{"id":111551,"date":"2026-01-17T16:41:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=111551"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:41:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:41:03","slug":"iran-supreme-leader-admits-thousands-killed-during-recent-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=111551","title":{"rendered":"Iran supreme leader admits thousands killed during recent protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 12 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

Iran\u2019s supreme leader has for the first time publicly acknowledged that thousands of people were killed, \u201csome in an inhuman, savage manner\u201d, during recent protests.<\/p>\n

A violent response to the unrest has claimed 3,090 lives, according to US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), with some activist groups putting the death toll far higher. An internet blackout has made it extremely difficult to get clear information.<\/p>\n

In a speech on Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said thousands had been killed and blamed the US for the deaths.<\/p>\n

US PresidentDonald Trump recently urged Iranian demonstrators to \u201ckeep protesting\u201d and threatened military intervention if security forces kill them.<\/p>\n

The protests, which began on 28 December over the economy, have turned into calls for the end of the rule of Iran\u2019s supreme leader.<\/p>\n

The Iranian government has called the demonstrations \u201criots\u201d backed by Iran\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n

Protesters have been met with deadly force and\u00a0videos of security forces shooting at demonstrations\u00a0have been authenticated by both BBC Persian and BBC Verify.<\/p>\n

There has also been a near-total shutdown of the internet and communication services in Iran. On Saturday overall connectivity remained at about 2% of ordinary levels, according to cyber monitor NetBlocks.<\/p>\n

There have been fewer reports of unrest in recent days but with internet access still restricted developments on the ground remain unclear.<\/p>\n

A woman in Shiraz, south-western Iran, told BBC Persian that \u201csecurity forces are still patrolling on motorbikes to keep the situation under control, but overall things have gone back to normal\u201d.<\/p>\n

During his speech on Saturday, Khamenei also said Iran considered President Trump to be a \u201ccriminal\u201d and said the US must be \u201cheld accountable\u201d for recent unrest.<\/p>\n

He also claimed on social media that \u201cAmerica\u2019s goal is to swallow Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has not yet responded to the supreme leader and the BBC has approached the White House for a comment.<\/p>\n

The US state department said on Saturday that it had \u201cheard reports that the Islamic Republic is preparing options to target American bases\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said Iran would be met with \u201ca very, very powerful force\u201d if it launched such an attack and warned Tehran not to \u201cplay games with President Trump\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US president\u00a0said on Wednesday\u00a0he had been told \u201cthe killing in Iran has stopped\u201d, but added that he had not ruled out military action against the country.<\/p>\n

His comments came after the US and UK both reduced the number of personnel at the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Officials told CBS, the BBC\u2019s US partner, that a partial American withdrawal was a \u201cprecautionary measure\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\"IranIran\u2019s supreme leader has for the first time publicly acknowledged that thousands of people were killed, \u201csome in an inhuman, savage manner\u201d, during recent protests. A violent response to the unrest has claimed 3,090 lives, according to US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), with some activist groups putting the death toll far higher. [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15539,1910,2359,10,9,11307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ayatollah-ali-khamenei","category-international","category-iran","category-politics","category-popular","category-protests"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}