Iran protest death toll tops 2,500

The Morning Star Online – The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has passed 2,500, activists say.

This comes as Iranian authorities signal their intention to fast-track trials and executions of protesters.

The number of dead climbed to at least 2,571 early Wednesday, as reported by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades.

Skylar Thompson with the HRANA said that the new toll was shocking, particularly since it reached four times the death toll of the months-long 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in just two weeks.

She warned that the toll would still rise: “We’re horrified, but we still think the number is conservative.”

Iranian television offered the first official acknowledgment of the deaths, quoting an official saying the country had “a lot of martyrs.”

The demonstrations began in late December in anger over Iran’s collapsing economy and soon targeted the theocracy, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Earlier this week the Tudeh Party of Iran gave its support to the protests and called for a nationwide general strike to “restrict and ultimately completely dismantle the Islamic Republic’s ability to continue ruling, as well as towards the establishment of a transitional national popular government.” It has stressed the need to avoid foreign intervention in Iran.

As the reported toll grew on Tuesday, United States President Donald Trump posted to social media calling on Iranian “patriots” to “keep protesting — take over your institutions!”

He said: “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. Help is on its way.”

But hours later, President Trump told reporters that his administration was awaiting an accurate report on the number of protesters that had been killed before acting “accordingly.”

Iranian officials once again warned Mr Trump against taking action, with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, responding to US posturing by writing: “We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran: President Trump 2 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, following the Tudeh Party’s call for the immediate release of “all detainees of the current movement, all political prisoners and all prisoners of conscience,” the head of Iran’s judiciary signalled that the authorities were planning to fast-track trials and executions of protesters who had been detained.

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon.

President Trump has repeatedly warned that the US may take military action over the killing of protesters, though critics say that as with Venezuela, the country’s huge oil reserves are his real concern.