The Iranian authorities imposed a near-total internet shutdown during the crackdown, restricting communication inside the country and limiting the flow of information about the killings to the outside world.[9]Esmaeil Baghayi, spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that security forces had shot protesters.[10] Iranian government officials have off-the-record claimed the death toll to be between 2,000 to 3,000 including both protesters and security forces.[11][12]
According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, during the first ten days of nationwide protests, though to 6 January inclusive, at least 34 protesters were killed, and at least 2,076 citizens arrested in at least 285 locations.[22] On 7 January, 13 protesters were killed, bringing the total to 45, per Iran Human Rights.[23]
Based on verified reports and video footage, during the first seven days of protests, security forces made extensive use of live ammunition, tear gas and crowd-control weapons, and conducted violent arrests.[24]
The Guardian reports that at least three children were killed and over 40 minors were arrested during eight days of protests.[25]
Iran International estimated on 10 January that 2,000 protesters had been killed over the preceding 48 hours,[7] while Time Magazine reported that the number may have been as high as 6000.
On 8 January, at least 217 were killed in Tehran.[26]As of 10January2026[update], the internet blackout limited reporting on casualties.[27]Iran International estimated on 10 January that at least 2,000 protesters had been killed by government forces over the previous 48 hours.[7] On 12 January, Time reported that the number of protesters killed might have reached 6000, excluding protesters whose bodies were taken directly to morgues.[28]
On 13 January, Iran international concluded a multi-stage investigation, and based on government sources, eyewitness accounts, field reports, data from hospitals and testimonies from Iranian doctors and nurses, ascertained that at least 12,000 civilians had been killed.[29] According to the report, the mass killings took place during 8–9 January, and were largely perpetrated by IRGC and members of the Basij militia.[29] Planned and conducted in an organized manner,[29] and, based on information obtained from the Supreme National Security Council and the Presidential Office, it was ordered by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself, with the approval of the three branches of government. Furthermore an order was given by the Supreme National Security Council for direct fire.[29]
On 13 January, CBS News, citing activist groups, stated the death toll may be as high as 20,000.[1]
Hengaw argued on 13 January 2026 that, based on its evidence, the massacres of protesters were crimes against humanity under customary international law and the Rome Statute, since they consisted of "government forces, acting within a coordinated, widespread, and systematic policy of repression, [committing] acts including the premeditated killing of civilian protesters ... [and] the extensive and lethal use of force" resulting in "mass killings of protesters in various parts of" Iran, with 2,500 victims confirmed by Hengaw.[30]
The protests began peacefully on 28 December, following the closure of shops in Tehran due to unease at economic conditions.[31] On 30 December, which was the third day of protests, three protesters were killed:
On the fourth day, which was December 31, seven protesters were killed during the demonstrations: Shayan Asadollahi, Mostafa Fallahi, Vahab Mousavi, Ahmad Jalil, Sajad Valamanesh, Ahmadreza Amani, and Ahad Ebrahimpour Abdoli.[citation needed] The next day, 1 January, funeral ceremonies for Amirhossein Khodayari-Fard, Dariush Ansari Bakhtiarvand, and Khudadad Shirvani were held in Kuhdasht, Fuladshahr, and Marvdasht under severe scrutiny of security forces while nationwide protests continued.[33] Circulated video footage showed a protester, Hossein Rabiei, lying in the street in Qom with severe chest and arm injuries; the video was widely shared and described as showing a protester killed by a grenade.[34] The following day, 2 January, during protests in Malekshahi, Ilam province, at least five people were killed by gunfire from security forces: Reza Azimzadeh, Farez Aghamohammadi, Mohammad Bezuneh, Ali Karimi Bavolaki, and Mehdi Emamipour. At least 30 others were hospitalized, several in critical condition.[35]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran expressed concern over the killing of eight protesters during recent demonstrations.[36]
An early report by the IRGC Nabi Akram Public Relations Office reported that a Basij member, Ali Azizi, was killed in Harsin County, Kermanshah province.[37] A later report by Hengaw stated that Ali Azizi Jafarabadi, a 42-year-old Kurd with a wife and two children, had been shot by government security forces.[38]
On 8 January, the protest situation intensified on 8 January, with a major internet blackout obstructing the reporting of injuries and deaths. Six hospitals in Tehran recorded 217 deaths of protesters, mostly as a result of shots from live ammunition.[26] Hospitals were in crisis mode, with a hospital in Shiraz lacking enough surgeons to treat the injured.[39]
In a protest in Kermanshah (Kermanshah province) on 8 January, five protesters were killed by gunfire by government security forces and ten members of the Kermanshah Nabi Akram Corps were killed.[40] The following day, 9 January, hospitals in Iran were mostly in crisis mode trying to handle injured and dead protesters. In Rasht, 70 bodies arrived at Poursina Hospital in Rash, Gilan province.
