Heartbreaking footage has captured grief-stricken families in Iran searching through rows of dead bodies after the Islamic Republic started massacring anti-regime protesters in a ruthless crackdown.
Dozens of bodies zipped up in black bags were seen piled up outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center near Tehran as relatives desperately tried to identify their slain loved ones over the weekend.
Some could be heard wailing loudly in grief, while others were spotted hunching over the scores of bodies lining the ground. One man was filmed anxiously unzipping a black body bag as another man rushed over to look inside.
The distressing scene came as the death toll rose to at least 544 on Monday following two weeks of nationwide unrest, sparked by the country’s spiraling economic crisis, with rising inflation and a plunging currency.
President Trump has said he wants Iran to negotiate with Washington after threatening to strike the oppressive theocracy over its bloody crackdown on demonstrators.
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of responses against Iran, including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel, according to sources.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he added: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Iranian leaders but warned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll and arrest numbers only continued to rise.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said.
“Iran wants to negotiate.”
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting.
But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” he added.
Of the dead, at least 496 are protesters and 48 were with security forces, according to alarming estimates released Sunday from US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA).
More than 10,600 people have also been detained over the two weeks of protests that kicked off on Dec. 28.
The protests began over Iran’s ailing economy but have since morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years.
With Post wires
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