Human Rights Group Says Death Toll in Iran Protests Hits 500

JAKARTA - Protests that have evolved into riots in Iran have killed more than 500 people, a human rights group said on Sunday.

According to the latest figures - from activists inside and outside Iran - the US-based human rights group, HRANA, said it had verified the deaths of 490 demonstrators and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest, as reported by Al Arabiya from Reuters (12/1).

Iran has not given official figures on the death toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the figures.

Meanwhile, Tehran has threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to intervene on behalf of the demonstrators.

With the Islamic Republic's clerical regime facing its biggest demonstrations since 2022, President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if violence is used against the demonstrators.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington not to make "a miscalculation."

"Let's be clear: if there is an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate targets," said Qalibaf, a former commander in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching along the street at night, clapping and chanting slogans. "There is no end or beginning," a man's voice is heard saying.

In footage from the city of Mashhad in the northeast, smoke billowed into the night sky from a fire on a street, masked protesters and a street littered with debris, as another video uploaded on Saturday showed. Explosions were heard. Reuters verified the location.

State television showed footage of dozens of body bags on the ground at Tehran's coroner's office on Sunday, saying the dead were victims of an incident caused by "armed terrorists."

On the other hand, Iranian state television broadcast funeral processions in western cities such as Gachsaran and Yasuj for security personnel killed in the protests.

State television said 30 members of the security forces would be buried in the central city of Isfahan and another six were killed by "rioters" in Kermanshah in the west.

The protests broke out on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Authorities have accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest.

Information flow from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.