Author: Erika Solomon, Farnaz Fassihi, Sanam Mahoozi and Sanjana Varghese
Published on: 13/01/2026 | 00:00:00

AI Summary:
Eyewitnesses say government forces have begun opening fire, apparently with automatic weapons and at times seemingly indiscriminately, on unarmed protesters. In videos uploaded by opposition activists on social media, families can be seen sobbing as they huddle together over bloodied corpses in unzipped bags. A morgue official stands amid bags neatly arranged along the floor of a white room, under fluorescent lights. Human rights groups are struggling to reach contacts inside Iran. U.S. Intelligence agencies have conservatively estimated that more than 600 protesters have been killed so far. Iranian health ministry official said about 3,000 people had been killed across the country but sought to shift the blame to “terrorists” fomenting unrest. Yasi said she was marching along Andarzgoo Boulevard in Tehran on Friday night. “My son! My son! They shot my son!” the woman cried. Iran has shut down the internet, international phone lines and sometimes domestic mobile phone connections. But videos trickling out of the country offer a devastating picture of bloodshed. Iran has taken the unusual step of acknowledging that there have been large numbers of casualties, but it has sought to portray the dead as victims of violent protesters and members of the security forces. Iran’s attorney general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said at a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council on Monday. Nine residents of Tehran, along with two doctors and a nurse, said they had witnessed the government’s harder line firsthand. One recounted a security agent in the Aghdasieh neighborhood shooting at the crowd as he drove by. A Tehran resident who went to Sattarkhan with his wife said he had witnessed security forces open a barrage of gunfire with machine guns into a crowd of young men and women. Activists at the Iranian rights group HRANA have gathered reports from hospitals suggesting security officials were detaining protesters. By Monday morning, the number had grown to 572 protesters and 69 members of the security forces killed. The Center for Human Rights in Iran has chosen not to keep a toll, Mr. Ghaemi said. On Monday, fewer videos of the unrest appeared than in previous days. But Saeed insisted that the killings would not stop the protesters. “People are not afraid anymore,” she said. President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for protesters’ economic pain, but said the state must respond to “rioters.” Rights groups reported a big spike in the death toll. Iran’s supreme leader vowed that the government “will not back down” in the face of the protests, accusing demonstrators of being vandals who were trying to “please” President Trump.

Original: 2095 words
Summary: 423 words
Percent reduction: 79.81%

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