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Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests last month has killed at least 7,005 people, activists said Thursday, as Iran and the United States continued talks on Tehran’s nuclear program amid rising international tensions.
The activists’ latest tally put the death toll for the demonstrations on an upward trend, with many more people still feared dead, according to the report from AP. The continuing rise in the number of deaths has added to broader pressures facing Iran both at home and in negotiations abroad.
Activists’ figures were carried by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which said it has counted 7,005 people killed, including 214 government forces. The agency said it relies on a network of activists in Iran and has gradually been able to cross-check information as communication remains difficult inside the country, AP reported.
Iran’s government, by contrast, offered an official toll earlier in the month, saying on Jan. 21 that 3,117 people were killed. AP said it could not independently assess the activist death toll because Iranian authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls.
As the casualty numbers and accounts of the crackdown continue, leaders in the U.S. and Iran are also weighing diplomacy and leverage over a possible nuclear deal. AP reported that Trump, seeking a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, said Iran should reach an agreement with Washington “very quickly,” while describing a rough timeline of “I guess over the next month, something like that.” In a separate posting on Truth Social that AP summarized, Trump wrote that there had been nothing “definitive” reached other than insistence that negotiations continue to see “whether or not a Deal can be consummated.”
The U.S. president also warned that failure to reach an agreement would be “very traumatic,” and AP reported that he has suggested the United States might take military action in response to the crackdown. The military posture described by AP included moving the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with ships and warplanes, to the Middle East, and reporting that U.S. forces had shot down a drone that got too close to the carrier and that came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters before boarding a plane back to Israel that Trump believes Netanyahu’s terms and Iran’s “understanding that they made a mistake the last time when they did not reach an agreement, may lead them to agree to conditions that will enable a good agreement to be reached.” Netanyahu said he “did not hide” his “general skepticism” about any deal, and he stressed that any agreement must include concessions related to Iran’s ballistic missiles program and support for militant proxies, not only Iran’s nuclear program. AP reported that Netanyahu described his talks with Trump as “excellent.”
In parallel, senior Iranian officials continued seeking diplomatic channels. AP said Ali Larijani met in Qatar on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and that he also met with Hamas officials. The report also said Larijani met in Oman with Tehran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on Tuesday and told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that Iran did not receive any specific proposal from the U.S. in Oman, but acknowledged that there was an “exchange of messages.”
Qatar has acted as a negotiator with Iran before, and AP reported that the state-run Qatar News Agency said Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke with Trump about the “current situation in the region and international efforts aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace,” without elaborating.
Human rights concerns continued to draw international attention as well. AP reported that the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was “deeply appalled by credible reports” describing the arrest, physical abuse, and ongoing mistreatment of 2023 Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. The committee said it had information Mohammadi was beaten during her December arrest and continued to be mistreated, and it called for her immediate and unconditional release.
The Nobel Committee said Mohammadi “continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical follow‑up” while she is being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation, and AP reported that the committee added she had fainted several times, suffered from dangerously high blood pressure, and had been prevented from accessing necessary follow-up for suspected breast tumors. AP also reported that Iran has sentenced Mohammadi, 53, to more than seven more years in prison.
The crackdown’s aftermath also included expected grief rituals. AP said Iran faced continuing anger over suppression of dissent, and that the rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning period.