Thousands of people killed as massive protests across Iran turns deadly

In a video address to the nation, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei held US and Israel responsible for the killing of thousands of protestors across Iran. Various news media outlets across the world, since 8-9 January 2026 have held Iran responsible for committing mass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale to crush the popular uprising calling for an end to their repressive rule, they have waged a coordinated, militarized clampdown to prevent further dissent and hide their crimes.

image credit: hrw.org

The nationwide repression and severe crackdown by Iranian authorities has involved maintaining a complete internet blackout, deploying heavily armed security patrols, imposing nighttime curfews and preventing any gatherings. Security forces have also arrested thousands of protesters and other dissidents, and subjected detainees to enforced disappearance and torture and other ill‑treatment, including sexual violence. Authorities have further relentlessly and cruelly harassed and intimidated bereaved families of killed protesters.

“While people in Iran are still reeling from the grief and shock of the unprecedented massacres during protest dispersals, the Iranian authorities are waging a coordinated attack on the rights of people in Iran to life, dignity and fundamental freedoms in a criminal bid to terrorize the population into silence. Through the ongoing internet shutdown, the authorities are deliberately isolating over 90 million people from the rest of the world to conceal their crimes and evade accountability,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

image credit: The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/12/iran-protests-crackdown-toll-foreign-minister)

“The international community must not allow another chapter of mass atrocities in Iran to be buried without consequence. Urgent international action, including steps towards accountability through independent international justice mechanisms, is long overdue to break the cycle of bloodshed and impunity.”

On 21 January 2026, Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security issued a statement that 3,117 people were killed during the uprising. However, on 16 January 2026, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, said in a media interview that at least 5,000 people had been killed.

In a briefing circulated to diplomats in Geneva on 19 January 2026, Iran’s Permanent Representative sought to portray the protests as a foreign-engineered “security threat” in an attempt to avoid international scrutiny. The briefing also falsely claimed that the authorities have “refrained from adopting a broad or indiscriminate hard-security approach” in the aftermath of the uprising, justifying the sweeping internet shutdown as a “public safety” measure.

image credit: taken from - (newlinesmag.com)

Amnesty International, global humanitarian organisation, calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately restore internet access; release all those arbitrarily detained; disclose the fate and whereabouts of all those subjected to enforced disappearance; protect all detainees from torture and other ill-treatment; and grant detainees’ access to their lawyers, families and any medical care they require. Authorities must also stop the intimidation and harassment of victims’ families.

According to reports from state-affiliated media published on 16 January 2026, the authorities have arrested thousands of people in relation to the protests. Independent reports and other information received by Amnesty International indicate that tens of thousands of people, including children, have been arbitrarily detained.

The Iranian authorities have carried out sweeping arrests across the country in recent days, seizing people during night‑time home raids, at checkpoints, in workplaces, and from hospitals. In addition to protesters, among those arrested are university students and schoolchildren, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and members of ethnic and religious minorities.

There is greater threat looming in Iran as America could perpetuate an intense attack against the Islamic Republic. Since, returning from the World Economic Forum from Davos, Donald Trump said that,” We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely … we have an armada … heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

Donald Trump has said an American “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers are due to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. Additional air defence systems are being deployed, most likely around US and Israeli airbases. The UK said it would send RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets from 12 Squadron to Qatar, at Doha’s request.

In the coming days, the picture will get clear whether the political upheavals in Iran will be shaped by an iron fist from within or from a foreign interference.