Iran protest deaths hit 31,000 in crackdown ‘genocide’ | World | News

Initial estimates had suggested that between 16,500 and 18,000 fatalities took place during the opening fortnight of unrest; yet that toll has now surged to roughly 31,100. These disturbing statistics come to light as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s government issued warnings of military conflict should Washington intervene over the country’s crisis.

The Iranian demonstrations erupted in numerous cities on December 28 last year, originally sparked by fury over spiralling inflation, grocery prices and the collapsing national currency. Beginning with shopkeepers and traders demonstrating at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, who were later accompanied by university students, the disorder rapidly spread to additional major metropolitan areas.

Authorities have retaliated with a vicious and merciless suppression campaign, leading to almost 100,000 wounded and thousands of deaths.

An insider linked to protest organisations in Iran described the death toll as a ‘genocide’. They said: “The latest figures are off the scale. This was genocide.”

Beyond the death count, 97,645 people have been wounded, with 30 per cent experiencing eye injuries, according to research undertaken by Prof Amir-Mobarez Parasta.

The German-Iranian ophthalmologist and human rights campaigner further claimed that authorities were executing protesters – in defiance of warnings issued by US President Donald Trump.

Medical documentation showed that 468 people were put to death in Tehran alone, whilst more than 500 further fatalities were recorded elsewhere across the country.

Trump has confirmed that an American ‘armada’ is heading towards the Middle East and said that Washington is keeping a watchful eye on Iran.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, together with multiple guided-missile destroyers, remains on course for the Middle East. US military chiefs at Centcom are understood to be drawing up tactical strategies and are thought to have arrived in Israel.

Nevertheless, an Iranian representative cautioned that the nation would view any assault “as an all-out war against us.”

Yesterday, over 100 protesters gathered outside Downing Street, calling on the UK Government to ban the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.