US president says ‘help is on its way’, as reported death toll rises into the thousands and concerns Tehran may carry out first protest-related execution, that of Erfan Soltani
Trump promises ‘help is on its way’ and tells Iranians to ‘keep protesting’
Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital amid brutal crackdown on protests
Iran protests: what we know so far about the spiralling anti-government demonstrations
Erfan Soltani is reportedly facing execution in Iran on Wednesday after he was tried, convicted and sentenced, following his arrest on Thursday.
The 26-year-old was arrested in Karaj, a city on the north-west outskirts of Tehran, at the peak of the protests before the internet black-out. Soltani is one of the many thousands of protesters arrested last week.
Amnesty International has highlighted his case, warning of concerns that Iranian authorities might “once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”.
According to information gathered by Amnesty, the group said an informed sourced learned on 11 January that officials had told Soltani’s family he was sentenced to death. Soltani had lost contact with loved ones on 8 January amid mass protests and the regime’s internet shutdown, the group said.
Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to monitors. Last year, it hanged at least 1,500 people, Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said.
In case you missed our report yesterday on how hundreds of gunshot eye injuries have been found in one Iranian hospital amid a brutal crackdown on protests, here is the full piece:
Associated Press (AP) reports that preparations are under way in Iran for the mass funeral of 100 security force members killed in the demonstrations.
Plainclothes security forces still milled around some neighbourhoods, though anti-riot police and members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force appeared to have been sent back to their barracks, reports the AP.
“We are very frightened because of these sounds [of gunfire] and protests,” said anIranian shopping for fruits and vegetables on Wednesday, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. She added:
We have heard many are killed and many are injured. Now peace has been restored but schools are closed and I’m scared to send my children to school again.
Ahmadreza told the AP he witnessed one demonstration in Tehran and was shocked by the use of firearms by authorities. He said:
People were out to express themselves and protest, but quickly it turned into a war zone. The people do not have guns. Only the security forces have guns.
The nationwide shutdown of the internet by authorities in Iran, which activists fear is aimed at masking the true scale of a crackdown on protests, has now lasted more than 132 hours, a monitor said on Wednesday.
In a post on X on Wednesday, internet freedom monitor Netblocks wrote:
Update: Metrics show Iran remains offline as the country wakes to another day of digital darkness.
With the internet blackout now past its 132nd hour, early reports indicate thousands of casualties. The true extent of the killings is obscured by the absence of connectivity.
China opposes any outside interference in Iran’s internal affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington would take “very strong action” against Tehran.
China does not condone the use or the threat of force in international relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a regular news conference when asked about China’s position after Trump’s comments.
Trump has urged protesters in Iran to keep protesting and said that help was on the way.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has more on the comments made by Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, broadcast by state television.
“If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly,” Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held “in public” and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
Rights groups say thousands have been arrested and fear the judiciary will make extensive use of capital punishment.
The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled on Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from US President Donald Trump.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television online, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Mohseni-Ejei said:
If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly.
He added:
If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.
His comments stand as a direct challenge to Trump, who warned Iran about executions in an interview with CBS aired on Tuesday. “We will take very strong action,” Trump warned. “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”
Iran’s crackdown on demonstrations may be the most violent in the country’s contemporary history, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.
“What we suspect is that this is the most violent repression in Iran’s contemporary history and that it must absolutely stop,” Barrot said.
The US-based HRANA rights group said it had verified the deaths of 2,571 people during Iran’s protests, reports Reuters.
This includes 2,403 protesters, 147 government-affiliated individuals, 12 children aged under 18 and nine non-protester civilians.
Iran’s UN mission has posted on X saying that Washington’s “playbook” would “fail again”.
“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention. This playbook has failed before. The Iranian people will defend their country—and, most assuredly, it will fail again,” it said.
It shared earlier comments by Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, in which he called for the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council to condemn “all forms of incitement to violence, threats to use force, and interference in Iran’s internal affairs by the United States”.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran who was expelled during the 1979 revolution, has released a video statement urging the people of Iran to continue to resist the regime, and urging members of the army to join with the public.
In the message, he said:
My compatriots, the world has not only seen and heard your voice and courage – it is now responding. By now, you have probably heard the message from the President of the United States. Help is on the way. Continue the fight, as you have done so far. Do not allow this regime to create the illusion that life is normal. After all the massacres, there is a sea of blood between us and this regime.
Save the names of all these criminals. They will be prosecuted for what they have done.
… I also have a special message for members of the army: you are the national military of Iran, you have a duty to protect the lives of your compatriots. You do not have much time. Join them as soon as possible.