Iran Reports Violent Suppression; Witnesses Say Death Toll Exceeds 3,00

The New York Times reported on Tuesday (January 13th) that witnesses described that the Iranian government forces fired at unarmed protesters, and so far, as many as 3,000 people have died.

The Iranian government has imposed an almost total communication blockade on the recent nationwide mass protests. However, the gradually emerging videos and the testimonies of witnesses indicate that the Iranian government is carrying out a deadly suppression of the unrest.

Witnesses said that the government forces began shooting at unarmed protesters, and they claimed that they were clearly using automatic weapons and sometimes seemed to be conducting indiscriminate shootings. Hospital staff said that most of the people who were previously admitted to the hospital had been injured by shotgun blasts, but now they all have gunshot wounds and skull fractures. A doctor called it a "mass casualty incident".

Despite the communication blockade, the images that leaked out repeatedly showed rows of body bags. In the videos uploaded by opposition activists to social media, one could see family members sitting beside the open body bags, crying bitterly, with blood all over the corpses. And in the footage broadcast by Iran's state television, a mortuary worker in a blue surgical gown was standing in a white room, with body bags neatly placed around him.

The exact number of casualties across Iran is still unknown. Human rights organizations are trying to contact contacts within Iran and, using their usual methods of verifying information, have tallied over 500 deaths.

Multiple US officials said that the US intelligence agencies' conservative estimate is that more than 600 protesters have been killed so far. These agencies pointed out that the current protests and suppression actions in Iran are much more violent than those in 2022 or other recent anti-government uprisings.

An anonymous senior official from the Iranian Ministry of Health disclosed that approximately 3,000 people had died across the country. However, he attempted to shift the blame onto the "terrorists" who instigated the riots. He stated that this figure included several hundred security personnel. Another anonymous Iranian government official said that he had seen an internal report mentioning at least 3,000 deaths and indicated that the death toll might rise further.

If the news is confirmed, this would be one of the deadliest incidents in modern Iranian history.

US President Trump said during an interview with CBS News on the 13th that if the Iranian government starts executing protesters by hanging, the US will take "very tough actions" against Iran, but he did not specify what those actions would be.