Iran Accused of 16,500 Deaths in Alleged ‘Genocide’ Crackdown, Report Claims

Iranian security forces have killed at least 16,500 protesters and injured more than 330,000 others in what doctors are describing as an “utter slaughter,” according to a new report reviewed by The Sunday Times.

The violence against demonstrators has reached unprecedented levels since protests erupted on December 28, with most victims reportedly under the age of 30. Medical professionals working in the region warn that the actual death toll may be significantly higher due to restricted hospital access and an almost complete communications blackout imposed by authorities.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged on Sunday that “several thousands” have been killed in the ongoing unrest. However, in a televised address, he placed blame on the protesters themselves, labeling them “foot-soldiers of the U.S.” and falsely claiming they were armed with imported live ammunition.

Independent monitoring groups paint a much grimmer picture. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has verified 3,919 deaths while investigating an additional 8,949 potential fatalities. Their data also shows 2,109 people severely injured and 24,669 individuals detained. HRANA emphasized that these figures likely represent only a portion of the actual casualties due to the internet shutdown that has severed most communications with the outside world.

Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German eye surgeon and medical director of Munich MED, told The Sunday Times that doctors across Iran are “shocked and crying” despite their experience treating war injuries. “This is a whole new level of brutality,” Parasta said, noting that smuggled Starlink terminals have become the only means of communication since authorities cut internet access on January 8.

Eyewitness accounts from those who managed to flee Iran describe horrific tactics employed by security forces, including snipers targeting protesters’ heads, mass shootings, and the systematic use of pellet guns to blind demonstrators. One former Iranian resident reported that doctors documented more than 800 eye removals in a single night in the capital alone, with possibly more than 8,000 people blinded nationwide.

“This is genocide under the cover of digital darkness,” Parasta warned.

Alongside street killings, the regime has dramatically accelerated executions. Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital that 2,200 people were executed in 2025, while 153 have already been hanged in the first 18 days of January 2026 — averaging more than eight executions daily.

“Ali Khamenei is continuing mass executions in parallel with the killing of young protesters,” Safavi said. “Three executions in the form of hanging are now happening every hour according to our data.”

The Iranian government has consistently disputed these figures. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously claimed in an interview with Fox News that fatalities were only in the hundreds, dismissing higher figures as “misinformation.”

International pressure on the Iranian regime continues to mount. The G7 has threatened new sanctions over the crackdown, while U.S. President Donald Trump sharply condemned Khamenei over the weekend, calling him a “sick man” and urging new leadership in Iran. In an interview with Politico, Trump accused Khamenei of overseeing “the complete destruction of the country” and using “violence at levels never seen before,” adding that Iran’s leadership should “stop killing people.”

The protests have revealed deep fractures in Iranian society, particularly among the younger generation who face increasing repression from the theocratic regime. As the death toll rises and communications remain largely cut off, human rights advocates fear that worse atrocities may be occurring beyond the view of international observers, with little recourse for those caught in the violence.