The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) organization says it has confirmed at least 192 deaths during the two weeks of protests in Iran. The previous death toll according to IHR was 52.
"Reports indicate widespread killings of protesters in various parts of Iran, but mainly in Tehran," writes the organization, which says the real death toll could be over 2,000, according to sources in the country.
Data from hospitals – reported by the British BBC and the US-based organization Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), among others – indicate that hospitals in Mashhad and Karaj, as well as in the capital, Tehran, are unable to treat many seriously injured protesters. Data is lacking from other parts of the country.
On Sunday, residents of Iran remained without contact with the outside world after internet and telephone traffic was shut down on Thursday afternoon, according to the international organization Netblocks.
Hospitals overcrowded
Meanwhile, the signals from the totalitarian regime in Tehran are mixed. President Masoud Pezeshkian tried to strike a conciliatory tone on Sunday when he expressed condolences for those killed:
"Let's sit down and solve the problems," he said, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
But there is no indication that the regime is prepared to negotiate. On the contrary, there have been intensified reports, mainly from Tehran, of ongoing crackdowns, and the US-based activist group HRANA states that over 2,600 protesters have been arrested.
Iranian-controlled media reports that members of the security forces have also been killed.
Mohammad Movahedi Azad, who is roughly equivalent to the Attorney General in Iran, issued a warning on Saturday that protests are being compared to the most serious crime in Iran, of being an "enemy of God", which can lead to the death penalty.
Iran's parliament met on Sunday to discuss the protests, with members reportedly chanting slogans in support of the government and against the United States.
“The United States is ready to help”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to "hit very hard" if protesters are killed in Iran. On Saturday, he also extended a hand to the protest movement.
"Iran is facing freedom, possibly like never before. The United States is ready to help," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Corrected: In an earlier version of the text, Mohammad Movahedi Azad was given the wrong title.
The demonstrations in Iran began in late December when shopkeepers took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with skyrocketing costs and falling living standards. Since then, other protests have grown and now encompass the entire country.
The discontent is rooted in the abysmal economy with skyrocketing inflation and a currency, the rial, that has collapsed. But like the wave of protests after the death of the young Mahsa Zhina Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police in 2022, the anger is directed at the regime at large.
