WSJ What’s News - Iran’s Bloodiest Crackdown in Decades

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

A.M. Edition for Jan. 27. Rights groups say the death toll could exceed 10,000 or more as new details trickle out of Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests earlier this month. WSJ’s Margherita Stancati says fear and mourning has paralysed the country. Plus, the EU and India reach a free-trade deal, linking together almost two billion consumers. WSJ trade reporter Kim Mackrael says this comes as a number of U.S. trading partners are actively taking steps to curb their reliance on America. And Southwest’s open seating policy is over after more than 50 years. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The EU and India seal a free trade deal decades in the making. Plus, rights groups in Iran break through a communications blackout to shed light on the true death toll in recent protests. Even at lower estimates of the crackdowns, this would rank as one of the biggest political killings in recent history, exceeding even the toll of China's 1989, moved to clear Tiananmen Square. And the latest from Minnesota, as President Trump shakes up his immigration strategy. It's Tuesday, January 27th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. After two decades of on-again-off-again talks, the European Union and India say they've reached a free trade deal.

The deal will be the largest for both economies, linking together almost two billion consumers, And as trade reporter Kim McCraill is here to discuss, it comes as a number of U.S. trading partners are actively taking steps to curb their reliance on America. Kim, thanks for being with us this morning. What should we know about this agreement, the broadstrokes? It's quite a big deal, actually, for both economies. They both say it's the largest one they have done with a bilateral trading partner. And it includes some pretty big concessions in terms of lowering tariffs on the Indian side. They're looking at quite a significant drop from the current level of 110.

percent tariffs on European cars. That's supposed to gradually go down to eventually hit 10 percent. We don't yet know exactly the timeline for that, but that could be quite a significant new market for European automakers. It is capped at 250,000, so it's not a notable one. We're looking at lower tariffs from India on European machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and some agricultural goods. So quite a bit there. It's also, for the Indian side, it's quite a a big deal to be lowering some of those tariffs because it's a country that has long had quite a bit of protection on its market. And some of the lower tariffs, according to the EU, are the biggest India has offered to a trading partner so far. And Kim, this is coming at a very

helpful time for India as well when trade barriers between it and the U.S., notably, have been going up. That's right. Yeah. So India has been hit by 50% tariffs last year by the Trump administration. Those are some of the highest tariff levels that the U.S. is applied to its trading partners. So this deal is expected to carry some benefits for India's textiles, jewelry, leather industries. And it also follows on a free trade agreement that India agreed to last year with the UK. So they're really hoping that it will help with shoring up their global supply chains. And Kim, this is a good segue to discussing how other big U.S. trading partners are positioning themselves lately. We reported earlier this month on Canada opening up its auto and its energy.

energy sectors to Chinese products also inviting investment by Beijing into Canada, but there's more than Canada to talk about here. Yeah, that's right. So I think what we're seeing right now is a lot of different trading partners of the U.S., looking around the globe and looking for what are some alternative markets or some other markets where we can boost our trade ties. And it's a little bit for many of them a hedging exercise as they deal with a U.S. that is less predictable than it was before and try to find some alternative market options. So we saw some of that. center around China recently. We saw South Korea's leader and recently talk about wanting a full-scale

restoration of ties with China. We were seeing some European leaders head to Beijing. Finland's Prime Minister has a meeting with Xi Jinping today in Beijing. British Prime Minister Kirstarmer is expected to be there and Germany's leader is also expected to travel there next month. Maybe one of the notable ones here is the UK actually restarted trade talks with China last year after holding off for quite a time. So China's of interest because it's a really large economy, but it does also carry some big risks. A lot of trading partners of the U.S. are quite aware of those. So the EU has also talked about starting negotiations with other countries. They've talked about Qatar, about the United Arab Emirates. The U.K. has also done a number of deals, including previously last year with India, updating an

agreement with South Korea. I don't know which one might be next to come, but I think we're going to see these countries increasingly continuing to look for alternative trading options like this. I've been speaking to Wall Street Journal trade reporter Kim McRale in Brussels. Kim, thank you so much for the update. Thanks so much, Luke. We go now to Iran, where details are emerging about one of the bloodiest crackdowns in the country in decades. Iran shut off the Internet and blocked communications earlier this month,

trying to keep the world in the dark about the deadly wave of violence. violence it used to crush anti-government protests. And now, as rights groups investigate, they say they're uncovering evidence that the death toll is far higher than they originally thought, as the journal's Margarita Stankati reports. We knew from very early on that many people were killed when the government responded with brutal force, especially on January 8th and 9th. But Iranians are beginning to share their accounts with family, friends, and activists outside. The true scale of the killings is only now becoming clear.

For instance, one group called Human Rights Activists in Iran has now confirmed close to 6,000 dead, and more government forces were also killed, but they're also investigating something like 17,000 dead. Other groups are also saying that they believe the death toll is close to 10,000 possibly higher than that. That would make it one of the deadliest episodes since the establishment of the Islamic Republic and even exceed the death toll of China's crackdown on Tiananmen Square in 1989. And Margarita says the sheer scale of violence has repressed protests and sent a chill through the Iranian population. The country is in a state of shock, in a state of mourning. Almost everyone you speak to, or at least that we've spoken to, knows someone who was killed or at least injured in the protests. And many parts of the country, there's an quasi-martial law in place. What we're hearing is that after dark people are told to stay home.

There's a heavy security presence on the streets. And we still don't know exactly how many people have been arrested, but some rights groups speak of tens of thousands of arrests. What we'll be watching is how many of those arrests will lead to convictions that potentially carry the death penalty. If so, we could see many more people dying following the protests. And the rising number of deaths could have geopolitical significance, with the U.S. moving an aircraft carrier to the Middle East in the event of a possible strike on Iran. President Trump held off attacking Iran earlier this month, saying that the country had stopped killing protesters but said he was monitoring the situation. Coming up, we've got the rest of the day's news, including a potential

antitrust red flag for Netflix's Warner Deal and the end of an era of dashing to grab your seat on Southwest Airlines. Those stories and more after the break. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino is set to leave Minnesota, along with some of his agents, in a sign of a potential change in President Trump's immigration strategy. Trump has sent his borders our Tom Homan to the state instead in an attempt to try and de-escalate tensions following two fatal shootings at the hands of federal agents. Even before Adam Pretti was shot dead on Saturday, a string of recent polls had shown Trump losing support on immigration. We've also learned that Trump worried that enforcement activities in Minnesota looked chaotic, not strong,

as some in the administration privately voiced concern about tactics on the ground. The White House has said Trump will reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota if local officials there increase their cooperation with federal authorities. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is just days away from a partial shutdown. To avoid that, the Senate needs to pass a package of six remaining appropriations bills covering a range of departments, including most notably the Department of Homeland Security. That DHS funding includes more than $18 billion for customs and border protection and $10 billion for immigration and customs enforcement, something that Senate Democrats say

they won't support unless significant new restrictions and oversight are written into the legislation, including more use of body cameras. Here was New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim on MS Now. Immediately what we can do is say we're not going to vote on this as a package. We should pull out the DHS part of the appropriations, have an independent vote on this, be able to have a public discussion about this. It's the same thing that the House did. The House had independent votes on these different pieces of appropriations, and we should in the Senate too.

The White House isn't on board with that plan, and neither is Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who urged Democrats to advance the full spending package without delay. It is so important that we do so because looming is a government shutdown, another harmful, unnecessary, and disastrous government shutdown if we do not complete our work. Republicans currently hold a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate, but will need bipartisan support to hit the 60-vote threshold required to pass the spending package. Staying in Washington, the chair of the Senate's antitrust panel has warned that Netflix's proposed $72 billion takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery could substantially lessen competition

in the streaming market. A Warner spokesman said the company is complying with all relevant laws in its dealings with Netflix, while Netflix has declined to comment. The Justice Department is currently reviewing the merger for potential antitrust issues, and a Senate subcommittee hearing to discuss the deal is set for February 3rd. The takeover faces additional pressure from a $77.9 billion rival bid by Paramount. And on the earnings docket today, all eyes will be on Boeing's Q4 results, which are due later this morning. In spite of ongoing safety issues, the company is expected to have outsold Airbus for the first time since 2018. Aerospace reporter Drew Fitzgerald says Boeing is gaining momentum as regulators ease production caps to meet a

log of orders, and as the company reaps the rewards of President Trump's promotion of U.S. industrial giants in global trade talks. One thing working for Boeing is the company's sheer size. As the biggest U.S. exporter, what's good for Boeing, is often good for the country, and the Trump administration has often championed the business despite the president's long list of complaints about Air Force One. So Boeing has signed some big orders tied to some bilateral agreements between the U.S. and other countries around the world.

I think investors are going to be focused on two things. What's the company's long-term plan to keep pumping out passenger jets quickly and how quickly can it improve its finances? Boeing has been burning through cash for a long time, and investors are waiting for details on when it might start turning the ship around and maybe even return some of that cash to shareholders. And if you're flying on Southwest today, you may want to book your seats ahead of time.

That's because after more than 50 years, the airline's open seating policy is over, a change it announced back in July 2024. Journal Travel columnist Don Gilbertson says the switch follows investor pressure on the airline to boost revenue, which also saw it end its Bags Fly Free Policy back in May. Southwest has had open seating since the airline started flying in 1971. And one of the early slogans for

this open seating was, it's just like church, sit anywhere you want. I mean, the two things the airline has been known for are open seating and free bags. And both of those have gone by the wayside, you know, in the past year and a half. And a lot of that was driven by this activist investor, Elliott management. We thought Southwest just wasn't doing enough. You know, other airlines are bringing in billions from seat fees and bag fees and attracting premium. travelers and Southwest, you know, they thought was just really leaving money on the table. Dawn told us she spent the last few days flying on packed Southwest flights where she heard mixed reactions about the changes at an airline that's a favorite of Wall Street

Journal readers. Southwest just won best airline in our survey for 2025. And Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Waterson tells me pretty confidently that the switch to assigned seating rather than hurt them will actually help them. You know, loyalists, a lot of them love open seating. But one group that is almost unequivocally happy with the switch to assigned seats is Southwest flight attendants because they for years have had to referee seat disputes. They've had to school people on open seating. You know, flight attendants right now spend a lot of time trying to help passengers find, you know, the last few remaining

seats and they call them spinners because they're walking up and down the aisle looking for a seat. Well, that problem goes away with assigned seating. So Southwest really thinks this is going to help their on-time performance. And that's it for what's news for this Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach and Hattie Moyer. Our supervising producer was Sandra Kilhoff and I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with the new show. And until then, thanks for listening. You know,