Medics describe overcrowded hospitals as demonstrations enter second week

As protests in Iran enter their second week and Iranian authorities issue coordinated warnings to protesters, a doctor and medic at two hospitals told the BBC that their facilities are overwhelmed with injuries.

A doctor said an eye hospital in Tehran was in crisis mode, while the BBC also obtained a message from a medic at another hospital who said it did not have enough surgeons to cope with the influx of patients.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said Iran was in “big trouble” and warned that “you better not start shooting because we will start shooting too”.

Iran, in a letter to the UN Security Council, blamed the US for turning the protests into what it called “violent subversive acts and widespread vandalism”.

Meanwhile, international leaders are calling for the right to peaceful protest to be protected.

Anti-government protests took place in several cities, with at least 50 protesters reported killed by two human rights groups.

The BBC and most other international news organizations are banned from reporting inside Iran, and the country has been under a near-total internet blackout since Thursday night, making it difficult to obtain and verify information.

A doctor from Iran, who contacted the BBC via Starlink satellite internet on Friday evening, said Farabi Hospital, Tehran’s main eye specialist centre, was in crisis mode, overwhelming emergency services.

Non-urgent admissions and operations are said to be suspended, and staff are on call to deal with emergency cases.

The BBC also obtained a video and audio message from a medic at a hospital in the southwestern city of Shiraz on Thursday. The medic said that many injured people were brought in, and the hospital did not have enough surgeons to handle the influx. He admitted that many of the wounded had gunshot wounds to the head and eyes.

Since the protests began on December 28, at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). More than 2,311 individuals were also arrested, the group reported.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, were killed.

BBC Persian spoke to the families of 22 of them and confirmed their identities.

United Nations Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric’s spokesman said the UN was deeply troubled by the loss of life.

“People everywhere in the world have the right to demonstrate peacefully, and governments have a responsibility to protect that right and ensure that that right is respected,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a joint statement saying: “Iranian authorities have a responsibility to protect their own population and must allow freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remained defiant in a televised speech on Fridaywho said: “The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of several hundred thousand noble people and it will not retreat before those who deny it.”

Later, in comments made at a gathering of supporters and broadcast on state television, Khamenei repeated the message, saying Iran “will not shy away from confronting harmful elements”.

Iran’s UN ambassador accused the US of “interfering in Iran’s internal affairs through threats, incitement, and deliberate encouragement of instability and violence,” in a letter to the UN Security Council.

At the White House on Friday, Trump said his administration is closely monitoring the situation in Iran.

“I think people are taking over some cities that nobody thought possible just a few weeks ago,” he said.

He echoed earlier warnings by Iran’s leadership, saying: “We will hit them hard where it hurts.” He added that any US involvement does not mean “boots on the ground”.

Last Thursday, Trump said he “suffered enough of them” if they “start killing people”.

Later on Friday, the US said Iran’s foreign minister was “delusional” after he accused Israel and Washington of fomenting the protests.

“This statement shows a delusional attempt to deviate from the many challenges facing the Iranian regime at home,” a spokesperson for the US State Department responded to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments during a visit to Lebanon.

Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X: “The United States supports the brave people of Iran.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s security and judicial authorities issued a series of coordinated warnings to protesters on Friday, toughening their rhetoric and echoing an earlier message of “no mercy” by Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

Iran’s National Security Council said “decisive and necessary legal action will be taken” against the protesters, whom it described as “armed vandals” and “disturbers of peace and security”.

The intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would not tolerate what it described as “terrorist acts”, declaring it would continue operations “until the enemy’s plan is completely defeated”.