiple nations, the UK Department for Energy Security said. It comes three years after North Sea countries pledged to build 300GW of offshore wind in that sea by 2050, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “weaponisation” of European energy supplies.

New Zealand landslide: six missing named as police confirm victims are unlikely to be found alive

The families and friends of six people buried in a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park last week have paid tribute to their loved ones, after they were named by officials, and police confirmed they were unlikely to be found alive. The victims include 15-year-old Pakūranga College students Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee, literacy coordinator Lisa Maclennan, 50, longtime friends Jacqualine Wheeler and Susan Knowles, both 71, and Swedish national Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20. Police Supt Tim Anderson said the operation had been focused on saving the lives of those missing beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, but the search had moved into a recovery phase. “Search teams have been working through the slip layer by layer, but tragically it is now apparent that we will not be able to bring them home alive,” Anderson said over the weekend. “We informed the families of this news this morning … They are going through something very few people could understand, and we ask that they be given space to grieve.” Human remains were uncovered on Friday and formal identification is now under way, police said. Recovery efforts resumed on Monday morning, after the site was deemed potentially unstable on Sunday. In a statement provided to police, the mother of 15-year-old Max Furse-Kee, Hannah Furse, said the lives of her family had changed “so suddenly and so completely” they would never be the same again. “My love for Max is impossible to explain, no words are big enough to describe this love or loss,” she wrote. “What I can say is from the moment I first looked at his beautiful blue eyes almost 16 years ago he had my whole heart, he was my sunshine.” Max was due to turn 16 this week. “Life without Max is impossible to imagine. In truth, all of this feels impossible to imagine. We are endlessly proud of who he is and that he is ours,” Furse said. Max had been holidaying with fellow-student Sharon Maccanicoa, originally from the southern Italian town Picarelli, who lived in Auckland, the NZ Herald reported. “His incredible friends and his girlfriend meant the world to him, and the love, happiness, and sense of belonging they gave him brought him so much joy,” Furse said. In a social media post, Morrinsville intermediate school announced “with great sadness” Lisa Maclennan – a literacy centre tutor – was one of the victims. “Our love and aroha go out to Lisa’s family; we ask that you respect their privacy at this very difficult time,” said Jenny Clark, on behalf of the school. Messages in response described Maclennan as “loved by many”, with a “heart of gold”, who contributed much to the young people in the community. Roughly 200 members of the Mount Maunganui community came together for a vigil on Sunday evening, with prime minister Christopher Luxon also in attendance. “There’s a solemnness, there’s a sadness, there’s a heaviness that’s here in the community,” he told the NZ Herald. “People are wanting to find a way through that.” The landslide was one of several across the country last week, alongside flooding, road closures and power outages, after a series of storms tore through the North Island. Two people – including one Chinese national – died in a separate landslide that crashed into a house in Papamoa, south of Tauranga, on Thursday. Another man was killed after being swept down a river near Warkworth, north of Auckland. On Monday, the mayor of Tauranga, Mahe Drysdale, announced there would be a full and independent investigation into the tragedy, following questions over why people were not evacuated after reports of slips near the campsite and neighbouring areas earlier on Thursday. “There are legitimate questions that need to be asked,” Drysdale told RNZ. “For the sake of the families and for our community, everyone wants to know that everything was done and that everyone is safe going forward.”

Iran president’s son urges authorities to restore internet after protests blackout

