Iran opposition outlet says regime killed over 36,000 people on January 8-9

The opposition-affiliated Iranian news site Iran International reported Sunday that over 36,000 people were killed by the regime at the height of protests earlier this month, numbers similar to those also reported by Time magazine.

The Iranian opposition outlet said its estimate for the death toll in the brutal repression of January 8-9 is based on extensive data it compiled from “classified documents, field reports, and accounts from medical staff, witnesses, and victims’ families.”

It said the numbers make the killings the “bloodiest massacre of civilians during street protests, over a two-day period, in history.”

Most of the killings were done by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its allied Basij militia, though proxies brought in from Iraq and Syria were also used, according to the report.

Sources in the country’s interior ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the outlet that figures from provincial security councils, submitted January 20, put the toll at over 30,000.

Iran International also said it saw a report presented on January 21 to the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee that put the number of dead at over 27,500.

In addition, two sources from the Supreme National Security Council told the outlet that the IRGC last week compiled two reports, one that put the number at over 33,000, and another at over 36,500.

Beyond the mass killings at protests, the outlet said it received evidence, including photos, that some people were executed by security forces while receiving treatment for injuries at hospitals.

“The organized killings across Iran indicate the brutal crackdown was carried out with the agreement and cooperation of state institutions and on the orders of the highest authorities of the Islamic Republic,” it said.

Time magazine, in a report earlier Sunday saying the toll could top 30,000, cited two unnamed senior officials in the Iranian health ministry. Time said it was unable to independently verify the figures, but an estimate of 30,000 accords with reports from doctors and other first responders on the ground during the protests.

The report said that, according to the health officials, 30,000 people were killed just between January 8 and 9, in the heat of weeks-long anti-regime protests that spread across the country. Time cited officials as saying that the country used 18-wheeler trucks instead of ambulances at the time and ran out of body bags.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei dismissed the Time report as a “Hitler-style BIG LIE.”

In a post to the social media platform X, Baqaei wrote, “Isn’t this the number they planned to kill in the streets of Iran?! They failed, though, and now they’re trying to FAKE it in the media. Truly vicious!”

The estimated tolls came as The New York Times reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei instructed security forces on January 9 to “crush” the mass demonstrations in the country by “any means necessary.”

Citing two unnamed Iranian officials with knowledge of the leader’s instructions, the paper said forces were told to “shoot to kill and to show no mercy.”

Previous reports have also identified January 8 and 9 as days on which the regime carried out mass slaughter of protesters with security forces firing live ammunition into crowds. On January 8, Iran imposed an internet blackout, and full service has not yet been restored. It has also blocked international calls into the country. But some information, including purported videos of killings and mass casualties, along with testimonies from doctors, has trickled out.

Though there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, the death toll reported by activists has continued to rise.

So far, the Iranian government has acknowledged a toll of 3,117, including some members of security services.

Protests in Iran began on December 28, triggered by the collapse of the country’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks. The government responded with brutal force, killing thousands and arresting tens of thousands.

Iran reportedly has limited the ability of local journalists to report on the aftermath, instead repeatedly airing claims on state television that refer to demonstrators as “rioters” motivated by America and Israel, without offering evidence to support the allegation.

The new toll comes as tensions remain high over US President Donald Trump laying down two red lines over the protests — the killing of peaceful demonstrators and Tehran conducting mass executions. Backing up the threat, the US military has moved more military assets toward the Mideast, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea.