JAKARTA - A US-based human rights organization announced on Sunday that it had confirmed at least 3,766 deaths related to national protests in Iran, warning that the actual number of victims could be much higher.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) uploaded the revised figures, increasing the number of victims from the previous 3,308, as reported by Daily Sabah from The Associated Press (19/1).
The death toll exceeds the number of fatalities in protests or other unrest in Iran over decades, recalling the chaos that surrounded the 1979 revolution.
HRANA also said 24,348 protesters had been arrested in the crackdown. The news agency has been accurate for years on demonstrations in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country who confirm all reported deaths. The Associated Press has not been able to independently confirm the number of casualties.
On the other hand, Iranian officials have not provided a clear number of deaths, although on Saturday, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the protests had led to "several thousand" deaths, blaming the United States for the deaths.
This is the first indication from the Iranian Leader of the number of casualties due to the wave of protests that began on December 28 related to Iran's ailing economy.
Khamenei also called Trump a "criminal" for supporting the demonstrations and blamed the US for the casualties, describing the demonstrators as "foot soldiers" of the United States.
Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest in the country. Tensions with the United States are very high, with President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening Tehran with military action if his administration found that the country was using lethal force against anti-government protesters.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a post on social media X on Sunday, blamed "long-standing hostilities and inhumane sanctions" imposed by the US and its allies for any difficulties the Iranian people might face.
"Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to an all-out war against the Iranian nation," he wrote.
During the protests, President Trump told the demonstrators, "help is on the way" and his administration would "act accordingly" if the killing of demonstrators continued or if Iranian authorities executed the detained demonstrators.
But he later showed a softer side, saying Iranian officials had "canceled the death sentences of more than 800 people" and "I have great respect for the fact that they canceled them."
There have been no reported protests for days in Iran, where the streets have returned to a calm but tense calm.
Authorities have also blocked internet access since January 8. On Saturday, very limited internet services were restored.
Access to some online services such as Google began to work again on Sunday, although users said they could only access domestic websites, and email services continued to be blocked.
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