Wednesday 14 / January / 2026
Iran's security apparatus has reported the arrest of alleged protest leaders in the west of the country.
State media said intelligence forces from the Revolutionary Guards had detained several people described as "main figures responsible for insecurity" in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.
The remote province saw some of the fiercest clashes at the start of nationwide protests in late December.
After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, the city of Lordegan was hit by severe unrest that left numerous people dead.
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari is a region that has long suffered from neglect by the state, and distrust of the government is rife.
Two men have torn down Iran's flag from its mast at the Iranian Embassy in Berlin, German police said.
Officers said the incident happened Tuesday evening and was linked to ongoing protests against Iran's government.
Police said the men, aged 28 and 33, removed the flag and then tried to raise two historic Iranian flags, but failed to do so. They refused to leave the embassy grounds until security staff used pepper spray, after which police detained them on the sidewalk outside.
The incident comes amid more than two weeks of protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic's authoritarian system.
Berlin police said a group carrying historic Iranian flags had repeatedly approached the embassy before the incident.
Abolished after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the flag features a lion holding a sword with a sun rising behind it.
