Iranian authorities have carried out what a rights group calls a “mass killing” as security forces crushed the biggest protests in years. Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 192 protesters have been confirmed killed, warning the true toll may already be far higher.
The demonstrations began over soaring living costs, then quickly transformed into a nationwide challenge to Iran’s theocratic system. The unrest has become one of the gravest tests to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule in decades.
Protests have continued despite an internet blackout exceeding 72 hours, which activists say is hiding the real human cost. Iran Human Rights cited unverified reports suggesting hundreds, possibly more than 2,000 people, may have been killed across the country.
Video verified by AFP showed dozens of bodies outside a morgue south of Tehran, with grieving families searching among black-wrapped forms. President Masoud Pezeshkian accused foreign enemies of fuelling the unrest, while state television broadcast images of burning buildings and funerals.
Authorities declared three days of national mourning and called for counter-rallies, framing the crackdown as a “national resistance battle”. Iran Human Rights said more than 2,600 protesters have been arrested since the demonstrations erupted.
In Tehran, daily life has slowed to a standstill, with shuttered shops, rising food prices, and heavy security deployments each evening. From abroad, exiled figures urged Iranians to persist, while regional tensions deepened and the world watched a nation convulse in uncertainty.