Iranian state TV put the first official death toll from the protests, which began on Wednesday, December 28, at 3,117 people, including 2,427 civilians and security forces, but gave no details on the others.
The US-based Human Rights Watch news agency put the death toll at at least 4,560. The agency has been accurate in its response to protests and unrest in Iran over the years, relying on a network of activists inside the country. The Associated Press could not independently assess the death toll.
State television issued a statement from the Ministry of Interior and the Martyrs Foundation, an official body that provides services to the families of those killed in war.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister issued his most direct threat yet against the United States since Tehran’s bloody crackdown, warning that the Islamic Republic would “take back everything we have if we are attacked again.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments at an invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos came as a US aircraft carrier group moved from Asia to the Middle East because of the killing. US fighter jets and other weapons appear to be moving into the Middle East after a top US military base in the Caribbean captured Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
The highest death toll in decades
The death toll is higher than any protest or riot seen in decades in Iran, reminiscent of the chaos that brought the Islamic Republic to life in 1979.
Although there have been no protests for days, there are fears that the damage could increase significantly as information is slowly trickling out of the country, which has been shut down by the government since January 8.
In the first indication from authorities of the extent of the damage, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that the opposition had killed “several thousand” people and blamed the United States. The opposition began as a result of economic pressure, but quickly expanded to take on the theocracy.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry confirmed that “terrorists used live ammunition that killed 2,427 people and security forces.”
The Martyrs Foundation says Iran is pursuing what it calls “terrorists” linked to Israel and “backed, armed and armed” by the US.
About 26,500 people were arrested, Human Rights Watch reported. The officials’ comments have raised fears that some of those detained in Iran, one of the world’s most notorious crime centers, may have been executed.
That and the killing of peaceful demonstrators are two red lines drawn by US President Donald Trump in the tension.
Aragchi creates a threat in the column
Aragchi made the concern in an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal. The foreign minister argued that “the violence of the violence lasted no less than 72 hours” and again blamed the armed opposition for the violence. Despite the internet blackout, videos from outside Iran appeared to show security forces using live fire on protesters who appeared to be unarmed.
“Contrary to Iran’s June 2025 blockade, our powerful armed forces have no threat to fire at anything we have if we are attacked again,” Aragchi wrote, referring to Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June. “This is not a threat, but a fact that I feel I must convey clearly, because as a diplomat and a patriot, I abhor war.”
He added: “All-out conflict will take far longer than the imaginary timelines Israel and its proxies are trying to march to the White House. It will certainly sweep across vast regions and affect ordinary people around the world.”
Aragchi’s comments may refer to Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles. The Islamic Republic relies on ballistic missiles to target Israel’s warplanes, leaving its stockpile of short-range missiles unused, which could be fired to target US military bases and facilities in the Persian Gulf. There are already restrictions on US diplomats traveling to military bases in Kuwait and Qatar.
It was after diplomats from Middle Eastern countries, especially the Gulf Arab countries, threatened to retaliate by killing opponents to prevent Trump from attacking Iran. Last week, Iran closed its airspace in anticipation of a possible strike.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been in the South China Sea in recent days, passed the key waterway connecting the sea and the Indian Ocean off the coast of Malacca by Tuesday, ship tracking data showed.
The aircraft carrier and three escorting destroyers were heading west, a US Navy official said on condition of anonymity.
While the Navy and other defense officials have stopped short of saying the strike group is headed for the Middle East, its current trajectory and location in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away from entering the region. Meanwhile, recent U.S. military images show F-15E Strike Eagles arriving in the Middle East and forces in the region deploying HIRS missile systems, the type used with great success in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.
Kurdish exiles said that Iran’s attack on Iraq
The armed wing of the Kurdistan National Army, the Kurdistan Independence Party, or PAK, said Iran had attacked one of its military bases near Erbil, about 320 kilometers north of Baghdad. He released cellphone footage of a fighter dead and a fire in the predawn darkness.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the attack, which was Tehran’s first foreign operation since the protests began.
A handful of Iranian Kurdish dissidents or separatist groups – some of which have wings – have long found safe haven in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where their presence has been a point of contention between the central government in Baghdad and Tehran. PAK announced that an attack was carried out in Iran in response to the demonstrations.