At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing “terrorists and armed rioters” of killing “innocent Iranians”.
The official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, also told Reuters some of the heaviest clashes and highest number of deaths were in the Iranian Kurdish areas in northwest Iran, a region where Kurdish separatists have been active and where flare-ups have been among the most violent in past periods of unrest.
“The final toll is not expected to increase sharply,” the official said, adding that “Israel and armed groups abroad” had supported and equipped those taking to the streets.
Nationwide protests erupted in Iran on December 28th over economic hardship and swelled over two weeks into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule – resulting in the deadliest unrest since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
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US president Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if protesters continued to be killed on the streets or were executed. In a social media post on Friday, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they had called off scheduled executions of 800 people.
A day later, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a public speech branded Mr Trump a “criminal” for the casualties he inflicted on Iran by supporting protesters.
“We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” Khamenei said, acknowledging “several thousand deaths” that he blamed on “terrorists and rioters” linked to the US and Israel.
The Iranian authorities regularly blame unrest on foreign enemies, including Israel, an arch-foe of the Islamic Republic which launched military strikes on Iran in June.
[ Inside Iran’s protests: How a plunging currency set off widespread unrestOpens in new window ]
The US-based HRANA rights group said on Saturday the death toll had reached 3,308, with another 4,382 cases under review. The group said it had confirmed more than 24,000 arrests.
The Iranian Kurdish rights group Hengaw, based in Norway, has said some of the heaviest clashes during protests that erupted in late December were in Kurdish areas in the northwest. – Reuters
