More than 33,000 protesters have been killed in Iran following the regime’s brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.
The latest figures, which are double previous estimates, were revealed as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s regime warned it will treat any attack ‘as an all-out war’ as the US ramps up its military presence in the region.
The death toll from the anti-government protests, which began on December 28, were previously estimated to be between 16,500 and 18,000.
But new figures suggest the figure is much higher at about 33,100.
Alongside the death toll, 97,645 have been wounded with 30 per cent suffering eye injuries, according to research by Professor Amir-Mobarez Parasta.
The German-Iranian ophthalmic surgeon added that the regime was executing protesters.
Hospital admissions data showed 468 were put to death in the capital Tehran alone – with more than 500 across the country.
Donald Trump has warned that America would take ‘very strong action’ if the Iranian regime started hanging protesters.
The US President appeared poised to intervene earlier this month after troops from Britain and the United States were withdrawn from a major Middle East military base.
And with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier moving towards the region, the prospect of an American attack on Iran remains on the table.
A senior Iranian official on Saturday told Reuters: ‘This military build-up – we hope it is not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran.
‘This time we will treat any attack – limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it – as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this.’
It has been almost a month since the anti-government protests began in Iran amid concerns over the country’s cost of living crisis.
Local media reported widespread disruption at the capital’s historic Grand Bazaar, with traders shutting or partially shutting their businesses amid soaring prices and a collapsing currency.
As the demonstrations spread across the country, the regime responded by shutting down the internet and killing protesters.
Such force was met with condemnation by the international community.
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Led by the United States, President Trump told ‘Iranian patriots’ to continue protesting as ‘help is on its way’.
His warnings, together with international pressure, saw the Iranian regime back down from more than 800 planned executions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told Fox News there was ‘no plan for hanging’ and it was ‘out of the question’.
But Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky used part of his speech in Davos on Thursday to criticise Western leaders for their inaction over Iran’s protests.
He said: ‘There was so much talk about the protests in Iran — but they drowned in blood. The world has not helped enough the Iranian people, it has stood aside.
‘By the time politicians came back to work and started forming a position, the ayatollah has already killed thousands.’
‘What will Iran become after this bloodshed? If the regime survives, it sends a clear signal to every bully — kill enough people, and you stay in power.’
While the country’s future remains unclear, the human cost of the regime’s brutality is becoming louder with each day.
Friends of Farhad, a protester, screamed his name as he lay in a pool of blood.
A bullet pierced his neck as Iranian security forces shot him on the streets of Tehran.
Two weeks after his death, Farhad’s body remained out of reach from his parents in a government morgue.
It was being held hostage by the Iranian authorities in a now-routine case of blackmail, with officials demanding Farhad’s family sign a document stating he was not a protester but a member of the security forces killed by anti-government demonstrations.
His father told The Telegraph: ‘I will never sign their documents. The entire system is built on lies. The government is built on lies. I sacrificed my son for freedom. My heart is burning. He left this world like a lion.
‘I did not raise my son to die for dictators. He had no role in the IRGC, Basij, or any part of the regime.’
Some families of the protesters killed are being told they must pay up to £16,000 to be allowed to bury their loved ones, the newspaper reported.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights, said the regime aims to conflate the number of security forces killed and reduce the protesters’ death toll.
‘One reason for this practice is that the regime seeks to avoid international pressure for killing protesters. Another motive is to prepare the ground for future executions of protesters.’
However, there are few signs that the regime will change course.
Heavily armed trucks were seen patrolling Tehran on Saturday after being deployed to protect government sites.
Alongside the prospect of a military attack from the United States, the Iranian regime is in danger of suffering further financial pain.
Mr Trump has warned any country doing business with Iran will pay a 25 per cent tariff on trade with the US ‘effective immediately’.
The UK has also applied pressure on the regime.
Earlier this month Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke to Mr Araghchi and called on the Iranian government to ‘immediately end the violence, uphold fundamental rights and freedoms and ensure British nationals are safe’.
But ministers have come under pressure to act as more than 100 protesters gathered outside Downing Street on Saturday to call on the Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Keir Starmer has refused to make it illegal to support the group because he believes it will have no effect and would only make Britain feel ‘better about ourselves’.
Downing Street said the prime minister ‘utterly condemns’ the violence being used by the authorities in Iran.
Meanwhile the country’s exiled crown prince of Iran has vowed to seize the power ‘taken by this regime’ and put it back into the hands of its citizens.
Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, reiterated his ‘unwavering commitment to democracy and human rights’.
During a press conference on January 16, he told reporters: ‘This has been my position the day I started and remains my position to this day.
‘They [the Iranian people] know they can trust me because I’ve never wavered from this and ultimately what I’m trying to make sure is the final element that will prove to the Iranians that are in full control of their own destiny is to turn power back to them – a power that has been taken away from them by this regime which we are fighting today.
‘That’s my commitment and they can trust me on that.’
Mr Pahlavi also encouraged protesters – who have chanted slogans including ‘Death to the dictator!’ and ‘Death to the Islamic Republic!’ – to make their voices heard.
‘Great nation of Iran, the eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets and, as a united front, shout your demands,’ he said in a statement earlier this month.
‘I warn the Islamic Republic, its leader and the (Revolutionary Guard) that the world and (US President Donald Trump) are closely watching you. Suppression of the people will not go unanswered.’
