More and more brutal evidence of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on its own people is circulating online, as the true number of those killed in Iran’s protests remains hotly contested amid internet blackouts and state intimidation. Estimates range from the thousands confirmed dead to the tens of thousands feared killed, according to activists, media reports and medical data.
Fatemeh Jamalpour, an Iranian journalist who has covered every major protest movement over the past two decades, said the latest crackdown represents a turning point in the regime’s use of force. ‘The regime’s level of violence has increased dramatically, and with the internet crackdown, it is difficult to know the true scale of the killing.’
‘The new thing I have seen in these protests, something we have not seen before, is that starting on the night of January 8, the regime issued shoot-to-kill orders to the IRGC, the Basij and the riot police, authorizing direct fire,’ Jamalpour told Fox News Digital.
‘In previous protests, military-grade weapons were used mainly in minority provinces such as Kurdistan and Baluchestan,’ she added. ‘This time they were used across the entire country… Health Ministry officials told us they ran out-of-body bags for the dead.’
The most widely cited baseline comes from the Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, a U.S.-based group that tracks deaths by name and location.
As of January 25, HRANA reported 5,848 people confirmed killed. Of these, 5,520 were protesters, 77 were children under 18, 209 were government-affiliated forces and 42 were non-protesters or civilians. The number of deaths still under investigation stands at 17,091.
The group has emphasized that its confirmed tally reflects only cases that could be independently documented, and that its overall figures are expected to rise as information continues to emerge.
According to The Associated Press, Iranian authorities have offered only one official count, 3,117, and have not updated it publicly in the last five days. Authorities have not released names, locations, or documentation to support that figure.
Beyond human rights tallies, a separate medical working paper reviewed by Fox News Digital suggests the death toll may be far higher.
