An anonymous Iranian official indicated to Reuters that the death toll from the regime’s recent crackdown on protests has reached at least 5,000 people.
During the period from January 5 to January 15, Iranian resistance groups reported that 127 prisoners, including three women, were executed.
According to Iranian officials speaking with Reuters, out of those fatalities, around 500 were security personnel who died at the hands of protesters. They suggested that these protesters had received support and weapons from “Israeli and foreign armed groups.”
Officials also asserted that many civilian deaths were caused by “terrorists and armed insurgents,” labeling the victims as “innocent Iranians.”
In a speech on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, acknowledged that “thousands” had died, some in “inhumane and barbaric ways,” but he attributed the blame for these deaths to the United States and Israel.
“Those associated with Israel and the United States have caused tremendous damage, killing thousands of people. We hold the president of the United States criminally responsible for the losses, destruction, and disgrace he has brought upon the Iranian people,” Khamenei stated.
The Human Rights Defenders News Agency (HRANA) reported higher casualty figures than the regime, confirming 3,308 deaths as of Saturday and indicating that an additional 4,382 deaths are being investigated. HRANA claimed this is the highest death count from any uprising in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group based abroad, stated that reports indicated 127 prisoners had been executed by the government, sharing the names of the executed individuals in a recent release.
A report from a group of Iranian doctors, mentioned in a London newspaper, suggested that “at least 16,500 protesters were killed and 330,000 injured in two days of sweeping massacres”—the most ruthless response in the clerical regime’s 47 years.
Most of the deceased were reportedly under 30 years old. Medical professionals highlighted that many victims perished in hospitals due to the authorities preventing blood transfusions.
Additionally, thousands of injured individuals suffered significant eye injuries from shotgun and pellet gun blasts. Reports indicated that security forces were actively detaining anyone with visible injuries or bullet wounds who participated in the protests.
Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German eye surgeon who helped establish the Doctors Network during the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising, characterized the crackdown as exceptionally brutal.
He described, “[In 2022] they used rubber bullets and pellet guns to injure eyes. This time, military-grade weaponry is being deployed, leading to bullet and shrapnel wounds in the head, neck, and chest,” as shared via the Starlink satellite, given the regime’s ongoing internet restrictions.
“This is a genocide hidden in digital darkness. They stated they would kill until this ceases, and that is precisely what they are doing,” he added.
A survivor of the massacre remarked, “I want you to tell the whole world that on Friday we shot at everyone. The Revolutionary Guards were calmly aiming at people’s heads.” The IRGC, or Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, serves as an extension of Iran’s theocratic regime, known for both its overseas terrorism and domestic repression.
Reports have emerged that Shiite militia fighters are being transported from Iraq to assist in suppressing the protests.
