Iran said for the first time Friday that children were among those arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests in recent weeks.
A “number” of students under 18 were arrested during the protests, the deputy chairman of Iran’s parliamentary education commission, Farshad Ebrahimpour, told the semiofficial Iranian Labor News Agency. He did not specify how many were detained, nor how long they would remain in custody. Rights groups monitoring unrest in Iran say at least 300 children, adolescents and students were detained.
The protests, which were first ignited by economic woes last December and grew into a broader anti-regime movement, appear to have been largely crushed, including with deadly force. Now the government is shifting efforts to persecuting protesters by carrying out new arrests and bolstering its security presence in schools.
It has been difficult to ascertain exactly what happened during the protests, in large part because the government shut down the internet and restricted communications. In recent days, in sporadic bursts of connection, some details have begun emerging.
The country’s National Security Council last week offered an official death toll of 3,117. That figure is lower than the latest count from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, which has so far verified 6,479 deaths — including 118 children. The verification process is ongoing, and the death toll is likely to rise.
Students, particularly at universities, have long been at the forefront of struggles for democratic change in Iran, including in the revolution that toppled the monarchy and birthed the Islamic Republic in 1979. In turn, the Iranian government has raided campuses, arrested students and, at times, banned them from higher education altogether.
An Iranian teachers’ union, which has been monitoring the children affected in the government’s crackdown, condemned what it described as the “killing of students and teachers” and the “securitization of education.” The group called for an immediate release of those in custody.
Some children, the teachers union says, have not been heard from since their arrest. In dozens of accounts shared on a Telegram channel, the union has published photographs and descriptions of children reported to be arrested or killed. The New York Times could not independently verify those reports.
Asal, a 20-year-old who participated in the protests in Karaj, said she had witnessed many teenagers, around 15 and 16 years of age, being beaten up and shot on the streets. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
“We were trapped on a street when suddenly a teenage girl — maybe 17 or 18 — tapped me on the shoulder and shouted, ‘Hey, there’s a green laser beam on your body. They’re targeting you,’” Asal said in a voice message. “Moments later that girl was shot. I don’t know where she was hit, but she collapsed to the ground, covered in blood.”
President Trump had threatened military action against Iran and urged on the protesters. He has called for new leadership in the country and lately focused on the country’s nuclear ambitions, saying last week a “massive Armada”was heading toward the country and that the United States was prepared to strike with “speed and violence.”
Iran has vowed to retaliate against any American assaults, and on Friday, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the country would not negotiate with the United States unless Mr. Trump stops threatening it.
Pranav Baskar is an international reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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