Medics describe overwhelmed hospitals as demonstrations enter second week

As protests continue in Iran and Iranian authorities issue coordinated warnings to protesters, a doctor and paramedics at two hospitals told the BBC their facilities were inundated with injuries.

A doctor said an eye hospital in Tehran had gone into crisis mode, while the BBC also received a message from a medic at another hospital saying there were not enough surgeons to cope with the influx of patients.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said Iran was in “big trouble” and warned that “you better not start shooting, because we’re going to start shooting too.”

In its letter to the UN Security Council, Iran accused the United States of turning the protests into “violent acts of destruction and widespread vandalism.”

Meanwhile, international leaders called for the right to peaceful protest to be protected.

Anti-government protests took place in dozens of cities, and two human rights groups reported that at least 50 protesters were killed.

The BBC and most other international news organizations are banned from reporting in Iran, and the country has been under an almost complete internet blackout since Thursday evening, making information difficult to obtain and verify.

An Iranian doctor contacted the BBC via Starlink satellite internet on Friday night said Farabi Hospital, Tehran’s main eye specialist centre, had gone into crisis mode and emergency rooms were overwhelmed.

Non-urgent admissions and surgeries were said to be suspended and staff were called to deal with emergencies.

The BBC also received a video and audio message from a medic at a hospital in the southwestern city of Shiraz on Thursday. The doctor said that many injured people were brought to the hospital and that there were not enough surgeons in the hospital to cope with this influx. He claimed that most of the injured had gunshot wounds to the head and eyes.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed since the protests began on December 28. More than 2,311 people were also arrested, the group reported.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, were killed.

BBC Persian confirmed the identities of 22 of these people by speaking to their families.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, said the UN was deeply disturbed by the loss of lives.

“People around the world have the right to peacefully demonstrate, and governments have a responsibility to protect this right and ensure that this right is respected,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a joint statement: “Iranian authorities have a responsibility to protect their own people and must allow freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of retaliation.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly said in a televised speech on Friday: “The Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of several hundred thousand honorable people and will not back down in the face of those who deny it.”

Later, in a speech to a group of supporters and broadcast on state television, Khamenei repeated his message, saying Iran “will not shy away from dealing with subversive elements.”

In response, Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, called Friday’s protests “spectacular” and called on Iranians to hold more targeted protests over the weekend.

Pahlavi, who lives in the USA, said in his video message on social media, “Our goal is not just to take to the streets anymore. Our goal is to capture and hold the city centers and prepare to hold them.” he said.

Pahlavi, one of the most well-known names of the opposition, said that he was preparing to return to the country.

Former British ambassador to Iran Sir Simon Gass told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that “we really shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves” when discussing regime change.

He said the lack of organized opposition in Iran means people cannot unite around anyone who would offer an alternative to the regime in its current form.

But he added that these protests were different from previous ones seen in the country and brought about “a much broader movement of protesters than we are used to seeing in the past”, triggered by ordinary people finding it “almost impossible to make ends meet due to the catastrophe of the economy”.

At the White House on Friday, Trump said his administration was carefully monitoring the situation in Iran.

“It seems to me that people are taking over some cities that no one really thought was possible just a few weeks ago,” he said.

Reiterating his previous warnings to the Iranian administration, he said: “We will hit them very hard where it hurts.” He added that any US intervention does not mean “shoes on the ground”.

On Thursday, Trump said he would “hit them real hard” if they “start killing people.”

Later Friday, the United States said Iran’s foreign minister, who accused Israel and Washington of fueling the protests, was a “deluder.”

In response to comments by Secretary of State Abbas Araghchi during his visit to Lebanon, a US State Department spokesman said, “This statement reflects a delusional attempt to distract from the enormous challenges the Iranian regime faces at home.” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on channel X: “The United States supports the brave people of Iran.”

Meanwhile, Iranian security and judicial authorities toughened up their rhetoric on Friday, issuing a series of coordinated warnings to protesters, echoing the earlier “no tolerance” message from Iran’s top security agency, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

Iran’s National Security Council said it would “take decisive and necessary legal action” against the protesters, whom it described as “armed vandals” and “disturbers of peace and security.”

The intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that there would be no tolerance for what it defined as “terrorist actions” and claimed that it would continue its operations “until the enemy’s plan is completely defeated.”

Additional reporting by Soroush Negahdari