A U.S.-based activist agency said it has verified at least 3,919 deaths during protests that swept Iran and were followed by a bloody crackdown, with the group warning the toll could be significantly higher.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency posted the revised figure on Sunday, raising its estimate from a previous death toll of 3,308, according to the Associated Press. The agency said it has been accurate during past years of demonstrations and that it relies on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms fatalities.
The Associated Press said it has been unable to independently confirm the activist agency’s death toll. Iranian officials, AP reported, have not provided a clear death toll figure.
On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead and blamed the United States for the casualties. AP said it was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of the deaths from a wave of protests that began Dec. 28 amid Iran’s economic turmoil.
The activist agency said the crackdown included 24,669 arrests of protesters. Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest in Iran, AP reported, as tension with Washington has risen during the protests.
AP reported that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found Iran used deadly force against anti-government protesters. During the unrest, Trump told demonstrators that “ help is on the way ” and said his administration would “act accordingly” if killing of demonstrators continued or if Iranian authorities executed detained protesters, according to the AP report.
In later remarks, AP said Trump struck a more conciliatory tone, saying Iranian officials had “canceled the hanging of over 800 people” and that he “greatly respect[s] the fact that they canceled.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, writing Sunday on X, blamed “longstanding enmity and inhumane sanctions” imposed by the United States and its allies for hardships faced by Iranians, AP reported. He also wrote that “Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation.”
AP reported that Khamenei branded Trump a “criminal” for supporting the rallies and described protesters as “foot soldiers” of the United States. Trump, in an interview with Politico on Saturday, called for an end to Khamenei’s nearly 40-year reign, saying he was “a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” AP said.
While protests had not been reported for days, AP reported that some people chanted anti-Khamenei slogans from windows on Saturday night in neighborhoods in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan. The report also said authorities have blocked access to the internet since Jan. 8, with very limited services functioning briefly on Saturday and some online services—such as Google—working again on Sunday, while users said they could access only domestic websites and that email services continued to be blocked.
In a separate account included in the AP report, a family member of detained protester Erfan Soltani said the 26-year-old was in good physical health and was able to see his family days after his planned execution was postponed. The relative living abroad, identified as Somayeh in the report and who asked to be identified by first name only, said his execution was scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed when they reached a prison in Karaj. Somayeh said in a video message: “I ask everyone to help in securing Erfan’s freedom.”