As U.S. warships head to the Middle East, internal tabulations by Iran’s Health Ministry state more than 30,000 protesters may have been killed by Iran’s security forces in just a two-day period from January 8-9. The Health Ministry, which reports to Iran’s elected president rather than the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, is releasing estimates in line with reporting gathered from hospitals, physicians, and emergency services workers.
U.S. media outlets have been unable to independently verify the numbers, but according to other reporting, the number of victims “overwhelmed the state’s capacity to dispose of the dead.” Health Ministry officials stated the available supply of body bags has been exhausted, and 18-wheeler semi-tractor-trailers have been pressed into service in place of ambulances to haul away corpses.
A January 25 report in Time magazine quotes Amir Parasta, a German-Iranian eye surgeon who is credited with first estimating the casualties. Parasta added that his numbers do not include the protest-related deaths of people registered at military hospitals, those whose bodies were taken directly to morgues without first being identified or recorded by first responders, and those killed in more distant municipalities that did not fall within the scope of his investigation.
According to reports, protests erupted in 100 different cities across Iran, and the country’s National Security Council has said demonstrations have now occurred in some 4,000 locations across the nation.
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