Author: Keyvan Rafiee

Polskie Radio – The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 6,126 people have been killed, including protesters, children and civilians, based on reports from its network inside Iran.

Iranian state television has reported 3,117 deaths. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged in late December that “several thousand people” had been killed, blaming what he described as “domestic and international criminals.”

Independent estimates are significantly higher. Time magazine and Britain’s Guardian have cited sources placing the death toll at around 30,000. Dr. Hashim Moazenzadeh, a surgeon in France who says he remains in contact with medical staff in Iran, told Euronews Farsi that forensic data indicate at least 22,000 deaths.

“Evidence showed security forces shot people who were fleeing,” Moazenzadeh said, citing gunshot wounds to the backs of victims’ heads.

The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said reports she has received suggest casualties “may reach tens of thousands,” noting that internet outages and lack of independent access prevent accurate counts.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said security forces used live ammunition, metal pellets, tear gas and beatings against largely peaceful protesters. Amnesty said it verified video showing at least 205 body bags at a makeshift morgue near Tehran.

Human rights groups have also reported that families were asked to pay thousands of dollars to retrieve the bodies of relatives and that some victims may have been killed after receiving hospital treatment.

The Iran International news website reported Tuesday that as many as 36,500 people may have been killed, citing what it said were documents from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard submitted to the country’s Supreme National Security Council. The outlet said the deaths allegedly occurred over just two days, Jan. 8 and 9, calling the scale of violence unprecedented even by regional standards.

The protests began in late December over economic grievances, including soaring food prices, and later spread nationwide. Authorities imposed a sweeping information blackout as demonstrations grew, sharply restricting information from inside the country.

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Al Jazeera – Ever since the crackdown on protests in Iran between January 8 and 10, there has been contention on what the true death toll of those bloody events is. According to figures provided by the Iranian government, 3,117 people were killed, including civilians and security forces. Yet estimates from outside the country have put the number at anywhere between 5,000 and a staggering 36,500.

This wide range not only reflects the fact that it has been extremely difficult to verify these reports, but also that there has been a concerted effort to use the death count to manufacture global consent for an attack on Iran and, in a deceitful rhetoric, downplay the official death toll of the genocide in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the protests, there has been a race to estimate and report on the casualties – something I call a “Death Toll Olympics”.

Iran-focused human rights organisations led by dissident activists have been going through all sorts of evidence and testimonies to verify the number of the dead. As of writing this piece, the US-based organisation HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency) has cited more than 6,000 deaths and a further 17,000-plus cases under examination.

However, there are valid doubts about the speed of the activist-led verification process.

For every reported death, multiple accounts have to be examined, possible duplications must be identified and eliminated; and dates, locations and specific circumstances must be cross-checked against the timeline of events.

Furthermore, any visual evidence has to be localised and authenticated based on open-source data or corroborated by the accounts of multiple witnesses. From an investigative standpoint, the reliability and quality of activist-led counts that increase rapidly on a daily basis, therefore warrants caution.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, has cited a conservative estimate of around 5,000 deaths. At the same time, she has mentioned that unverified numbers of up to 20,000 have been reported to her by medical sources.

The described obstacles, and difficulties of verification over the past weeks, have been further exacerbated by Iran’s severely restricted internet access. Despite this, major media outlets have begun distributing much higher figures, solely based on vague anonymous sources who claim privileged access within Iran’s government or health sector.

On January 25, for example, UK-based TV network Iran International published a report claiming 36,500 were killed, citing “extensive reports” allegedly obtained from the Iranian security apparatus – reports it has neither published nor otherwise made transparent.

The same day, United States news magazine Time published an article titled “Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000, According to Local Health Officials”. It claimed that “as many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8 and 9 alone” based on the accounts of two senior officials of the country’s Ministry of Health, whose identities were not revealed for security reasons. Notably, the magazine admitted in the text that it did not possess any means to independently confirm that number.

