US President Donald Trump, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davis, claimed that he has ended eight wars since returning to power. President Trump said that due to America’s recent foreign policy, global tensions have significantly decreased. Talking about Iran, President Trump praised the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year and claimed that as a result of these attacks, Iran’s nuclear capability was completely destroyed. According to him, Iran is now willing to negotiate and is showing its willingness to talk to the US.

President Trump, referring to the US operations against ISIS in Syria, said that positive progress is being made in the region and the security threats facing Europe, the US and the Middle East have significantly decreased.

He said that a year ago, the world was in a serious crisis, but now the situation is relatively better and more stable.

On this occasion, President Trump officially announced the establishment of his proposed global forum, the ‘Board of Peace’. He said that the purpose of this forum is to provide an effective platform for resolving international disputes.

According to President Trump, 59 countries are involved in peace efforts in the Middle East and many world leaders are interested in becoming part of this forum.

Later, President Trump also signed the Charter of the Board of Peace in Davos. The leaders of Bahrain and Morocco were also present on this occasion.

After signing the documents, President Trump presented them to the media, after which other world leaders also came and signed the Charter.

Speaking about Gaza, President Trump said that if Hamas does not give up its weapons, the situation could become more serious.

He clarified that the United States will continue to work with other international organizations, including the United Nations.

• “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.

• Tehran shows charred buses, highlights destruction from unrest.
• Authorities praise security forces’ restraint during protest wave.
• Exiled royals urge continued protests, say there’s no turning back.

Iran on Wednesday put the protest death toll at 3,117, terming the unrest “foreign-backed acts of terrorism” and declaring 2,427 Iranians, including civilians and security personnel, as martyrs.

Demonstrations and strikes initially sparked by economic grievances turned into a mass movement against the present leadership that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution, with people pouring onto the streets in mass protests for several days from January 8.

However, the protests appear for now to have petered out in the face of what activists describe as a crackdown under the cover of a blanket internet shutdown.

The Iranian authorities have condemned the protest wave as a “terrorist” incident characterised by violent “riots” fuelled by the United States.

In the first official toll from the authorities, a statement by Iran’s foundation for veterans and martyrs, cited by state television, said a total of 3,117 people were killed during protests.

Of these, 2,427 people, including members of the security forces, were declared “martyrs”, with the statement calling them “innocent” victims.

The official toll was also posted by the Iranian Embassy in Islamabad in its X post, labelling the protests as “foreign-backed acts of terrorism” which claimed thousands of lives.

“The 690 people who are not among the martyrs are terrorists, rioters, and those who attacked military sites,” Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, told state TV.

He said the high number of “martyrs” showed “restraint and tolerance of the security forces” during protests.

‘No turning back’

In a bid to show the damage caused by the protests, Tehran municipality on Wednesday showed journalists on an escorted official tour roughly a dozen charred buses lined up in the parking lot of a bus depot in the capital.

A key protagonist in the protest movement was Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted shah. The US-based Pahlavi called for nightly protests and said he was ready to return to Iran.

In a rare interview, his mother, the former empress Farah Pahlavi, told AFP from her home in Paris in written answers to questions that there was “no turning back” after the wave of protests.

US President Donald Trump has never ruled out military action over the crackdown, although expectations of a swift American response have now receded.

Iranian General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, warned Trump that Tehran would attack him if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was targeted.

In a News Nation interview that aired Tuesday, Trump responded: “I have very firm instructions. Anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”