• IRGC commander warns Israel, US “to avoid any miscalculations”.
• Ready to carry out orders of supreme commander: commander.
• Pakpour warns Israel, US to learn from historical experiences.
  

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned Israel and the US against “miscalculations” in the wake of mass protests, saying the force had its “finger on the trigger”.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly left open the option of new military action against the Islamic republic after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war in June.

A fortnight of protests starting in late December shook the clerical leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the movement has petered out in the face of a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.

Guards commander General Mohammad Pakpour warned Israel and the United States “to avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experiences and what they learned in the 12-day imposed war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate”.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief — a leader dearer than their own lives,” he said, referring to Khamenei.

His comments came in a written statement quoted by state television marking the national day in Iran to celebrate the Guards, a force whose mission is to protect the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.

Pakpour took over as Guards commander last year after his predecessor Hossein Salami was one of several key military figures killed in an Israeli strike during the 12-day war, losses which revealed Israel’s deep intelligence penetration of the Islamic republic.

Giving their first official toll from the protests, Iranian authorities on Wednesday said 3,117 people were killed.

The statement from the Islamic republic’s foundation for martyrs and veterans sought to draw a distinction between “martyrs”, who it said were members of security forces and innocent bystanders, and what it described as “rioters” backed by the US.

Of its toll of 3,117, it said 2,427 people were martyrs.

• Police say operation underway in the town of Lake Cargelligo.
• Two women, one man among those dead; one taken to hospital.
• Urge public to avoid area, local residents to stay inside.

SYDNEY: Three people have been shot dead in an attack in the Australian state of New South Wales, police said on Thursday, with local media reporting the gunman remained at large and the shooting was a suspected incident of domestic violence.

Police said an operation was underway in the town of Lake Cargelligo, about 611 kilometres (379 miles) west of Sydney, and urged residents to stay indoors.

Emergency services were called to the scene following reports of a shooting in the late afternoon.

Two women and one man were killed, and another man has been taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition, police said.

“A police operation is currently underway at Lake Cargelligo,” police said in a statement on social media.

“The public is urged to avoid the area, and for local residents to stay inside.”

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported the incident was a suspected domestic violence attack and that a gunman was believed to be holed up in the town with a long-arm weapon.

Lake Cargelligo is located in New South Wales’ Central West region, and has a population of about 1,100, according to the 2021 census.

The shooting comes one month after two gunmen opened fire at an event on Bondi Beach celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, killing 15 people in Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.

Australia on Tuesday passed new laws to enable a national gun buyback and tighten background checks for firearm licences in response to the shooting.

New South Wales, which has the most guns of any state in the country, has also passed laws to limit individuals to possession of four guns and mandate gun club membership for licence holders.

• “Putin was invited, he’s accepted. Many people have,” says Trump.
• Trump admits some figures asked to join board “controversial”.
• Dozens of leaders invited with request for $1bn permanent seat.
  

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Russia’s Vladimir Putin had agreed to join his controversial “Board of Peace” — despite the Kremlin so far saying it was still studying the invite.

“He was invited, he’s accepted. Many people have accepted,” Trump told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, referring to his so-far vaguely defined grouping of world leaders.

Asked about criticism that he is reaching out to non-democratic figures, Trump said some were “controversial” but “if I put all babies on the board, it wouldn’t be very much”.

In Moscow, Putin told a cabinet meeting that he had ordered his foreign ministry to study the proposal.

“The Russian foreign ministry has been charged with studying the documents that were sent to us and to consult on the topic with our strategic partners,” Putin said during a televised government meeting.

“It is only after that we’ll be able to reply to the invitation,” he said.

He said that Russia could pay the billion dollars being asked for permanent membership “from the Russian assets frozen under the previous American administration”.

He added that the assets could also be used “to reconstruct the territories damaged by the hostilities, after the conclusion of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine”.

Invites were sent to dozens of world leaders with a request for $1 billion for a permanent seat on the board.

Although originally meant to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Strip and appears to want to rival the United Nations, drawing the ire of some US allies including France.