The son of Iran’s president has called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted, saying nothing will be solved by trying to postpone the moment when pictures and video circulate of the protests that were violently crushed by the regime. With a battle under way at the top of the regime about the political risks of continuing to block Iran from the internet, Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected in the summer of 2024, said keeping the digital shutdown would create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government. “This means those who were not and are not dissatisfied will be added to the list of the dissatisfied,” he wrote in a Telegram post. The release of videos showing the violence of the protests was “something we will have to face sooner or later”, Yousef Pezeshkian added. “Shutting down the internet will not solve anything, we will just postpone the issue.” The sporadic lifting of restrictions is leading to a slow and painful inquest into how many protesters, including children, have died. Authorities launched a violent crackdown under cover of the internet blackout, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead. The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights says the final figure could be as high as 25,000. Thousands more people are still being detained. Pictures of many of the dead children are appearing on internet sites inside Iran, while the director of Farabi eye hospital in Tehran, Dr Ghasem Fakhraei, said staff at the specialist ophthalmology centre had operated on more than 1,000 patients requiring emergency eye surgery since the protests. Hospital wards were overflowing, he said. Molavi Abdolhamid, a prominent Sunni cleric and outspoken Friday prayer leader in Zahedan, south-east Iran, referred to the violent killing of protesters during January as an “organised massacre”. Yousef Pezeshkian, a government adviser, said the risk of keeping Iran cut off from the internet was greater than that of a return to protests if connectivity were restored. He said security institutions must ensure security with the existence of the internet, which he called a necessity in life. Pezeshkian, echoing comments of his father, said the protests had turned violent only because of professionally trained groups affiliated with foreigners, but added: “In the meantime the security and law enforcement forces may have made mistakes and no one is going to defend wrongdoing and that has to be addressed.” Iranian journalists were openly reporting a dispute with government about whether it was safe to relax the internet, with the president and the communications minister, Sattar Hashemi, backing the move but the measure being opposed by Ali Larijani, the head of the supreme national security council. Tehran’s stock market on Sunday was in the red for the fourth day in a row, and the Iranian currency, the rial, continued to fall against the dollar, one of the causes of the protests. The Central Bank of Iran said a debt issuance had only been 15% subscribed, a development that will require further government spending cuts or result in a rise in inflation, the official rate of which was more than 42% last month. Although shops have opened, even newspapers close to the security services admit trading is low. Iran’s computer trade organisation said the internet shutdown was costing $20m (£15m) a day, with lorry drivers also reporting it was difficult to cross borders because of the lack of electronic documentation. One frustrated trader said they were being given 20 minutes of supervised access to the internet a day, enough to answer a small number of emails, but not enough to conduct business. With the limited lifting of the restrictions, it is now possible to see pressure being applied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) narrative that the death toll is so high purely because of subversive activities of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a reformist former mayor of Tehran, said: “People are in shock and amazed … If the agents of Mossad and foreign countries are at work, how did they suddenly carry out these disasters throughout the country? Where did they come from?” He condemned the failure of the Pezeshkian administration to improve the economy. “The government in Iran is losing its original meaning. In no area can it be said the government is active, present and solving problems. All the other forces in the country are active and doing what they want except for the government. This government does not show any power in any area,” Karbaschi said. Some of the protesters contacted by the Guardian in Iran blamed Donald Trump for failing to provide the help he had promised. “He betrayed us,” said one. “Trump is more hateful to me than the supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei because the ideology of Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is clear. Trump promised and kept saying he would shoot the person who shot you. Trump is the lowest of leaders the world has seen.” Another said: “Bodies are intact, but hearts and minds are shattered. For a moment you feel happy that you have finally managed to get access to the internet. Then instantly guilt hits – what are you happy about it? Why are you still breathing, you useless person?” They added: “We are honestly sorry for ourselves because first, God does not exist. Second, we have become so miserable that we are impatiently waiting for another country to attack our country, hoping it will save us. And even then, there is no guarantee that it will.”

