Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr, a towering figure in American politics and one of the most enduring voices of the civil rights movement, has died at the age of 84.

With his passing, the US loses a leader whose voice echoed for more than six decades in defence of racial equality, economic justice and religious freedom.

Jackson, a notable figure of the American civil rights movement, was a close associate of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and marched in historic demonstrations for voting rights and racial equality.

After Dr King’s assassination in 1968, when the movement stood at a crossroads, Jackson stepped forward to help carry its moral and political weight. 

He founded Operation Push and later the Rainbow Push Coalition, organisations designed to expand economic opportunity and political participation for African Americans, Latinos, workers, the poor and other marginalised communities.

In 1984 and again in 1988, Jackson sought the Democratic nomination for president. Though he did not win the nomination, his campaigns reshaped the party’s political landscape and broadened the electorate.

Demonstrating that the pursuit of the presidency was not the exclusive domain of the political elite but a platform through which historically silenced voices could assert their place in American democracy, his rallying cry, “keep hope alive,” became more than a campaign slogan; it evolved into a moral declaration that hope itself was the lifeblood of democracy.

Jackson’s advocacy extended well beyond the African American community as he was a vocal supporter of Arab and Muslim American civil rights, particularly during moments of national tension. 

In 2010, amid heated debate over the proposed Islamic community centre near Ground Zero in New York, he publicly defended the project, arguing that religious liberty was a foundational American principle that must not be compromised by fear. To restrict the rights of one faith, he warned, would erode the democratic tradition for all.

In 2011, speaking at a CAIR-Chicago gathering, he reaffirmed his solidarity with Muslim Americans and insisted that justice cannot be measured by religion.

In 2015, when proposals surfaced suggesting mandatory identification cards for Muslims and harsh rhetoric targeted refugees, Jackson joined Muslim demonstrators in suburban Chicago, cautioning that such policies echoed darker chapters of history. For him, civil rights meant defending any community confronted by prejudice or exclusion.

His engagement with Muslim Americans was also visible during the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where he commended American Muslims for their civic participation and emphasised their integral role in the nation’s democratic process, reinforcing his belief that democracy thrives only when all communities are fully represented.

Internationally, Jackson spoke out against apartheid in South Africa, negotiated for the release of prisoners and hostages in Cuba and the Middle East, and pressed corporate America to adopt policies promoting diversity and equal opportunity. 

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, yet his defining characteristic was not the honours he received but the moral courage he consistently displayed in confronting injustice.

Leaders across the US and around the world have described him as a symbol of human dignity, inclusion and perseverance. But perhaps his greatest legacy lies in his role as a bridge builder as he worked to weaken the barriers of race, religion and class, insisting that democracy is not merely majority rule but a promise of participation and equality for all who call the nation home.

Reflecting on his passing, local Muslim leaders said that the sense of loss is profound. The world, they noted, has lost another steadfast advocate for human rights, a voice that rose on behalf of the vulnerable and refused to yield to injustice.

• Drafts will be exchanged before scheduling a third round of talks.
• Iran seeks sanctions relief; Oman says progress made but much work remains.
• US deploys aircraft carriers as Iran holds war games, warns of military threats.

Iran said Tuesday it had agreed with the United States in talks in Geneva on “guiding principles” for a deal to avoid conflict, but Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington’s red lines.

The Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, weeks after the clerically run state killed thousands of people as it crushed mass demonstrations.

Iran’s supreme leader had warned earlier in the day that the country could sink a US warship recently deployed to the region, after President Donald Trump alluded to “consequences” should the two sides fail to strike a deal.

“Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television after Tuesday’s talks, which he described as “more constructive” than the previous round earlier this month.

He added that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, “the drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round (of talks) would be set”.

In Washington, Vance also appeared to indicate that the United States preferred diplomacy but painted a more mixed picture.

“In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards,” Vance said in a Fox News interview.

“But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Vance told “The Story with Martha MacCallum” program.

“We’re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,” Vance said.

Key gaps

Araghchi also acknowledged that it “will take time to narrow” the gap between the countries after the talks with Trump’s friend and roving envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Iran, for years, has been seeking relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, including a US-imposed ban on other countries buying its oil.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had made “good progress”, but likewise cautioned “much work is left to be done”.

Washington has ordered two aircraft carriers to the region as it piles on pressure. The first — the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft — was positioned about 700 kilometres (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed.

Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend.

“A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,” Khamenei said in a speech on Tuesday.

Iran has insisted that the talks be limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed, including Tehran’s ballistic missiles programme and support for armed groups in the region.

War games

Iran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games Monday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for “potential security and military threats”, state television said.

Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the Strait, a strategic route for oil and gas.

A previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has sounded the alarm over newly released files linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, warning that the scale and pattern of abuse outlined in the documents could amount to crimes against humanity. 

Independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council said the allegations point to a deeply entrenched and transnational network that systematically exploited women and girls, and called for a full, impartial investigation.

The experts said crimes outlined in documents released by the US Justice Department were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny.

The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls.

“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the experts said in a statement.

The experts said the allegations contained in the files require an independent, thorough and impartial investigation, and said inquiries should also be launched into how it was possible for such crimes to be committed for so long.

The US Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A law, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support in November, requires all Epstein-related files to be made public.

The UN experts raised concerns about “serious compliance failures and botched redactions” that exposed sensitive victim information. More than 1,200 victims were identified in the documents that have been released so far.

“The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations has left many survivors feeling retraumatised and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting,’” the experts said.

The Justice Department’s release of documents has revealed Epstein’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business – both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.

He was found hanged in his jail cell in 2019 after being arrested again on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His death was ruled a suicide.