Two days later, British newspaper The Guardian followed the same trend with an article titled “Disappeared bodies, mass burials and ‘30,000 dead’: what is the truth of Iran’s death toll?” The piece introduced the figure of 30,000 based on estimates of an anonymous doctor, who spoke to the newspaper. He and his colleagues in Iran, the outlet admitted, were actually hesitant to provide a concrete figure.

Other media – from the Sunday Times to the Pierce Morgan Uncensored show – have cited papers circulated by Germany-based ophthalmologist Amir Parasta claiming death toll numbers between 16,500 and 33,000. However, the latest available version of the paper, dating back to January 23 uses disputable extrapolation methods to reach its figures. Strikingly, Parasta does not make any secret of his affiliation with Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted Shah

The exiled crown prince and his team, whose extensive social media manipulation and disinformation efforts have been exposed by recent investigations by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and University of Toronto’s The Citizen Lab, have been key actors in inciting and escalating the recent protests towards confrontation. Accordingly, the fatality numbers disseminated by Mr Parasta cannot be perceived as neutral and constitute partisan estimates at best.

Despite acknowledging their own inability to verify these estimates, the media in question nevertheless put these extreme figures in titles and subheadings. It didn’t take long for other outlets to report on these inflated numbers, referring to these major publications as primary sources. Activists and Western politicians have also used them to push their respective agendas, thereby further fuelling a spiral of disinformation campaigns on social media. – In other words, a “death toll olympics” was born.

All of this has served two ends.

First, it has supported efforts to manufacture consent for foreign military intervention and malicious political action. While the protests were still ongoing, US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran in the event of a deadly crackdown. As of writing these lines, there has been a significant US military build-up around Iran, effectively thickening the war cloud.

Second, the speculation about the Iranian death toll has helped pro-Israel politicians and commentators in the West to downplay the casualties of the Israeli war on Gaza. In this way, it has become a utilitarian tool for relativising the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Confronted with mounting pressure regarding the death toll, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the authorities to “publicly publish the names and personal data of those deceased during the recent bitter incidents”. His director of communication has even promised that a procedure has been set up to examine and verify any conflicting claims.

It remains to be seen how effective and transparent the promised procedure will turn out. It is undeniable that thousands have been killed in Iran, mostly by Iranian security forces, amid a multi-day brutal crowd and riot control effort.

Structural obscurity and the restricted access to Iran for independent experts will likely mean that the exact death toll will never be determined. However, the more transparency can be established regarding the scale of the killings, the more likely it is that the perpetrators can be held accountable.

An arduous verification process of the recent deaths is crucial not only for the sake of accountability, but also to expose the media manipulation that is once again preparing the ground for a unilateral US-led act of aggression in the Middle East. In light of this, the “Death Toll Olympics” remains an ignominious disservice to the wretched of the Earth from Palestine to Iran.

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Colchester, UK – 30 January 2026 – The University of Essex hosted a private lecture on Friday examining pathways to accountability for serious human rights violations and alleged international crimes attributed to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and in light of ongoing events where it is clear the IRGC is the main perpetrator and where the Pasdaran Documentation Project (PDP) database has already established a preliminary assessment qualifying the IRGC as complicit in crimes against humanity. The lecture also drew on HRA’s and UpRights’ work on the Pasdaran Documentation Project and its Pathways to Accountability memo.

The event, titled “Pursuing Accountability for Serious Human Rights Violations and International Crimes Implicating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” was held at the Colchester Campus and organized by HRA in collaboration with Essex Law School and the Human Rights Centre. It brought together legal experts, human rights practitioners, and members of the academic community to discuss documentation, legal strategies, and international mechanisms for justice.

The panel was chaired and moderated by Dr. Matthew Gillett, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex Law School and United Nations Special Mandate Holder, serving as Vice-Chair and Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In his opening remarks, Dr. Gillett emphasized the central role of credible, structured documentation in pursuing accountability where domestic remedies are unavailable. He noted that international legal processes increasingly depend on high-quality evidence and rigorous methodological standards.

