As Iran Protests Grow, Thousands Killed by Regime

Amid a near-total internet blackout and rising death toll in Iran, the United States weighs options, applies sanctions.

Nights in Tehran, Iran, are increasingly violent, an Iranian woman who recently left Iran told The Epoch Times.

She said security forces often move through crowds on motorcycles, firing indiscriminately. She said in the mornings she saw bodies in public areas and blood on the streets.

The streets, which fill with crowds each day by late afternoon, resemble “front lines,” and the sound of gunfire filters into people’s homes, she said. The woman, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, said she had traveled to Tehran to visit family shortly before the protests began. She left the country on Jan. 12 to return to the Netherlands.

The current protests are far larger and more intense than previous unrest, she said, including the unrest following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. Amini was a Kurdish Iranian woman whose arrest and subsequent death sparked protests across the globe.

The mood in Tehran is quiet and heavy, she said, with people looking exhausted and sad.

As protests in Iran against the regime stretched beyond two weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump issued his strongest and most direct message yet in support of protesters, urging them to “take over [their] institutions” and “save the names of the killers and abusers.”

He wrote in all caps, “Help is on the way.”

In a post on Truth Social on Jan. 13, Trump said he will not hold meetings with Iranian officials until the killing of protesters stops and warned that those responsible will “pay a big price.”

Iran’s protests have spread across the country as residents face a sixth consecutive day of a near-total internet shutdown.

Government agents in some areas are going door to door and removing satellite dishes from homes, according to reports by the Associated Press. Satellite television is widely used in Iran, and many families rely on it to access foreign news not available through state-controlled media. These actions, combined with the internet blackout, have made it increasingly difficult for people inside the country to communicate or share information.

The communications clampdown has also made it challenging to assess the actual death toll, which is feared to be much higher than estimates, which vary widely. London-based news channel Iran International reported on Jan. 13 that after a two-day, multisource verification process involving information from senior security and government sources, eyewitnesses, hospital data, and medical professionals, it has concluded that at least 12,000 people have been killed, mainly over two consecutive nights in early January.

According to the outlet, the deaths resulted from a coordinated operation carried out primarily by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij forces, not from spontaneous clashes. Sources indicate that the operation was conducted under direct orders from Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, with the approval of Iran’s top governing bodies, Iran International reported. Many of the victims were younger than 30.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported on Jan. 12 that at least 646 people had been killed (including 505 protesters and nine children) and that more than 10,721 protesters had been arrested.

“In addition, 579 other reports of deaths remain under review,” the group stated online.

An Iranian official confirmed to Reuters on Jan. 13 that at least 2,000 people have been killed, blaming “terrorists.”

Even by conservative estimates, the death toll from the current protests is the highest from any round of unrest in Iran in decades.

In recent days, images and video footage circulating online have shown large numbers of bodies at forensic facilities in Iran as families gather to mourn and identify the dead. The footage has increased international concern over the scale of the clampdown on protesters, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the rising death toll “horrifying” in a Jan. 12 social media post.

“The European Union has already listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety under its human rights sanctions regime,” Von der Leyen said.

Several European countries, including Spain, France, and Belgium, have summoned Iranian ambassadors in protest and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced on X that she had banned all Iranian diplomatic staff and representatives from all European Parliament premises.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed the deadly violence on what he described as terrorists and rioters, and organized a pro-government rally on Jan. 12. He claimed that the killings were carried out by armed groups and denied responsibility by state security forces.

By Shahrzad Ghanei

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