12,000 anti-regime protesters have been killed, Iranian opposition figures claim, as Tehran admits to ‘2,000 deaths’ hours before hero demonstrator faces execution

According to claims by Iran’s opposition website Iran International, approximately 12,000 protesters were killed by the Iranian regime.

The figures are much higher than previous reports; An Iranian official admitted to Reuters today that nearly 2,000 people had been killed in the protests and blamed “terrorists” for the deaths of civilians and security personnel.

This came as human rights groups warned that the regime was imminent plans to execute a 26-year-old man arrested during a protest in Fardis, Alborz Province, on Thursday.

Sources told the National League for Democracy of Iran and Iran Human Rights that the government plans to execute Erfan Sultani, who was sentenced to death for participating in demonstrations, on Wednesday.

Apparently he was denied access to a lawyer.

Tehran chief prosecutor Mohammad Movahedi Azad said on Saturday that anyone who participated in the protests would be considered an “enemy of God” and would be punished with the death penalty.

The Editorial Board of Iran International made the following statement: ‘At least 12,000 people were killed in the largest massacre in contemporary Iranian history, especially on the nights of January 8 and 9, and this massacre will not be buried in silence.’

The opposition website claims that the figures are based on multiple sources and that the killings were carried out by the Revolutionary Guard and Basij forces on the orders of Religious Leader Ali Khamenei.

The government plans to execute 26-year-old Erfan Soltani (pictured above) on Wednesday, sources told the National League for Democracy of Iran and Iran Human Rights.

Graphic videos circulating online show dozens of bodies in a morgue south of the Iranian capital Tehran

The organization said that these killings were not ‘unplanned’ or the result of ‘disorganized conflicts’, adding that the death toll was an estimate made by Iran’s own security officials.

According to The Times Of Israel (TOA), the opposition website aggregated and cross-referenced insider information, including from a source close to the Supreme National Security Council and the Iranian Presidential office.

They also reportedly received information from sources in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, witness statements and medical officials.

Iran International said: ‘This data was reviewed and verified through many stages and in accordance with strict professional standards before being released,’ Iran International said, TOA reported.

Thousands of people have been injured and nearly 10,700 people have been arrested since protests began late last year over the collapse of Iran’s currency and mismanagement of the economy.

Witnesses described how streets turned into ‘war zones’ as security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles and morgues were filled with body bags.

People can be seen trying to identify bodies as they pass by bodies in body bags laid out in a large room.

Eyewitnesses described how streets turned into ‘war zones’

“This place is like a war zone, the streets are full of blood,” an anonymous Iranian told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

‘They are taking the bodies away in trucks, everyone is afraid tonight. ‘They are committing a massacre here, this is literally a massacre.’

A young woman from Tehran said last Thursday felt like ‘doomsday’.

“Even the remote neighborhoods of Tehran were filled with protesters; places you wouldn’t believe,” he told the BBC.

‘But on Friday the security forces just killed, killed and killed. Seeing it with my own eyes disturbed me so much that I completely lost my morale. Friday was a bloody day.”

He added: ‘In war, both sides have weapons. Here people just sing and get killed. This is a one-sided war.’

Graphic videos circulating online show dozens of bodies in a morgue south of the Iranian capital Tehran.

People with knowledge of the facility and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency say the video shows the Kahrizak Forensic Science Center.

People are seen walking around bodies in body bags laid out in a large room, trying to identify them.

While some of the bags were seen in the morgue cars, some were lined up on the ground.

One video showed a mother screaming as she begged her motionless child to get up from the table.

Iran’s theocratic regime is living its ‘last days’, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday

US President Donald Trump briefed on a range of covert and military options to target Iran

Protesters attend a rally in Zurich, Switzerland, in support of nationwide mass demonstrations against the government in Iran, January 13, 2026.

A woman shows a sign during a rally in support of nationwide protests in Iran on January 13, 2026 in Rome, Italy

Iran’s theocratic regime is in its ‘last days’ as pressure increases on the government due to violence against protesters, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday.

“If a regime can remain in power only through violence, then it is effectively over,” Chancellor Merz told reporters in Bengaluru during his visit to India.

‘I think we are currently witnessing the last days and weeks of this regime.’

Saying that Iran’s leaders have ‘no legitimacy’ because they are not elected by the people and the population is now ‘rising’, Merz added: ‘I hope there is a way to end this conflict peacefully.’

US President Donald Trump has been briefed on a range of covert and military options to target Iran, according to two Defense Department officials.

Long-range missile strikes are among the tools available to Trump, sources told CBS News, but Pentagon officials have offered other options, including cyber operations and psychological campaign responses.

The US president’s national security team is understood to be holding a meeting at the White House on Tuesday to discuss approaches, but it is unclear whether Trump will be there in person.