Welcome again to World Transient, the place we’re taking a look at Iran’s coverage of executing protesters, U.S. ambitions to annex Greenland, and China’s large commerce surplus.
Tehran’s Dying Penalty
Iranian authorities had been ready on Wednesday to execute 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, an anti-government protester who was detained simply days earlier. Nevertheless, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “robust motion”—together with potential U.S. army intervention—if Tehran carried out dying sentences, Iran appeared to backtrack.
Welcome again to World Transient, the place we’re taking a look at Iran’s coverage of executing protesters, U.S. ambitions to annex Greenland, and China’s large commerce surplus.
Tehran’s Dying Penalty
Iranian authorities had been ready on Wednesday to execute 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, an anti-government protester who was detained simply days earlier. Nevertheless, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “robust motion”—together with potential U.S. army intervention—if Tehran carried out dying sentences, Iran appeared to backtrack.
“Now we have been advised that the killing in Iran is stopping” and that “there isn’t a plan for executions,” Trump mentioned on Wednesday, including that he was “knowledgeable by essential sources on the opposite aspect.” There was no affirmation elsewhere that Tehran not plans to hold out its threatened executions.
Iran has a historical past of executing protesters, together with over the past wave of main demonstrations, which started in 2022 when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was allegedly killed by Tehran’s morality police. Final week, Tehran’s public prosecutor mentioned that demonstrators may face dying by hanging. And on Wednesday, the top of Iran’s judiciary signaled that the general public ought to count on quick trials and executions within the coming days. Soltani’s killing could be the primary dying penalty to be carried out towards a protester because the mass anti-government motion erupted in late December.
“We don’t need to see what’s occurring in Iran occur,” Trump advised CBS Information late Tuesday. “[I]f they need to have protests, that’s one factor. After they begin killing hundreds of individuals, and now you’re telling me about hanging—we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.”
It’s unclear what U.S. intervention may seem like, however some U.S. personnel have begun to evacuate from key army bases within the Center East as a precaution after Iran warned that it will goal U.S. bases in retaliation.
What began as demonstrations towards excessive inflation and poor forex charges reworked into one of many largest challenges to Iran’s management in years. Greater than 3,400 folks have been killed and greater than 10,000 others arrested up to now two weeks, in line with the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group, although some estimates recommend that the dying toll may very well be even greater.
That is “essentially the most violent repression in Iran’s up to date historical past,” French International Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X on Wednesday.
Iranian authorities shut down most web entry within the nation and restricted cellphone providers in addition to focused Starlink satellite tv for pc web terminals, that are already banned in Iran, partly to stop information of the protests from reaching the skin world. This has made actual casualty figures troublesome to return by. On Wednesday, Iran’s near-total telecommunications shutdown surpassed 144 hours to turn into “among the many longest on document,” web blackout monitor NetBlocks posted on X—regardless of Starlink providing free service to these in Iran. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, some within the nation had been capable of make cell phone calls overseas for the primary time in days.
On Tuesday, Trump posted to Reality Social that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” for Iranian protesters, suggesting potential U.S. intervention within the close to future. Inside hours, the USA started to withdraw some personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which is the biggest U.S. army set up within the Center East and serves as ahead headquarters for U.S. Central Command. Throughout the 12-day Israel-Iran battle in June 2025, Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles at Al Udeid in retaliation for U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear amenities.
The Iranian army’s chief of employees, Abdolrahim Mousavi, accused international enemies—together with the USA and Israel—on Wednesday of being behind the nation’s lethal unrest, saying Iran had “by no means confronted this quantity of destruction.”
In the present day’s Most Learn
What We’re Following
U.S. ambitions for Greenland. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Danish International Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic International Minister Vivian Motzfeldt on the White Home on Wednesday to debate U.S. ambitions to annex Greenland.
The deliberate assembly got here simply hours after Trump posted on Reality Social that the USA wants management of the Danish territory for “nationwide safety” functions, arguing that it’s critical for the USA’ proposed “Golden Dome” missile protection initiative (which has but to return to fruition). Beforehand, Trump has claimed that U.S. possession of Greenland is important for its wealth of important minerals and strategic Arctic location.
“NATO turns into much more formidable and efficient with Greenland within the fingers of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote on Reality Social on Wednesday. “Something lower than that’s unacceptable.”
In response, Denmark and Greenland introduced that there could be “an expanded army presence in and round Greenland” in cooperation with NATO allies, in an effort to profit “each European and transatlantic safety.” European leaders have warned that U.S. annexation of the island may threaten the alliance’s very survival.
Many Greenlandic officers have lengthy sought a coverage of independence from Denmark. However Trump’s threats have pressured these leaders to shift their strategy.
“It’s not the time to gamble with our proper to self-determination, when one other nation is speaking about taking us over,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen advised native media on Wednesday. “That doesn’t imply that we don’t need one thing sooner or later. However right here and now, we’re a part of the dominion, and we stand with the dominion.”
Beijing’s large 12 months. China recorded the world’s largest commerce surplus in historical past on Wednesday, with exports reaching practically $1.2 trillion in 2025. This marked a rise of 20 p.c from 2024, when the nation’s surplus surpassed $992 billion, as Chinese language exports surged to the European Union, Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
The excess occurred regardless of the White Home’s world commerce battle, as Trump’s sweeping tariffs pushed China to diversify away from the USA and search different markets for its exports. China’s push for self-reliance—outlined in an preliminary sketch of its newest five-year financial plan, unveiled in October—additionally resulted in weak imports that additional contributed to the commerce surplus.
Around the globe, international locations as soon as near the USA are actually hoping to safe higher commerce offers with China. On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney grew to become the most recent chief to take action, touring to Beijing for a three-day state go to to debate China turning into a much bigger shopper of Canadian items. That is the primary journey to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
Looming snap election. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve parliament subsequent week and maintain a snap election in February. “We have to search a contemporary mandate,” Shunichi Suzuki, the secretary-general of Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Get together (LDP), mentioned on Wednesday. This shall be Japan’s second common election in lower than 16 months.
Takaichi hopes to capitalize on her cupboard’s excessive public approval scores to revive the LDP’s parliamentary majority. Since taking workplace in October, assist for Takaichi has skyrocketed over her dealing with of Tokyo’s worsening feud with Beijing, which started after she advised that Japan may take army motion towards China if it had been to assault Taiwan.
Nevertheless, the election’s timing could complicate the passage of Japan’s 2026 finances, which have to be permitted earlier than the fiscal 12 months ends in March. The finances, price $783 billion, features a controversial $135.4 billion stimulus bundle that has spooked bond markets. Following hypothesis on Tuesday that Takaichi would name a snap vote, Japanese shares surged to an all-time excessive, and the yen tumbled.
Odds and Ends
Animals at Rio de Janeiro’s BioParque zoo are combating the warmth with chilly treats. Zookeepers handed out frozen fruit, popsicles, and different icy snacks on Tuesday to assist the animals keep cool throughout Brazil’s excessive summer time warmth; native temperatures reached greater than 104 levels Fahrenheit on Sunday and Monday, prompting metropolis authorities to difficulty a Stage 3 warmth alert.