Skylar Thompson, Deputy Director of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), introduced the Pasdaran Documentation Project (PDP), a long-term initiative developed by HRA with legal support from the organization UpRights. Thompson explained that PDP maps the IRGC’s institutional structure, operational units, and chains of command, and links this architecture to documented incidents of human rights abuses in Iran and abroad.

According to Thompson, the project is already being used by national jurisdictions to better understand the IRGC in support of prosecutorial processes, and it is designed to support investigations, legal analysis, and informed policy responses. “Accountability requires a sustained focus on grassroots documentation at the early stage,” she said, adding that PDP seeks to transform fragmented information into an integrated framework of institutional responsibility.

Valérie Gabard, Co-Director of UpRights, addressed the legal and practical challenges of pursuing accountability in the Iranian context. She outlined how international legal avenues, such as universal jurisdiction, targeted sanctions regimes, and UN mechanisms, can be activated when supported by systematic documentation. Gabard stressed that while accountability within Iran remains unrealistic under current conditions, external legal processes offer meaningful opportunities to advance justice for victims, while also noting their inherent difficulties.

Participants raised questions about data verification and the ethical challenges of documenting abuses in highly repressive environments.

The event concluded with reflections on the long-term nature of accountability work and the need for sustained international engagement. Speakers underscored that structured documentation initiatives such as PDP can play a critical role in ensuring that allegations of abuse are preserved and made usable for future legal and policy processes.

The gathering demonstrated interest in practical, evidence-based approaches to addressing alleged international crimes linked to the IRGC and reinforced the role of universities as key spaces for advancing research, dialogue, and accountability initiatives.

Learn more about the project and read the memo at iranpdp.org

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The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which verifies each death with a network on the ground in Iran, says the 6,159 dead include at least 5,804 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 92 children and 49 civilians who weren’t part of the demonstrations.

Freedom, democracy and integrity were the themes of the memorial, held to honor all the protestors that sacrificed their lives in Iran.

With protests happening the last several Sundays in San Francisco at Harry Bridges Plaza, there’s been requests for residents in nearby communities to take action, as well.

Therefore, the candlelight vigil was organized here for participants in the Los Gatos and the South Bay area. Los Gatos-based artist Firouzeh Jahanshahi posted on social media to get the word out about the gathering.

As seen in many of the images and videos from the event, fake blood and body bags were used to depict what is happening in Iran now, an effort to extend compassion and solidarity through visibility.

This coming Sunday, there will be a “Human Chain” on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco from 11am-2pm, which is expected to draw more than 5,000 participants.

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Fox News – President Donald Trump said Iran appears to be looking to negotiate with the U.S. amid a growing military buildup in the Middle East.

In a Monday interview with Axios, Trump suggested that Tehran had reached out on “numerous occasions” and “want[s] to make a deal.”

“They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk,” the president told the outlet.

According to U.S. officials, also cited by Axios, any potential agreement would need Tehran to remove all enriched uranium, cap its long-range missile stockpile, a change in support for regional proxy forces, and cease independent uranium enrichment, terms Iranian leaders have not agreed to.

Trump also described the situation with Iran as “in flux,” and pointed to the arrival of what he called “a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” referencing the recent deployment of U.S. naval assets.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier entered CENTCOM waters in the Indian Ocean on Monday amid increasing threats from Iran, a senior U.S. official said.

Trump had told reporters Jan. 21, “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens. We have a big force going towards Iran. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”

The U.S. military buildup comes amid widespread unrest inside Iran following protests that began Dec. 28.

According to a recent report from Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the confirmed death toll from the protests has reached 5,848, with an additional 17,091 deaths under investigation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been sheltering in a fortified underground facility, according to Iran International.

Trump is expected to hold further consultations this week, Axios said, before adding that White House officials said an attack is still on the table.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

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ABC News – Iranian military forces are prepared to “immediately” retaliate against any U.S. attack, Tehran’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday, as more American military assets arrived in the region and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a new attack on the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post to X on Wednesday that Iran’s “brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea.”

