At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests across Iran, including about 500 members of the security forces, according to an Iranian official cited by Reuters.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has acknowledged that thousands of Iranians were killed during more than two weeks of unrest and blamed US President Donald Trump for “encouraging the protesters.”
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Saturday that the death toll had reached 3,308, with 4,382 other cases under review. HRANA said more than 24,000 people had been arrested.
The Iranian official accused “terrorists and armed rioters” of killing “innocent Iranians” and said “Israel and armed groups abroad supported and supplied those who took to the streets.”
Some of the deadliest clashes took place in Kurdish areas in northwest Iran, the official said. Kurdish separatists have been active in those areas, and flare-ups there have been among the most violent in past periods of unrest. The Norway-based Kurdish Iranian rights group Hengaw also pointed to Kurdish areas as having witnessed some of the fiercest clashes.
“The final death toll is not expected to rise sharply,” the official told Reuters.
In a speech to the nation on Saturday, Khamenei described Trump as a “criminal” responsible “for the casualties and damage” during the anti-government protests that erupted in late December.
Khamenei said Trump had “openly encouraged” protesters by promising them US “military support.”
In his speech, Khamenei said the “rioters” involved in the unrest fell into two categories: people supported, funded, and trained by the US and Israel, and young people influenced by them.
Those young people were “naive individuals manipulated by the leaders of this unrest,” said the Supreme Leader. He added that they damaged energy facilities, mosques, educational institutions, banks, medical facilities, and grocery stores.
Khamenei, 86, did not mention the brutal methods used by Iranian security forces to suppress the protests.
Witnesses and rights organizations have previously described government forces firing on protesters in the streets and from rooftops.
In a Politico interview Saturday morning, Trump said Khamenei was guilty of “the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before.”
Trump called for an end to Khamenei’s 37-year rule, saying, “It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” as the protests receded.
Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention.
Last Tuesday, he urged Iranians to keep protesting and “take control of the institutions,” saying, “Help is coming,” before abruptly reversing course the next day.
Trump said he had been told the killings had stopped.
Iranian authorities regularly blame foreign enemies for unrest, including Israel, the Islamic Republic’s arch-foe, which carried out military strikes on Iran in June.
In June, Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war that also included US airstrikes on Iran, which Washington said were meant to “deter Tehran from developing its nuclear program.”
Iran responded by firing missiles at the US Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar before Trump announced an end to the war.
The protests began in Tehran in opposition to worsening economic conditions and rising prices. They then spread to other cities and later turned into clashes with security forces, taking on a political character that demanded the overthrow of the ruling regime.
