U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened again to strike Iran "very hard" if its authorities "start killing people" protesting in the Middle Eastern country.
"I have let them know that if they start killing people ... we are going to hit them very hard," Trump said in an interview with a conservative radio.
The U.S. president and other senior U.S. officials recently warned on several occasions that the U.S. would act if Iran "kills peaceful protesters."
On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as "interventionist and deceptive" remarks by the Trump administration on recent unrest in the country, saying they reflected the U.S. continued hostility toward the Iranian people.
The U.S. comments on Iran's internal affairs were part of a long-standing policy of pressure and interference, rather than genuine concern for the welfare of Iranians, said the ministry in a statement.
Protests have erupted in several Iranian cities since late last month over the sharp fall in the rial and long-standing economic hardships. Iranian authorities have acknowledged the demonstrations and said they are willing to address economic grievances, while warning against violence, vandalism and unrest.
Dozens of people, including protesters and members of the security forces, have been killed since the protests began, according to various reports. There is no official figure for the death toll.
US president threatens to hit Iran 'very hard'
US president threatens to hit Iran 'very hard'
The International Organization for Mediation (IOMed), the world's first intergovernmental legal organization dedicated to resolving international disputes through mediation, fills an institutional gap in international mediation, the body's Secretary-General Teresa Cheng said.
In a recent interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing, Cheng talked about the significance of IMOed's inauguration in October 2025.
"If we look at the United Nations Charter again, Article 33, we've provided for these forms of dispute resolution. Yet for 80 years, somehow there is not a body that is dedicated exclusively to mediation. And I think that triggered these 19 countries when they made their joint statement to say, let's establish such a body, so it is filling the institutional gap. The second thing is that it also complements the existing dispute resolution mechanisms. Litigation arbitration is at the moment still a prevailing form of dispute resolution, but the states see the need, also called upon by the UN Charter, to establish something exclusively for mediation to complement the existing systems," said Cheng. "There are a number of states, in particular those from the Global South, are very interested in having a say in the development of this new body. Therefore, through this organization, there are, as I said, 38 signatory states now. I think the world is in a very interesting stage at the moment. There are a lot of differences, sometimes views get entrenched. By having a body that brings into effect inclusivity multilateralism, and of course, accommodating and understanding each other through dialogue, is a very important feature." she said.
Housing the organization in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR) also showed China's willingness to contribute to international mediation, said Cheng.
"The fact that we are housed and placed in the Hong Kong SAR, part of China, is because China is willing to contribute to this development, and Hong Kong very generously allows us to put our headquarters in one of the heritage buildings in Hong Kong," she added.
IOMed fills institutional gap in international mediation: secretary-general
