US-based activists raise death toll in Iran protest crackdown to over 5,000

Activists says the death toll from a crackdown over Iran’s nationwide protests has reached at least 5,002 people killed, with many more still feared dead.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offers the toll. The agency has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, in part due to authorities cutting access to the internet and blocking international calls into the country. Iran also reportedly has limited journalists’ ability locally 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. The US military has moved more military assets toward the Middle East, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea.