By Parisa Hafezi and Nayera Abdallah

Dubai, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iran's deadly crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests for now, according to a rights group and residents, as state media reported more arrests on Friday in the shadow of U.S. threats to intervene if killing continues.

After President Donald Trump's repeated threats of military action against Iran in support of protesters, fears of a U.S. attack have retreated since Wednesday, when Trump said he'd been told killings in the crackdown were easing.

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's defence ministry said on Friday that Minister Angie Motshekga had launched an inquiry into Iran's participation in the BRICS+ naval exercises held in South African waters over the past week.

The defence ministry said in a statement that the inquiry would seek to determine whether South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's instructions regarding Iran's involvement were misrepresented and/or ignored.

Protests in Iran have subsided after a crackdown that has killed thousands under an internet blackout, monitors said Friday, a week after the start of the largest demonstrations in years challenging the country's theocratic system.

Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's late shah, however, said he was confident the Islamic republic would fall and called for intervention, though the threat of new military action by the United States against Iran has appeared to have receded for the time being.

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in the Middle East and Iran by phone on Friday, the Kremlin said.

Putin offered Netanyahu Russia's help in mediating in regards to Iran, and told the Israeli leader he was "in favour of intensifying political and diplomatic efforts to ensure stability and security in the region," the Kremlin said.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Gleb Bryanski)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will hold talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin Tuesday as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.

On his first visit to Germany since ousting Syria's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa is also set to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The former Islamist rebel chief has made frequent overseas trips as he undergoes a rapid reinvention, including to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted.

LESBOS, Greece, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Over two dozen aid workers involved in refugee rescues in Greece were acquitted of migrant smuggling charges in a multi-year case that rights groups said was a baseless attempt to ban aid for refugees heading to Europe.

European Union countries, including Greece - where more than one million people came ashore during Europe's refugee crisis in 2015-16 - are tightening rules on migration as right-wing parties gain ground across the bloc.

By Emily Rose

JERUSALEM, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Israel is grappling with a dramatic increase in post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among its troops after its two-year assault on Gaza, precipitated by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Recent reports by the Defence Ministry and by health providers have detailed the military's mental health crisis, which comes as fighting persists in Gaza and Lebanon and as tensions flare with Iran.

Mouayed Zabtia shoots most scenes for his latest movie in a studio he built at his Tripoli home. For the filmmaker, it is one way to overcome the obstacles he faces in a country where cinema once nearly vanished.

Before a 1969 coup that brought Moamer Kadhafi to power, Libya's capital Tripoli was home to more than 20 movie theatres.

"Today we have none," Zabtia told AFP.

Kadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011, and though the censorship of his era has declined, its effects are still deeply felt through underinvestment and public disinterest.

Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Peru of $1.5 billion in equipment and services to support the country's efforts to shift its main naval base in the city of Callao, the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday, so it can expand a neighboring seaport.

The Peruvian government plans to relocate its naval base at Callao, on the coast just west of the capital Lima, a few kilometers away.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the formation of a Gaza "board of peace," a key phase two element of a US-backed plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, adding that the members of the body will be announced "shortly."

"I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place," Trump said.