The Iranian opposition group known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran/Mojahedin-e-Khalq (PMOI/MEK) claimed on Tuesday the death toll from the nationwide uprising against the brutal Iranian regime has surpassed 3,000, with casualties reported from 195 cities.
President Donald Trump urged the “patriots” of Iran to stay strong, and promised “help is on its way.”
PMOI/MEK’s estimate of the death toll is higher than most, although it should be noted that an Iranian official confirmed the previously high-end estimate of 2,000 deaths in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. The unnamed official dismissed the slain protesters as “terrorists” and said his estimate included security forces killed in street battles.
Most independent human rights organizations had estimated around 500 deaths as of Monday, although they said the regime’s blackout of the Internet and mobile phones made it difficult to get a precise count of the fallen, so the true number could be much higher.
PMOI/MEK strongly disputed the assertion by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday that the protests were “under control.” On the contrary, the dissident group said the regime’s death threats and assertions of victory were signs of desperation, and the Iranian people still hope to overthrow the dictatorship of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
PMOI/MEK posted video of ongoing massive demonstrations in Tehran on Monday night, with security forces continuing to fall back from chants of “Disgrace!” by the crowd, as evidence the uprising is still in progress:
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which bills itself as the democratically elected parliament-in-exile, reported that “rebellious youths” continued to defy curfews and declarations of martial law – backed up by “snipers on the rooftops of mosques and schools” – to hold demonstrations, clash with security forces, and set government buildings on fire in cities across the country.
“On Monday, the extent of the regime’s crimes in the massacre of protesters became increasingly apparent. In Tehran and Karaj, Khamenei’s henchmen have piled the bodies of a large number of martyrs in the courtyards of the forensic medicine facility and have summoned their families for identification. In Bandar Abbas, the regime has moved the bodies of numerous martyrs to a warehouse and imposed a heavily securitized atmosphere in the city,” NCRI charged.
NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi denounced the regime’s crackdown on protesters as a “major crime against humanity.” She expressed her revulsion at Iranian state television posting photos of the mountain of corpses and attempting to blame the deaths on the demonstrators.
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“The bodies of Iran’s freedom fighters have filled hospitals and morgues,” she said. “Khamenei and the violent forces defending him will be drowned in the sea of blood they have spilled.”
NCRI said the killings would only increase the determination of 16-day-old uprising: “The regime has resorted to its ultimate weapons: a total communications blackout, mass killing, and the promise of summary executions. Yet, with 3,000 dead and the internet severed for 96 hours, the streets remain full.”
The left-wing New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday found PMOI/MEK’s estimate of 3,000 deaths to be plausible, based on comments from additional Iranian officials, and the trickle of information slipping through the regime’s Internet blackout:
Eyewitnesses say government forces have begun opening fire, apparently with automatic weapons and at times seemingly indiscriminately, on unarmed protesters. Hospital workers say protesters had been coming in with pellet injuries but now arrive with gunshot wounds and skull fractures. One doctor called it a “mass-casualty situation.”
Despite the communications blockade, a recurring image has made its way out of Iran: rows and rows of body bags.
In videos uploaded by opposition activists on social media, families can be seen sobbing as they huddle together over bloodied corpses in unzipped bags. And in footage aired on Iranian state television, a morgue official, sheathed in blue scrubs, stands amid bags neatly arranged along the floor of a white room, under glaring fluorescent lights.
The NYT noted that some of the latest broadcasts from Iranian state media are no longer pretending the demonstrators did most of the killing. Instead, they are presenting the mountain of corpses as a stark warning of murderous consequences for those who continue to protest, and blaming the demonstrators for luring the public into a rebellion that must be put down by deadly force.
“There are individuals in these gatherings who want to drag ordinary people – people who have nothing to do with these events – and their families into this situation. So that they too are drawn into the chaos,” one state media reporter intoned.
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Numerous Iranians who got past the Internet blackout to speak with the NYT and other international media confirmed PMOI/MEK’s account of regime snipers shooting from rooftops to murder civilian protesters. Others said security forces on the ground have opened fire with machine guns in several cities, turning protests into “mass casualty situations,” as one doctor put it.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the Iranian people to continue their protests in defiance of the regime crackdown, and promised that “help is on its way.”
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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