The Iranian human rights organization HRANA has published updated data on the death toll from the country's protests. According to the organization, at least 3,919 people have been confirmed dead, and their identities have been established and documented. At the same time, human rights activists continue to verify information about another 8,949 possible dead participants in the protests. However, a medical report claims the death toll has already reached 16,500. The most violent clashes and the highest number of protester deaths were recorded in the Kurdish regions of northwestern Iran. According to a regime official, this is an area where Kurdish separatist groups have been active for years, and during previous periods of instability, particularly violent outbreaks occurred here. Throughout the protests, regime officials claimed that armed Kurdish militias had crossed the border from northern Iraq into northwestern Iran to fuel unrest against the authorities in Tehran. During the current wave of protests, serious acts of regime violence have been recorded, in particular, in the city of Kermanshah, which has a significant Kurdish population. Many of the most high-profile deaths during Iran' recent protests have occurred in this city. In the city of Rasht, another town in northwestern Iran on the Caspian Sea, a large-scale violent incident occurred about a week and a half ago, as protests escalated to a new level. According to opposition sources, regime forces forced a large number of civilian protesters into the city bazaar and set it on fire. According to eyewitnesses, security forces armed with heavy machine guns blocked several exits from the bazaar and opened fire on anyone attempting to leave. Later published reports showed the bazaar completely destroyed by a massive fire, while official authorities characterized the incident as the work of "rebels." Let us recall that, according to the latest data, the Khamenei regime is increasing pressure on Iranians. Iranian authorities are hesitant to fully restore internet access, fearing that doing so would lead to information leaks about the true toll of casualties in the recent violent crackdown on anti-government protests, according to the Financial Times, citing accounts from Tehran residents and human rights activists. International human rights organizations estimate that the death toll during the crackdown on protests could be in the thousands. However, the Iranian leadership has not released official figures.
(source: youtube.com/watch?v=qT0JETzmWm…)