Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged that “several thousands” of Iranians have been killed since protests started in downtown Tehran in late December, before gradually spreading to both large and small cities.
Because Khamenei has typically avoided making comments about death tolls during previous protests in Iran over the years, that confirmation is unusual.
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However, the narratives made by the Iranian state, the opposition there, and US President Donald Trump differ sharply from one another regarding exactly what has transpired during the unrest and what might follow.
What are our absolute best guesses?
Over the course of the days that followed, the protests spread to the capital city’s business and trade districts, where they began, and eventually turned into nationwide outbursts of anger and frustration at the political establishment.
According to state officials, the media, foreign-based outlets, and eyewitness accounts on the ground, the nights of January 8 and 9 were by far the deadliest.
The head of Iran’s medical examiner body, Abbas Masjedi Arani, reported to state media that many of the victims were fatally wounded when they were shot in the chest or head from close range or from rooftops.
According to state media, young Iranians, many of whom were in their 20s, were the most frequently on the streets.
It was impossible to call rescue services in an emergency because Iranian authorities completely blocked access to mobile communications on January 8th.
After nearly two weeks, the unheard of internet blackout gradually began to fade, but the majority of the nation’s 90 million people are still unsure of what the future might hold.
In recent days, local calls, SMS text messages, and incoming international calls have all been restored. A local intranet that provides a few services is operational.
Thousands of heavily armed security forces have now started setting up patrols and checkpoints all over the country, particularly at flashpoints like Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, which has largely ended the protests on the streets.
A small minority of Iranians are able to leave the country or access Starlink satellite internet, which bypasses the government’s internet restrictions, despite the government’s digital blackout, where video of the protests outside Iran has been rare.
What is said by the state?
Iranian officials have consistently emphasized that the US and Israel are responsible for the protests, accusing the international powers of providing weapons and funding for the opposition.
Trump, Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader, called Khamenei a “criminal” for repeatedly directly involving himself in the unrest.
The Iranian government claims that “terrorists” who were armed and trained, not state forces, directly contributed to the protests’ deaths. They assert that Americans and Israelis shot and stabbed people to thwart peaceful demonstrations.
Judiciary officials have emphasized that those responsible for “riots” will be swiftly punished without any evidence of mercy. To expedite cases involving protests, the Supreme Court and the general prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday that they had established a joint workgroup.
What are monitors with offices abroad saying?
Iranians opposed to the Iranian establishment and Iranians who are based abroad maintain that state forces have executed protesters in sizable numbers.
More than 3, 300 confirmed deaths and over 4, 300 additional cases are being investigated, according to the most recent figures from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Additionally, according to the organization, more than 24 000 people have been detained, and 2, 107 have suffered severe injuries.
According to an unnamed Iranian official in the area, at least 5, 000 people have died, including about 500 security personnel, according to an Reuters news agency citing an unnamed Iranian official in the area on Sunday. Apparently, the northwest of Iran’s Kurdish-majority regions were the site of the majority of deaths.
These figures cannot be independently verified by Al Jazeera.
According to reports from international outlets, Iranian authorities demand that protesters’ families be given “bullet money” to allow their burial or that their families be required to sign documents stating they belong to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Basij paramilitary force. Both claims have been refuted by Iranian authorities.
What are Israel’s and the US saying?
Over the past few months, including during the 12-day conflict in June, US and Israeli officials have been openly promoting the possibility of replacing Tehran’s theocratic leadership.
Trump pleaded with Iranians to stay in the streets during the height of the demonstrations before expressing “great respect” for the Iranian leadership on the grounds that more than 800 political prisoners’ planned executions had been postponed.
Iranian prosecutor Ali Salehi responded to the accusation on Saturday, saying that “our response will be deterring and quick. The US president speaks a lot of nonsense.”
Trump, however, continued to make comments, and on Saturday called Khamenei’s 37-year rule a “sick man” and criticized the Iranian leader.
Source: Aljazeera
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