Tehran, Iran. Influential Iranian figures are calling for the execution of protesters after nationwide demonstrations that a Guardian report said left more than 3,000 people dead. The unrest has been described as the country’s bloodiest upheaval since 1979.
Calls for death sentences
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami used his Friday sermon to describe demonstrators as “armed hypocrites” and said they deserved death. Khatami sits on both the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts, the body that selects Iran’s supreme leader.
Khatami accused protesters of serving Israel and the United States, calling them “butlers” and “soldiers” of the two countries. “Armed hypocrites should be put to death,” he told worshippers, adding that neither country should “expect peace.”
Trump claims and Iran’s response
Khatami’s remarks contrasted with statements from US President Donald Trump, who said earlier this week that Iran had agreed to stop executing protesters, and appeared to back away from military strikes based on that assurance.
Trump repeated the claim on Friday night, thanking Iran for halting 800 executions, without providing a source for the figure.
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei rejected Trump’s account on Saturday, calling the US president a “criminal” for meddling in the protests and promising further punishment for demonstrators.
“By God’s grace, the Iranian nation must break the back of the seditionists just as it broke the back of the sedition,” Khamenei said.
Rights groups’ figures and arrests
Rights groups reported a higher toll. The Human Rights Activists news agency counted 3,090 dead, with nearly 4,000 cases still under review. Police have arrested 22,100 people, prompting fears about the treatment of detainees.
Timeline of the unrest
The unrest began on 28 December when Tehran traders protested the rial’s collapse. Demonstrations spread across the country within days, and protesters began calling for the government’s removal. The two-and-a-half weeks of unrest were described as Iran’s most serious challenge since the 1979 revolution.
Authorities ended the protests through what Human Rights Watch described as “mass killings of protesters” on Friday, and the streets are now largely empty.
What should be independently verified about reported death tolls, arrests, and execution claims in Iran’s protests?
