[firejake308]

> As of Saturday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,459 deaths and is investigating 17,031 more.

The 30,000 number comes from the Ministry of Health. It seems the UN number also aligns with the new 30,000 number. This is much worse than the 3,000 that was reported earlier. But it also seems like the crackdown is over now, and we're still just counting deaths from Jan 8 and 9.

I compare this to the recent protests in Bangladesh, where Sheikh Hasina ordered the military to shoot the protesters and the military refused. The difference between these two countries is proof that people do have the ability to disobey orders from authoritarian leaders, and that decision can have a huge impact.

[reliabilityguy]

The difference is that IR didn’t use Artesh (it’s military) to suppress the protests. They bused in its proxy militias from Iraq, who doesn’t care much who to shoot.

[swat535]

I'm Iranian (diaspora from Canada), there are multiple branches of security forces in the regime:

1. The army (air, land, sea, etc)

2. IRGC (revolutionary guards)

3. Basij (a specialized militia within IRCG, often with their own chain of command)

4. Police (for civilian monitoring and control)

5. Guidance Patrol (specialized "morality" police for enforcing Islamic law)

6. Other (undercover, highly trained agents both inside and outside of country)

The reason why it's setup up this way, is to prevent mutiny within the regime.

After the revolution, they realized that they have to setup a system like this to protect themselves, if one of these is compromised.

Currently, Iran is in the process of preparing for a long war with Israel, United States (and their allies in the region). Khamenei has been moved to a secure location and is no longer appearing for "Friday prayers".

He will likely attempt to flee should the regime falls. I hope that he is captured alive and is forced to stand trial.

He has to answer for every single person he has harmed, both in Iran and elsewhere.

[GordonS]

Isn't HRANA funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a well-known CIA front?

[orwin]

IHR have around the same numbers, and isn't associated with the CIA. Valid concerns, but here you have multiple sources.

[tokai]

Is it really a gotcha that CIA is pushing money towards orgs that are in opposition to a US adversary? Is the French resistance during ww2 tainted because they received support from OSS?

[aaomidi]

Main difference is that a good chunk do the crackdown was done by bringing in katib hezbollah from surrounding countries.

[geremiiah]

> The 30,000 number comes from the Ministry of Health.

Then why does the article say that they couldn't independently verify the number and that the only source is a German-Iranian eye doctor?

[tremon]

Have you given some thought to that question yourself, and what conclusion did you reach?

[pydry]

>The 30,000 number comes from the Ministry of Health.

It comes, allegedly, from people from that ministry who were talking to TIME.

I would imagine their contact was probably mediated by the state department - the same people currently gearing up for an Iraq-style invasion.

Later on TIME adds:

>TIME has been unable to independently verify these figures.

Which is not altogether unsurprising. TIME wasnt exactly the most careful magazine when it came to verifying state department supplied intelligence about WMDs back in 2003.

[tehjoker]

There are reports from Iranians and admissions from the US that they had people inside the protests to cause chaos.

“The Iranian regime is in trouble. Bringing in mercenaries is its last best hope,” Mr Pompeo wrote on X. “Riots in dozens of cities and the Basij under siege — Mashhad, Tehran, Zahedan. Next stop: Baluchestan," he added. At least ten killed in Iran protests as authorities issue warnings to demonstrators"

“Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them."

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/01/03/mike-po...