“Valuable lessons learned” during the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S. in June “have enabled us to respond even more strongly, rapidly and profoundly,” Araghchi wrote.

“At the same time, Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” the foreign minister added.

“Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he wrote.

Araghchi issued the warning after Trump touted what he called a “massive armada” heading toward Iran, which he said was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Trump urged Iran to make “a fair and equitable deal” regarding its nuclear program, key facilities and personnel of which were among the targets attacked by Israel and the U.S. in June.

“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!,” Trump said a social media post.

Trump referred to the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last summer. “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” Trump added.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three destroyers, arrived in the Middle East earlier this week, bolstering the U.S. military presence in the region.

The carrier is carrying a complement of strike aircraft, while the accompanying destroyers are armed with Tomahawk missiles.

The naval buildup adds some 5,000 American troops to the region, swelling an already robust American military footprint spread across multiple bases across the Middle East, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

In total, more than 30,000 U.S. troops are deployed across the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the first U.S. aircraft carrier to operate in the region since last summer.

Araghchi on Wednesday denied any request for new talks Tehran and Washington, D.C., though said Iran was in touch with “various intermediaries.”

“Our position is clear. Negotiations cannot take place under threats, and any talks must be conducted in conditions where threats and excessive demands are set aside,” Araghchi said.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Thursday that Iran is “ready for sincere and genuine negotiations with America,” as quoted by the state-aligned Tasnim News Agency. Ghalibaf warned that though Trump “may be able to start a war,” he cannot foresee how it will end.

Trump’s Wednesday social media post did not mention Tehran’s bloody suppression of nationwide anti-government protests over the past month. The demonstrations began in late December in response to the collapsing value of the national currency — the rial — before morphing into a wider anti-regime movement which drew backing from dissidents abroad and Western governments.

Trump lent his support to protesters in mid-January, urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” He added, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

The president then appeared to back off the prospect of imminent U.S. strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had informed him that the killing of protesters and executions of those arrested had stopped.

The major security crackdown appears to have suppressed the massed demonstrations. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) — which relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting and has been accurate during previous unrest — said Wednesday that at least 6,373 people had been killed in the protests.

The dead included 5,993 protesters, 113 people under the age of 18, 214 government-affiliated personnel and 53 non-protesting civilians, HRANA said. The organization said it is still reviewing 17,091 reports of other deaths.

A total of 42,486 people have been arrested in the demonstrations since they began on Dec. 28, including 11,018 injured protesters with serious wounds, according to HRANA.

ABC News cannot independently verify HRANA’s numbers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. regional buildup represents a “baseline” for defense.

“We have to have enough force and power in the region just on a baseline to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region,” Rubio said.

Rubio also said that it was an “open question” and “no one knows” who would fill a leadership void in Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was removed from power.

Rubio asserted that protests across Iran due to a free-falling economy show “that [the] regime is probably weaker than it has ever been.”

If the regime were to fall, he said the U.S. could “hope” for a “transition” like the one it is attempting to facilitate in Venezuela.

But Rubio added that he “would imagine it would be far more complex … because you’re talking about a regime that’s been in place for a very long time.”

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The Guardian – Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.

The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.

An Iranian surgeon, Alireza Golchini, 52, from the central city of Qazvin, has been charged with “moharebeh” (waging war against God), which can carry the death penalty, according to the Norway-based rights group Hengaw. The US state department yesterday called for his release.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, whose figures have been reliable during previous crackdowns, says it has verified more than 6,000 dead and has more than 17,000 more recorded deaths under investigation.

Speaking to the Guardian, his cousin, Nima Golchini, who is based in Canada, said that Golchini was taken from his home on 10 January. “He was arrested in a violent manner in front of his wife and son, who is only 11. They beat him up so badly during arrest, they broke his arm, ribs and dragged him out of his home. My family is terrified.”

A few days before his arrest Golchini, who also treated protesters during the 2022 Woman, life, freedom protests, had posted a note on his social media, says Nima, sharing his number and asking injured patients to contact him for treatment.

