Iran is threatening to continue mass executions of protesters arrested during its brutal crackdown on a nationwide uprising against the despotic regime, and warned the US that deploying forces would unleash “all-out war.”
Iranian officials say at least 5,000 demonstrators have been slaughtered in the streets for speaking out against the authoritarian rule that has gripped the country for nearly 50 years.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the deaths on US- and Israel-linked “terrorists and rioters,” actions which Iran’s judiciary said on Sunday constitute “Mohareb,” an Islamic term meaning to wage war on God which carries the death penalty.
“A series of actions have been identified as Mohareb, which is among the most severe Islamic punishments,” Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, said at a press conference.
The renewed saber-rattling comes just days after President Trump thanked the Islamic republic’s leadership on Truth Social for canceling the executions of over 800 people headed for the gallows.
Among them was protester Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested Jan. 8 and given just 10 minutes to say goodbye to his family before being taken away for execution.
Soltani has since been confirmed alive and in good physical health by his family and human rights groups.
Trump vowed to intervene militarily if the regime killed demonstrators, and has sent US military assets, including an aircraft carrier, to the region. But he has yet to announce details on further plans.
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in a social media post Sunday that its response “to any unjust aggression will be harsh and regrettable,” adding that an attack on Khamenei would be considered “tantamount to an all-out war against the nation.”
Trump had said that Iran’s decision to halt the executions played a decisive role in his decision to hold off on military action.
Some 24,000 people have been arrested in the mass demonstrations, according to the US-based agency Human Rights Activists in Iran, which began Dec. 28 when shopkeepers rallied in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over economic hardships resulting from the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial.
The unrest quickly grew into widespread protests across all 31 provinces, which the repressive regime responded to with a violent crackdown.
It’s the largest civil unrest in the country since 2022, when enraged citizens took to the streets following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab.
A shocking new report by the Sunday Times says the death toll cited by human rights groups is woefully undercounted, putting the figure closer to 16,500, with another 330,000 to 360,000 injured.
The disturbing figures, compiled from eight major hospitals and 16 emergency departments, revealed between 16,500 and 18,000 people have been killed, with most victims believed to be younger than 30.
Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German eye surgeon who spoke to the outlet, said the violence seen during the demonstrations represents “a whole new level of brutality” by the regime.
“[In 2022] they were using rubber bullets and pellet guns taking out eyes. This time they are using military-grade weapons and what we are seeing are gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the head, neck and chest,” he continued.
At least 1,000 people have lost an eye, with one Tehran hospital reporting 7,000 eye injuries, according to the outlet.
On Jan. 8, authorities imposed a near-total internet blackout in a move widely seen as an effort to hide the massacre and prevent horrendous images of violence from spreading outside Iran’s borders.
Despite the shutdown, horrifying footage emerged showing rows of bodies piled up in and near morgues as devastated families frantically searched for their missing loved ones while facing threats and intimidation by the regime’s security forces.
The government is now reportedly looking to further tighten its grip on the information flowing into and out of the country by permanently disconnecting its citizens from the global internet in favor of a state-run system.
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