By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
Human rights groups have said that hundreds of people have been killed during mass demonstrations that have roiled Iran in recent weeks, and thousands more people have been detained.
At least 192 protesters have been killed since the mass demonstrations started, said the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights on Sunday. It said “unverified reports” have shown that several hundred people, or even more than 2,000, might have been killed so far.
“Due to the total internet blackout and severe restrictions on access to information, independent verification remains a serious challenge under the current circumstances,” the organization stated.
A U.S.-based group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Sunday that at least 538 people have been killed in the government suppression of nationwide protests, noting that 490 deaths were protesters and 48 were members of the regime’s security forces. About 10,600 people have been detained, the group reported, noting that the death toll and arrest numbers will likely rise.
The group’s reports have not been independently verified. The Iranian regime has not released any official figures about the death toll or how many people have been detained.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that outside groups have been fomenting discord in the country and have been facilitating riots, as well as general unrest. He also signaled that the country’s regime would be willing to speak to some of the protesters.
“We have made our decision to resolve their problems with every possible approach … that is why we are holding talks with them on a daily basis,” Pezeshkian said, according to state-run Tasnim News Agency.
Speaking to the youth in Iran, Pezeshkian said that they should “not … be deceived by these rioters and terrorists” and said that those individuals “are trained,” according to his comments carried by state-run media outlet PressTV.
There have been reports from inside the country that some buildings, including mosques or courthouses, have been set on fire amid the unrest. Those reports also have not been independently verified.
The demonstrations began on Dec. 28, 2025, over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions levied in part over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocratic regime.
President Donald Trump has offered support for the protesters, saying on social media: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
“Iran’s in big trouble,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.
“I’ve made this statement very strongly, that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. … That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
Trump’s comments were made about a week after the U.S. military launched an operation in Venezuela, an ally of Iran, that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on drug-trafficking charges.
About six years ago, Trump ordered a U.S. military strike that killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, whom the Trump administration described as a major backer of attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East. And over the summer, the U.S. and Israeli militaries launched strikes on facilities associated with Iran’s nuclear program, prompting Iran to launch missile barrages at a U.S. air base in Qatar that led to no casualties.
Some Iranian officials have responded by saying that the country could strike Israel or the United States. A parliamentary speech by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament who has run for the presidency in the past, issued direct threats to both countries.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said over the weekend. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