Amsterdam prepares to ‘ban the fatbikes’ amid rise in serious accidents

On a busy lunchtime, thick-tyred electric bikes zoom through the leafy lanes of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. But after a marked rise in accidents – particularly involving children – these vehicles the Dutch call “fatbikes” are to be banned in some parts of the Netherlands. “It’s nonsense!” said Henk Hendrik Wolthers, 69, from the saddle of his wide-tyred, electric Mate bike. “I drive a car, I ride a motorbike, I’ve had a moped and now I ride a fatbike. This is the quickest means of transport in the city and you should be able to use it.” An increasing number of road safety experts, doctors and politicians in the Netherlands disagree. Although motor assistance on e-bikes is limited to just over 15mph, many fatbike riders modify the factory settings to reach speeds of 25mph in this busy park. The safety organisation VeiligheidNL estimates that 5,000 fatbike riders are treated in A&E departments each year, on the basis of a recent sample of hospitals. “And we also see that especially these young people aged from 12 to 15 have the most accidents,” said the spokesperson Tom de Beus. Now Amsterdam’s head of transport, Melanie van der Horst, has said “unorthodox measures” are needed and has announced that she will ban these heavy electric bikes from city parks, starting in the Vondelpark. Like the city of Enschede, which is also drawing up a city centre ban, she is acting on a stream of requests “begging me to ban the fatbikes”. In the park, her plans stirred mixed reactions. While four in five fatbike riders who whizzed past said they were “too busy” to talk, 31-year-old Joost was sceptical. “It will be senseless,” he said. “Normal bicycles use the park, city vehicles use it. It’s all about having the appropriate speed.” But Muriel Winkel, 33, running with her dog, Joop, was enthusiastic. “They are all souped-up, which people don’t do with evil intentions, but they often ride carelessly, without watching out,” she said. “Sometimes, my dog really gets a fright.” Some point out that the tensions around electric bikes will soon reach other countries, especially with more political interest in stimulating active mobility. In this land of early adopters, 48% of bicycles sold in 2024 were electric and another 13% were fatbikes, according to figures from RAI Vereniging and BOVAG motoring associations. In Amsterdam, a third of journeys are made by cycling. The roadside assistance organisation ANWB said that the problem was not necessarily with the wide-tyred bike model – but the ease with which people could speed it up to use like a moped, “combined with risky behaviour”. Florrie de Pater, the chair of the Fietsersbond Amsterdam cycling association, said that the rise of illegal bikes, plus a lack of enforcement, was scaring old people and children off the roads. “Because of the dangers of those who are cycling fast, especially older people over 55 or 60 simply leave their bikes at home,” she said. “We also hear that parents no longer dare to let their children cycle to school.” The brain injury specialist Marcel Aries, a consultant at Maastricht University Medical Center, said more authorities needed to consider controversial bans, alongside the helmet requirement for children on electric bikes from 2027. “It is reasonable for governments and municipalities to consider measures that may be unpopular,” he said. “They are public health responses to increasingly congested streets and widening speed gaps between cars, cyclists and pedestrians.” His view is shared by Marlies Schijven, a professor of surgery at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, whose frustrated LinkedIn post on dangerous riders in 2024 has been viewed 2.9m times. “It is a good step, but a baby step, only in one Amsterdam park,” she said. “The problem is much larger. We still see pain, misery and death every day at our morning meeting in the hospital.” Wolthers, the fatbike owner, agreed that the problem was in letting children ride these powerful vehicles. “Children go through red, they don’t signal and they also can’t assess the traffic,” he said. “Hospitals have a chilling term for them: potential donors.”