“All he did was his duty of saving lives as a medical doctor. He had sworn to save people’s lives. How can any doctor not stand by his oath? I am worried not only for him, but also for other healthcare workers who have been arrested for simply standing by their sworn oath.”

Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on Golchini’s detention, nor have they confirmed any charges against him. But Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has urged authorities not to show any leniency towards protesters. “We should not remain silent in the face of those who seek to exploit the situation and disrupt the security and calm of the people,” he said.

Golchini is one of at least nine doctors and healthcare volunteers arrested over the past week, say rights groups and medics. According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), security forces raided makeshift medical shelters as well as the homes of doctors and volunteers who treated injured protesters. It said there is no information now on the whereabouts or condition of those detained.

“This appears to be a deliberate revenge campaign against doctors and medical staff who refuse to abandon the wounded,” said Hossein Raeesi, an Iranian human rights lawyer living in exile.

IHRNGO also reported the arrest of a volunteer first responder who had turned his home into an improvised medical shelter. According to the source, he was detained on 14 January after security forces raided his house, where he had provided care to more than 20 injured protesters, two of whom later died.

“He was taken away in an extremely brutal manner and was severely beaten,” a source told IHRNGO, adding that security forces smashed the windows of the house, destroyed the interior and severely damaged his car during the raid.

At least 42,324 arrests have been made across the country with limited information on their fate, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran, which says the regime is putting pressure on medical networks as a means of reducing support for the injured.

“This persecution of medical personnel is yet another dimension of the regime’s crimes against humanity,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, IHRNGO director.

A statement published yesterday by the US state department on X demanded the release of Golchini and “all the brave doctors who have helped their fellow countrymen”. It continued: “President Trump has clearly stated that no executions should take place in Iran and that there will be consequences if the government takes such actions.”

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Mezha News – HRANA on the 30th day since the start of anti-government protests in Iran documented 6,126 confirmed deaths, including 86 children, and 5,777 protesters. Also 17,091 people are under verification and investigation. A network of local activists helps verify each death.

11,009 wounded, 41,880 arrests at protests, and 245 cases of forced confessions of detainees. 11,024 people were summoned by security authorities. In 200 cities across 31 provinces, 651 incidents related to the protests were recorded.

Information about the dead cannot yet be fully verified due to the near-total shutdown of communications and the Internet across the country.

On January 26, a US aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and three ships accompanying it arrived in the region. According to news agencies, US President Donald Trump last week said that the ships were dispatched “just in case”.

The US Central Command stressed that the aircraft carrier strike group is now deployed in the region “to ensure regional security and stability”.

What is known about the protests in Iran

The protests in Iran began on December 28 amid rapidly rising prices and the devaluation of the national currency, and later grew into demands for reform and greater freedom regarding the country’s political leadership.

According to Trump, the United States supports the protesters and is ready to provide assistance in case of further pressure; he also noted that the United States “will be in combat readiness”. Khamenei replied that Iran “will not yield to the enemy”. The United States imposed new sanctions and moved the aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East amid the escalation.

Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, called on Iranians to seize government institutions, the diaspora to replace the flags of the Islamic Republic with national ones at embassies, and Iran’s security forces to join the protesters. He also stated that after a regime change they would consider opening new avenues in interstate relations, including regarding Israel.

Poland, the United States and Sweden urged their citizens to leave Iran; France evacuated part of its diplomats, the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions and temporarily closed its embassy in Tehran. Ukraine also closed its embassy.

The Iranian authorities confirmed the death of about 5,000 people during the protests. The human rights group HRANA reported 3,308 confirmed deaths and more than 24,000 arrests; another 4,382 deaths are under investigation. At the same time, unverified estimates range from 2,000 to 20,000 deaths. Verification is hampered by a full nationwide Internet shutdown: according to monitoring services, 99 percent of Internet connections were unavailable.

The situation around the protests in Iran remains tense: data from various sources vary, information control is tightening, and the global community is closely watching the developments.

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