In Iran, 5,000 people, including 500 security personnel, have been killed in the protests that gripped the country in January 2026, an Iranian official said. The toll is the highest yet cited by a government source for the nationwide protests that shook Iran’s establishment. The Iranian official has blamed Israel and armed groups abroad for the high number of people killed.
Protests erupted in Tehran after the rial, Iran’s currency, crashed on December 28. The demonstrations quickly snowballed into a broader anti-government movement calling for the fall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The crackdown began with an internet blackout on January 8, plunging the country into an information darkness and preventing humanitarian groups and governments alike from understanding the full extent of the killing.
According to human rights groups, protesters were killed by security forces en masse. Throughout the blackout, IHR estimates that more than 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with the protests.