On 10 January, Iran International estimated that 2,000 protesters had been killed over the preceding 48 hours.[7] As reports started emerging about the numbers of protesters killed since the 8 January internet cutoff, Al Monitor described the killings as constituting "a 'massacre'", based on human rights organisations' reports.[41] Activists estimated that at least 538 protesters had been killed.[42]HRANA counted 483 confirmed protester deaths, one prosecutor death, 47 security force deaths, and 579 deaths that HRANA was still investigating.[43]
The Center for Human Rights in Iran estimated 490 protester deaths as of 11 January. The Washington Post described the Center for Human Rights in Iran as "[having] a record of issuing conservative estimates of deaths in previous protests".[44]
On 12 January, Time quoted an estimate by a group of Iranian expatriate academics and professionals of a possible total of 6000 protester deaths up to and including 10 January, excluding those of protesters whose bodies were taken directly to morgues, and not to hospitals.[28] Reports indicating that the massacres, as a whole, are likely the largest Iranian massacre in the twenty-first century emerged on 13 January.[2][1]
On 13 January, Iran International estimated that 12,000 protesters had been killed on 8 and 9 January, based on one source "close to" the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, two sources from the office of the Presidency, sources from the IRGC in three different cities, eyewitness and family reports, and reports from medical centres, doctors and nurses.[2] Based on medical reports, activist groups in Iran told CBS that they estimated at least 12,000 deaths and possibly 20,000.[1]HRANA updated its count of confirmed protester deaths to 2403, including 12 minors, it updated the security force death count to 147, and counted nine deaths of people who were neither protesters nor military personnel.[45]
An unnamed Iranian official told Reuters that the number of deaths of protesters and security forces together was 2000. The official claimed that both the protesters and security forces had been killed by terrorists.[46]
IHRNGO reported its own confirmed account of 3379 protesters killed from 8 to 12 January, and 3428 in total, most of whom were under the age of 30. IHRNGO stated that the Iran International estimate of 12,000 protester deaths and CBS estimate of possibly 20,000 were difficult to verify because of the Internet cutoff, and that IHRNGO was working to verify the reports. IHRNGO stated that the killings in Karaj in Alborz province were carried out with DShK machine guns. Witnesses said that the perpetrators "were speaking Arabic" and that the perpetrators took selfie photos with the bodies.[47]
One of IHRNGO's sources stated that the security forces in the Kurdish regions of Iran during the killings did not speak Persian.[47]
A consistent claim in reporting is that families were required by the authorities to pay for each bullet that had killed a family member, which can range from 700 million Iranian rials to 2.5 billion rials (about $480 to $1,720) per bullet, depending on the particular case.[39][48][c]
Killed protesters categorized by geographic distribution, As of 6January2026.
The rate at which Iranian security forces shot dead protesters increased significantly on 8 January, with hospitals shifting to crisis mode,[26][39] and Iran International estimating that 12,000 protesters were killed on 8 and 9 January together.[2]
Amirhesam Khodayarifard, a protester shot dead by security forces on 31 December 2025, was claimed by the authorities to have been a Basij member. Khodayarifard's family was unsuccessfully pressured by the authorities to state that he had been a Basij member.[87][88][89]
↑Including 3,097 protesters, 166 government-affiliated individuals (military and non-military), 23 non-protesting civilians, 22 minors and 4,382 reported deaths under review.[3]
↑Lower estimate per an official speaking to Reuters, upper estimate per an official speaking to The New York Times.[4][5] Including 121 security forces, per Iranian state media.[6]
↑This practice has been used by the Iranian authorities in early crackdowns on political unrest [49]
↑Iran International says "mostly" 8 and 9 January.
↑Iranian official said the figure "included hundreds of security officers."
12Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2017). Iran: Stuck in Transition (The Contemporary Middle East). Routledge. p.108. ISBN9781351985451. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals may have been executed at that time, in response to a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Khomeini that there was no room for apostates in his Islamic republic. Ayatollah Montazeri also alluded to this tragedy in his memoirs (published in 2001) and the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center's detailed report on the executions notes that estimates of those killed range from 1,000 to 30,000. See IHRDC, Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre (New Haven, CT: IHRDC, 2009). The insider's account is provided by Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khatirat-i Ayatollah Montazeri, Majmu'iyyih Payvastha va Dastnivisha [Memoir of Ayatollah Montazeri, the Collection of Appendices and Handwritten Notes] (2001).
12"Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre"(PDF). Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. 2009. The exact number of prisoners executed is not known. In February 1989, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then-President of Iran, is reported to have claimed that "in the past few months," fewer than 1,000 political prisoners were executed. In 1990, Amnesty International acknowledged that it did not know the full extent of the executions but estimated that 2,000 prisoners had been killed. Ayatollah Montazeri, in his memoirs, estimated that 2,800 or 3,800 supporters of Mojahedin-e Khalq (Mojahedin) were executed. He also reported that there were about 500 nonreligious political prisoners. The Mojahedin has used the figure 30,000, and has published the names of 3,208 Mojahedin supporters who were executed that summer. In 1989, it reported to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances that 1,300 prisoners were executed in August 1988. Nima Parvaresh, a leftist and survivor, estimates that 4,500 to 5,000 prisoners were executed that summer.
Spreading Justice – website documenting Iranian individuals with command hierarchy responsibility when protesters were shot during the 2025–2026 Iranian protests
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