ISTANBUL — Reports of a dramatic escalation in the use of deadly force by Iranian security forces have begun to trickle out of the country despite a severe communications blackout as authorities struggle to contain mass protests.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran, based in New York, said it received eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed in Iran since the government cut off the country’s access to the internet on Thursday night.
The CHRI said witnesses have reported that “hospitals were overwhelmed, blood supplies are critically low, bodies are being piled up, and the number of casualties is rising by the hour.” It said that many protesters have been shot in the eyes. In the past, Iranian security forces have shot protesters in the eyes with metal pellets and rubber bullets. The group also said witnesses reported the use of snipers, military rifles and surveillance drones.
“CHRI warns that a massacre is unfolding,” the organization said. “The world must act now to prevent further loss of life.”
The organization, active since 2008, cautioned that verifying the exact number of those killed in the demonstrations is “currently impossible” because of the blackout. The Washington Post does not have a reporter in Iran and could not verify the CHRI’s account, but the organization has been conservative in the past in estimating the number of people killed by security forces during other protests in Iran. It works with a network of activists inside Iran to document human rights abuses, according to its website. By Friday, other human rights groups said that security forces had already killed dozens.
Videos shared by BBC Persian and other Persian-language news outlets outside the country showed three straight days of mass protests in several large Iranian cities starting Thursday, including the capital, Tehran, and Mashhad in the northeast. The large gatherings are the latest turn in a series of protests and strikes that have lasted two weeks as Iranians call for an end to the country’s theocratic system.
Little information has been available on the events in Iran since the internet blackout began on Thursday evening. Some Iranians have been able to briefly connect using Starlink devices that have been smuggled into the country over the past few years, and videos have circulated on citizen journalist accounts and social media in the past several days that appear to indicate a high death toll, including what appear to be family members trying to identify the bodies of their loved ones at morgues.
The Post could not immediately verify those videos.
The Trump administration is considering military options in response to the unrest, U.S. officials said Saturday. President Donald Trump has not settled on a preferred option, and discussions are expected to continue in the coming days, three U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Dan Lamothe, John Hudson and Warren P. Strobel in Washington contributed to this report.
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