‘If you haven’t served, respect those who have’: Nato soldiers on Trump’s slurs

It was shortly before dawn and Bruce Moncur was eating breakfast when the American warplane roared overhead. The 22-year-old reservist had been stationed in Afghanistan for three weeks when the A-10 Warthog strafed the camp west of Kandahar City where and he and 30 other Canadian soldiers had spent the night. Moncur was struck by shrapnel and thrown to the ground. When he regained consciousness, he was bleeding from a large head wound, and believed he would die. The friendly fire attack killed one Canadian solider and left five others gravely wounded. Now an elementary school teacher, Moncur had nearly 5% of his brain removed, and had to relearn how to walk, talk, read and write. Donald Trump provoked a storm of diplomatic fury with his claims that Nato allies had “stayed a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan. The comments were condemned as “insulting and frankly appalling” by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who joined other leaders in expressing disgust and anger at the president. On Saturday, in a rare partial climbdown, Trump praised UK troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors”. His post on Truth Social, acknowledging that 457 UK troops had died in Afghanistan, is reported to have come after King Charles expressed his concerns, through private channels, about Trump’s earlier slur on UK forces. But Trump’s post did not apologise for his earlier comments. Crucially, nor did he clarify or withdraw his denigration of the role played by troops of other Nato allies. And for the men and women who fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, the damage already done by Trump’s earlier comment cut especially deep. “Our friends needed help and I and so many others answered that call. Now, my sacrifices are now being thrown in my face as ‘not enough’,” said Moncur, who accused the US president of “deep disrespect” towards veterans. “Nobody named Trump was on the frontline with me. And his sons were nowhere to be seen in the Afghan desert,” he said. Trump had fired his opening salvo as he headed to the World Economic Forum in Davos, telling reporters: “I know we’ll come to [Nato’s] rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours.” Later that day, he told Fox News that he was “not sure” Nato would meet the “ultimate test” of defending the US if it were under threat. “We’ve never needed them … They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back – a little off the frontlines,” he said. He added the US had been “very good to Europe and to many other countries. It has to be a two-way street.” The only time Nato has ever invoked its mutual defence clause – stating that an attack on one member represents an attack on all – came after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when member states deployed thousands of troops to Afghanistan. In the 20-year conflict that followed, 3,486 Nato troops died, of which the majority, 2,461, were US service members. But at times during the war, allies experienced a death rate higher than their American counterparts. In 2006, Canadian troops were moved from the relative safety of Kabul to the frontlines of the deadly Kandahar region as part of Operation Medusa, in part to relieve American troops. The vast majority of Canada’s 159 combat deaths happened during the operation. After comrades were killed, their remains were placed in a flag-draped casket and brought to a plane, giving soldiers one last chance to bid farewell. “All countries saluted,” Moncur said. “We showed our respect – as one.” Trump, who avoided the Vietnam-era military draft five times, has a long history of disparaging and belittling the military. Paweł “Naval” Mateńczuk, a Polish special forces veteran, said that in general, soldiers “try to stay pretty numb” to what politicians say. “But today is the anniversary of my friend’s death in Afghanistan and it’s hard to just look past that,” he said. Over 19 years, Poland – which had joined Nato only two years before, in 2001 – sent more than 33,000 troops and military personnel to Afghanistan and 44 were killed in the line of duty. Mateńczuk, who was deployed to Afghanistan with Poland’s elite special forces unit GROM on four assignments, said that while president Trump was “often banging on about gratitude or someone thanking him for something”, veterans were not looking for that, because they “felt that gratitude first-hand, serving alongside American troops” and “you can’t break a bond like that easily”. “But what we carry with us as veterans is not just the gruelling experience of active combat, but the loss of our friends. Thousands more brought back memories that were far from pleasant. I know history can be shortsighted, but I never imagined it would be quite this shortsighted,” he said from Warsaw. “They were grateful we were there, taking part in an American war. It wasn’t a Polish war, or a European war; it was a war against global terrorism, and it was the US that had been attacked,” he said. On social media, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, recalled a ceremony for the five fallen Polish soldiers in Ghazni, Afghanistan in 2011. “The American officers who accompanied me then told me that America would never forget the Polish heroes,” he wrote. “Perhaps they will remind President Trump of that fact.” A day after Trump questioned the value of Nato support for the US, the Polish defence minister published the full list of 44 Polish troops and military personnel killed in Afghanistan. Mateńczuk said Trump should consider apologising to the families of veterans, particularly those who had lost their lives. “There are so many Polish widows and orphaned children. If anyone is owed an apology, it’s them,” he said. In the United Kingdom, condemnation of the president’s comments has cut across the political spectrum, reflecting the reality that 457 British troops died, while another 2,000 military and civilian personnel were wounded in action. Richard Streatfield, a former army major in charge of 150 troops on the frontline in Sangin between 2009 and 2010, said Trump’s comments were “deeply insulting”. Streatfield, now a Liberal Democrat councillor in Kent, said he had overseen soldiers in “the most violent town” in Helmand, which in turn was “the most violent province” in all of Afghanistan. “We put in huge amounts of effort and some paid the ultimate sacrifice. Five of the company were killed and 50 were wounded. So to be told that your service was not as demanding or as difficult as the Americans’ is untrue, and deeply insulting,” he said. “In broad terms, the Americans, the Danes and us lost proportionally as many people as each other in relation to the size of force that we had in the country.” Streatfield said his American comrades would be “ashamed” of Trump’s remarks. “The American troops I served alongside … know precisely what kind of sacrifices were made by everybody there. Their own service and sacrifice is diminished by what Trump has said.” “The Americans needed us as allies. They are the ones who called in the article 5 requirement after 9/11. We heard the call, made the sacrifices, and to be told you’ve taken a step back is incredible.” Streatfield said many of his British comrades were also outraged by Trump’s remarks. “We are very passionate about the job that we did in Afghanistan, which was, to a large extent, undermined by Donald Trump’s own decisions. He’s the one who set the timetable for the Taliban to get back into power. He is the one that started the American withdrawal. Twenty million Afghan women and girls are now living in terrible conditions under the Taliban directly as a result of his decisions.” He added: “If you haven’t served, don’t do anything other than respect those people who have.” After his Fox News interview, Trump continued his campaign, posting on Truth Social: “Maybe we should have put Nato to the test: Invoked Article 5, and forced Nato to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.” Moncur said that for someone who has never experienced the harrowing realities of frontline combat, “the pain that he has caused, and is causing, is immeasurable and it is shameful. “To see how American treat their friends now – who needs enemies?”

