‘Massacre’ feared as Iran tries to crush protests; US weighs military options

Reports of a dramatic escalation in the use of deadly force by Iranian security forces have begun to trickle out of the country despite a severe communications blackout as authorities struggle to contain mass protests.

The Centre for Human Rights in Iran, based in New York, said it received eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed in Iran since the government cut off the country’s access to the internet on Thursday night.

The Trump administration is considering military options in response to some of the most widespread demonstrations in the Islamic Republic’s history, US officials said late Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

Officials across the key national security agencies are scheduled to brief President Donald Trump early this week on options to respond to the ballooning protests in Iran, a senior US official familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The planned meeting is expected to include the President’s top diplomatic, military and defense advisers and discuss a broad array of options, including both military and nonmilitary responses, said the official. The official said the planned deliberations, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, are at an early stage.

They said that the President had not settled on a preferred option.

The Journal reported that options under review could include deploying cyberweapons against Iranian military and civilian sites, imposing additional economic sanctions on the Iranian Government and launching military strikes.

Mr Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Sunday that if it is attacked, Iran could target the United States, Israel and shipping lanes.

The CHRI said witnesses have reported that “hospitals were overwhelmed, blood supplies are critically low, bodies are being piled up, and the number of casualties is rising by the hour.”

It said that many protesters have been shot in the eyes. In the past, Iranian security forces have shot protesters in the eyes with metal pellets and rubber bullets. The group also said witnesses reported the use of snipers, military rifles and surveillance drones.

“CHRI warns that a massacre is unfolding,” the organisation said. “The world must act now to prevent further loss of life.”

The organisation, active since 2008, cautioned that verifying the exact number of those killed in the demonstrations is “currently impossible” because of the blackout.

The Washington Post does not have a reporter in Iran and could not verify the CHRI’s account, but the organisation has been conservative in the past in estimating the number of people killed by security forces during other protests in Iran.

It works with a network of activists inside Iran to document human rights abuses, according to its website. By Friday, other human rights groups said that security forces had already killed dozens.

BBC Persian also reported, citing “informed sources” at hospitals in Tehran and Rasht, a city in the country’s north, that 110 bodies had been transferred to the two facilities. Doctors inside Iran told the same news outlet that people had been brought to hospitals with bullet wounds in the head, neck and eyes.

Iranian police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan was quoted by Iran’s state broadcaster on Sunday as saying that security forces had “stepped up” their confrontation with “rioters” and that “main elements” behind the unrest had been rounded up and would be punished following a legal process.

Radan also acknowledged deaths but implied that they were at the hands of coordinated agitators rather than security forces. His evidence for that assertion was that, according to him, many of those killed had stab wounds or had been killed by gunshots at close range.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking to an Iranian journalist on Sunday, cast the protests as the work of Iran’s enemies, who he said were training “terrorists.” He accused them of a variety of atrocities without providing evidence.

Videos shared by BBC Persian and other Persian-language news outlets outside the country showed three straight days of mass protests in several large Iranian cities starting Thursday, including the capital, Tehran, and Mashhad in the northeast.

The large gatherings are the latest turn in a series of protests and strikes that have lasted two weeks as Iranians call for an end to the country’s theocratic system.

Little information has been available on the events in Iran since the internet blackout began on Thursday evening.

Some Iranians have been able to briefly connect using Starlink devices that have been smuggled into the country over the past few years, and videos have circulated on citizen journalist accounts and social media in the past several days that appear to indicate a high death toll, including what appear to be family members trying to identify the bodies of their loved ones at morgues.

The Post could not immediately verify those videos.

The protests began on December 28, sparked by merchants devastated by the precipitous fall of the Iranian currency over the past few months. The demonstrations quickly spread across the country and were joined by students, workers and other elements of Iranian society.

On Sunday, leaders and officials reacted to the developing situation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a government meeting that Israel is “closely monitoring” the events unfolding in Iran.

The people of Israel “stand in awe of the immense bravery of Iran’s citizens,” and Israel “supports their struggle for freedom,” he said.

Dan Lamothe, John Hudson and Warren P. Strobel in Washington contributed to this report.

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