PRETORIA (AP) — A group of about 100 pro-democracy activists from Eswatini protested Friday at the U.S Embassy in South Africa's capital over their country's deal to receive five immigrants deported by the U.S.
The activists likened the arrangement to human trafficking, and said their country's absolute monarch, King Mswati III, entered into the deal without consulting parliament. They also alleged he is secretly obtaining benefits from the arrangement that are not being shared with the Eswatini people.
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A leader of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, speaks during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A member of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, holds a placard at they protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Members of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, hold placards during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Members of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, hold placards during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
The five men were deported to Eswatini in July and are currently being held at a maximum-security prison where their lawyers allege they have not been granted access to see them.
The deportations are part of the US administration’s expanding third-country program to send migrants to countries in Africa that they have no ties with to get them off U.S. soil.
The U.S. administration wants to deter immigrants from entering the country illegally and to deport those who already have done so, especially those with criminal records who cannot easily be sent to their home countries.
The U.S. government has said that the five immigrants sent to Eswatini -- from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba, and Yemen -- all had been convicted of serious crimes, including murder and robbery. and that their home countries did not want them. Lawyers for the deportees have disputed that the home countries were unwilling to accept them.
Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda, while a fourth African nation, Uganda, says it has agreed to a deal in principle with the U.S. to accept deportees.
The protesters, including members of exiled pro-democracy groups, said they decided to stage their protest in South Africa because any such protests would be quashed by security forces in Eswatini, where political parties are banned.
They brandished placards and posters demanding that the deportees be removed to their countries of origin, while seeking to underline their drive for democratic reforms in their country.
They also called on neighboring countries in Southern Africa to put pressure on King Mswati III to reverse this decision and not enter into any agreements with the U.S. to receive more deportees.
One of the organizers of the protest, Philile Khumalo, said the deal to receive the deportees was steeped in secrecy.
“We call this a shadowy deal because literally they were dropped with a massive US plane at 2:30 in the morning and parliament did not even know about it. This was never even debated or brought to parliament,” Khumalo said.
The protesters also claimed there were plans by the government to receive even more deportees to the tiny nation.
The Eswatini government has said the deportees will eventually be moved to their countries of origin, which would undermine claims by the U.S. government that those countries have been unwilling to receive the deportees.
A leader of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, speaks during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A member of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, holds a placard at they protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Members of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, hold placards during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Members of Eswatin Pro-democracy activists, hold placards during their protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.
“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network. Al Jazeera has been allowed to report from inside the country live despite the internet being shut off.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