‘Emotionally devastating’: Iranians in US on regime’s deadly protest crackdown

Recent protests in Iran have created the most serious and deadliest unrest in the country since the 1979 revolution, prompting eyes from all around the globe to shift to the Middle East. The Guardian asked Iranians living outside the country to share their views on the current situation in the country and about the possibility of US intervention. Hundreds of Iranians based in the US described living in a constant state of anxiety and helplessness, consumed by fear for loved ones back home – worsened by the internet blackouts that have cut off communication. “No one should have to wake up every day wondering whether their loved ones have been executed, imprisoned, or killed in the streets simply for demanding dignity and freedom,” Mahnaz, 36, wrote. “The scale of these atrocities demands more than statements of concern.” Fereshteh, 45, a lab scientist, described the past weeks as “emotionally devastating”. “Even from far away, the fear never stops. Many days I wake up terrified to check my phone, afraid of seeing bad news or learning that someone I love has been arrested, injured, or killed, Fereshteh said, adding that many Iranians they speak with “believe that peaceful protests alone are no longer enough”. “The regime has shown that it will respond only with bullets, prisons, and executions,” they continued. “In this situation, international military intervention may be the only realistic way to stop the killing and dismantle this system of repression. If intervention can end this dictatorship and give people a chance to live freely, many of us believe it is a price worth paying.” Ellie, 33, described feeling “an intense sense of survivor’s guilt” being in the US and is “emotionally paralyzed and often speechless” by the news from Iran. “A regime that suppresses its own people through violence, fear, and isolation does not remain a local problem,” she said. “It destabilizes regions, fuels extremism, drives forced migration, and normalizes brutality. Ignoring this does not create peace – it postpones a larger crisis.” Many respondents said they believed some form of international intervention in Iran was necessary. “I believe words and sanctions have failed for decades,” said Luna Houshmand, a software engineer in her 30s. “If they worked, this regime would not still be killing people in the streets. If the world truly believes in human rights, it must move beyond statements and take real action.” A woman in New York, who asked to remain anonymous, said her family in Iran told her that people feel “desperate and helpless, and their only hope is foreign assistance”. “President Trump promised the people of Iran that he would come to save them, and the people have counted on that promise,” she said. “Our only concern right now is that he may not follow through.” Maryam Tehrani, in Seattle, said she believes Iranians need “not empty statements, but meaningful pressure on the Islamic Republic”. “Sanctions targeting officials, international isolation, and real accountability matter,” she said. “Military intervention is complicated and risky, but indifference is not an option. The priority should be protecting civilians and supporting the Iranian people’s right to decide their own future without repression.” Sahar Haddadian, a civil engineer in Florida, said that “no one wants war” or “foreign intervention or to see innocent lives lost” but “history has shown that some regimes leave the world with no good options – only difficult ones”. “You cannot negotiate with a regime that rules through terror,” Haddadian, 36, said, adding that “dialogue, appeasement, and empty diplomacy have failed”. Haddadian also said the US must “make it clear that it stands with the Iranian people”. “That means real consequences for regime leaders, full isolation of those responsible for crimes against humanity, and unwavering support for the people of Iran who are bravely demanding freedom,” they said. Ellie, 42, in Colorado, said that while she is “strongly against war,” the “situation in Iran has reached a point where people are being killed for demanding basic rights” and that “without some form of international intervention, whether political, diplomatic, economic, or strategic pressure, it is difficult to see how this regime can be stopped.” “If President Trump or any other world leader is willing to take meaningful, non‑military action that helps end the ongoing repression, I would welcome that support,” she said. An Iranian in California, who asked to remain anonymous, said they have long opposed “foreign military intervention in Iran”, “do not trust US intentions” and are “deeply aware of the damage outside interference has caused in the region”, but now feel torn. “We are now at such a deadlock that I honestly don’t know what to feel anymore,” they said. “When a regime responds to peaceful protests with mass bloodshed, when civilians are gunned down and hospitals overflow with the injured, it forces people like me into impossible moral contradictions. “I find myself torn between my long-held beliefs and the sheer desperation of watching my people slaughtered with no protection and no voice.” Tara, a 36-year-old engineer, also described herself as “deeply conflicted” about US intervention. “I can’t predict what would happen to my family, and I fear that any intervention could lead to more death and devastation,” she said. “At the same time, I see no clear alternative for ending the Islamic regime’s grip on power. I wish there were a way to remove those responsible without harming ordinary people or destroying our beautiful country. “I’m worried this could turn into a never-ending war.”

