{"id":536235,"date":"2026-01-23T04:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/536235\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T04:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:49:10","slug":"death-toll-from-a-crackdown-on-protests-in-iran-reportedly-reaches-5002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/536235\/","title":{"rendered":"Death toll from a crackdown on protests in Iran reportedly reaches 5,002"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The death toll from Iran\u2019s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests reached at least 5,002 people killed Friday, activists said, warning many more still were feared dead as the most-comprehensive internet blackout in the country\u2019s history<\/a> crossed the two-week mark. <\/p>\n

The challenge in getting information out of Iran persists due to authorities cutting off access to the world through the internet on Jan. 8<\/a>, even as tensions rise between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East \u2014 a force U.S. President Donald Trump likened to an \u201carmada\u201d in comments to journalists late Thursday. <\/p>\n

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the death toll<\/a>, saying 4,716 were demonstrators, 203 were government-affiliated, 43 were children and 40 were civilians not taking part in the protests. It added that more than 26,800 people had been detained in a widening arrest campaign by authorities. <\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s figures have been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s government offered its first death toll Wednesday<\/a>, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being \u201cterrorists.\u201d Iran\u2019s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 ability locally to report on the aftermath, instead repeatedly airing claims on state television that refer to demonstrators as \u201crioters\u201d motivated by America and Israel, without offering evidence to support the allegation. <\/p>\n

The new toll comes as tensions remain high over Trump laying down two red lines over the protests \u2014 the killing of peaceful demonstrators and Tehran conducting mass executions. Iran\u2019s attorney general and others have called some of those being held \u201cmohareb\u201d \u2014 or \u201cenemies of God.\u201d<\/a> That charge carries the death penalty. It had been used along with others to carry out mass executions in 1988 that reportedly killed at least 5,000 people<\/p>\n

The U.S. military meanwhile 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. <\/p>\n

A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the Lincoln strike group is currently in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One that the U.S. is moving the ships toward Iran \u201cjust in case\u201d he wants to take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won\u2019t have to use it,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks American officials had with Iran over its nuclear program prior to Israel launching a 12-day war<\/a> against the Islamic Republic in June, which saw U.S. warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. He threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier U.S. strikes against its uranium enrichment sites \u201clook like peanuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should have made a deal before we hit them,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The death toll from Iran\u2019s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests reached at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":536236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[66557,64,69,57,83,3461,3097,50,2062,80,402,235115,93,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-536235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-abraham-lincoln","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-iran-government","14":"tag-middle-east","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-political-and-civil-unrest","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","19":"tag-send-to-apple-news","20":"tag-washington-news","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115942612200650643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}