India, January 15 (HBTV): More than 2,000 people have been killed during a violent crackdown by security forces on protests in Iran, a human rights group has said, as US President Donald Trump promised Iranians that help was ‘on its way’.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had so far confirmed the killing of 1,850 protesters, 135 people affiliated with the government, nine uninvolved civilians and nine children over the last 17 days, despite a near-total internet blackout in the country.
An Iranian official also told Reuters that around 2,000 people had been killed, but claimed that ‘terrorists’ were responsible for the deaths.
Trump is scheduled to attend a meeting on Iran on Tuesday evening and said he had pledged to obtain ‘accurate’ figures on the death toll. ‘The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,’ Trump told reporters while returning to the White House, adding that once the numbers were confirmed, ‘we’ll act accordingly’.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iranian authorities would ‘pay a big price’ for the killings and urged people to ‘keep protesting’. ‘I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!,’ he said, using the acronym for the US-based Iranian opposition slogan ‘Make Iran Great Again’.
Trump has been weighing military and other options in response to the crackdown, having already announced 25 per cent tariffs on any country trading with Iran.
The protests, which have reportedly spread to 180 cities and towns across all 31 provinces, were sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and the soaring cost of living. They later expanded into broader demands for political change, posing one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The unrest escalated sharply last Thursday and was met with deadly force by authorities, largely concealed by widespread shutdowns of internet and communication services.
HRANA said on Tuesday afternoon that, in addition to confirming at least 2,003 deaths during the unrest, it was also reviewing reports of another 779 fatalities. ‘We’re horrified, but we still think the number is conservative,’ HRANA deputy director Skylar Thompson told the Associated Press.
Another rights group, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), said it had confirmed the killing of at least 734 protesters. Its director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, told AFP that the figures were ‘based on information received from fewer than half of the country’s provinces and fewer than 10 per cent of Iran’s hospitals’, adding that ‘the real number of those killed is likely in the thousands’.
Reuters reported that the unnamed Iranian official who cited a death toll of around 2,000 did not provide a detailed breakdown, but said that ‘terrorists’ were responsible for the deaths of both protesters and security personnel.
(BBC)