Myanmar military proxy expected to win landslide in widely denounced election

Voting in Myanmar has ended with the military-backed party expected to win a landslide victory after a month-long election that has been widely derided as a sham designed to cement the army’s grip on power. The junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has rejected criticism of the vote, saying it has the support of the public and presenting it as a return to democracy and stability. The election took place almost five years after the military seized power in a coup, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering a fierce conflict that continues across the country. The 80-year-old has been detained since she was ousted, and her party, the National League for Democracy, which won sweeping victories in previous votes, has been banned. “Whether the international community recognises this or not, we don’t understand their perspective. The people’s vote is the recognition we need,” Min Aung Hlaing told reporters on Sunday, according to video broadcast on state TV. The UN, human rights experts, the UK, Australia, and the EU’s top rights official have rejected the election, saying it lacks legitimacy. China, a key military ally, is backing the vote, which it considers the best path towards stability. In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second most populous city, voters were reluctant to be interviewed, saying it was not safe to speak publicly about politics. “We miss our former government, we don’t want this military government,” said a man who was voting on Sunday in the city. He could not speak further, he added: “We fear for our security.” The military has arrested tens of thousands of political prisoners since the coup, targeting anyone suspected of opposing its rule. A new election protection law was also enacted in July, under which any criticism of the vote can lead to a minimum sentence of three years in prison, and even the death penalty. Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the vote had been orchestrated by the military to deliver a landslide for its political proxy, the Union Solidarity and Development party (USDP). “It took no chances, banning credible opposition parties, jailing popular political figures, muzzling the press, crushing fundamental freedoms, and using fear and coercion to drive a reluctant electorate to the polls,” Andrews said. “The junta is banking on the world’s fatigue, hoping that the international community will accept military rule dressed up in civilian clothing,” he added. “Governments must not allow that to happen.” Fightingcontinued in many areas throughout the election period. Just days before voting, 21 people were killed and 28 injured in a military airstrike on a village where displaced people from the northern township of Bhamo were sheltering in Kachin state, Associated Press reported. The election took place in three stages, with the first phase held in December and a second phase held earlier in January. In total, 57 parties competed, though only six did so nationwide, and analysts said none of the parties on the ballot paper were perceived as offering a meaningful opposition to the military. The USDP ran by far the largest number of candidates, and had secured a majority of seats in previous rounds, winning 193 of 209 seats in the lower house and 52 of 78 seats in the upper house. According to election monitoring group Anfrel, 57% of the parties that ran in the 2020 general election no longer exist, even though they received more than 70% of votes and 90% of seats. Malaysia has said the regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), would not endorse the poll or send observers. However, it is unclear whether individual member states will increase their engagement with Myanmar’s leadership after the vote. Turnout has been low, at 55%, compared with about 70% in the 2020 election, when the public queued at polling stations despite the pandemic, and the historic 2015 vote that swept Aung San Suu Kyi to power. The pre-election period has also lacked the large rallies and excitement of previous votes. Voting took place in populous cities such as Mandalay and Yangon on Sunday, but analysts estimate about a third of the country’s territory has been excluded from the process because it is under the control of anti-junta groups or gripped by fighting. The military coup in 2021, which marked an abrupt end to the country’s democratic transition, triggered a escalating conflict as civilians began to take up arms to fight against the junta. The army is battling a diverse patchwork of opposition groups, in what Acled, which tracks conflicts globally, has described as “the most fragmented conflict in the world”. Su Mon, Acled’s senior analyst for Asia Pacific, said that while the military had sought to portray elections as a managed exit from political crisis and conflict, its counter-offensives had only increased in the run-up to the vote. “In an effort to regain territory, the military continued its repeated airstrikes on civilian areas throughout 2025, leading to the highest number of airstrikes and associated fatalities in any single year since 2021,” she said. Estimates of the death toll from Myanmar’s post-coup conflict vary, though Acled has recorded 92,000 deaths since 2021. The monitoring group places Myanmar second on its conflict index, which measures conflicts based on their deadliness, danger to civilians, geographic diffusion and the number of armed groups involved.