Iran's Leader Reports 'Several Thousand' Fatalities Amid Anti-Regime Protests

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has acknowledged that thousands of people have been killed, “some with the utmost inhumanity”, during a wave of protests that were brutally repressed in the country.

The protests erupted on 28 December over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.

But demonstrations have subsided after the crackdown that rights groups say left more than 3,000 people dead, under an internet blackout that has lasted more than a week.

Alarm has mounted over the reported death toll during the crackdown, as verifying cases remains difficult under the severe internet restrictions.

The United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, and over 22,000 arrests.

The rights organization Iran Human Rights, headquartered in Norway, has confirmed that 3,428 protesters have lost their lives at the hands of security forces. However, the group cautions that the true number of casualties could be significantly higher.

Last week, Iran’s prosecutor general said detainees would face severe punishment. Those held included people who “aided rioters and terrorists attacking security forces and public property” and “mercenaries who took up arms and spread fear among citizens,” he said.

State media quoted Mohammad Movahedi Azad as saying that investigations would be conducted “without leniency, mercy or tolerance”.

During a televised speech on Saturday, Khamenei urged his followers, stating, “With God’s help, the Iranian people must overpower the insurgents just as they did in the past.”

Addressing remarks seemingly directed at Trump, Khamenei emphasized, “While we will not lead the country into war, neither will we allow those guilty of domestic or international crimes to escape justice,” as reported by state media.

Khamenei has accused US President Donald Trump of inciting the protests and blamed him for the subsequent deaths, saying: “We consider the US president criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene, including by threatening “very strong action” if Iran executed protesters. But on Friday, in a social media post, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they had called off mass hangings.

In comments that appeared to respond to Trump, Khamenei said: “We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” state media reported.

Iranian authorities have blamed the latest wave of demonstrations on the US and Israel, saying they fuelled a “terrorist operation” that hijacked peaceful protests over the economy.

Internet monitor Netblocks said on Saturday “internet connectivity continues to flatline in Iran despite a minor short-lived bump in access earlier today, when new reports of atrocities emerged”.

People in Iran were reportedly again able to send text messages within the country and to outside numbers but were still often unable to receive texts from those abroad.

Rights groups say there have been no verifiable reports of protests in recent days and videos circulating on social media have shown a heavy security presence in some areas.