This article, authored by Mark Tanos is republished under the Creative Commons “CC BY-NC-ND” license with permission from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Iranian security forces may have killed as many as 30,000 people in just two days as the regime crushed nationwide protests with gunfire and heavy weapons.
Two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Health told TIME Magazine that the government’s internal death count reached approximately 30,000 on Jan. 8 and 9 alone. The slaughter outpaced the state’s ability to handle the dead. Body bag supplies ran out, and 18-wheel trucks took over for ambulances, the officials said.
A separate tally compiled by physicians inside Iran put the hospital-recorded death toll at 30,304, according to Dr. Amir Parasta, a German-Iranian eye surgeon who gathered the data. That figure excludes deaths at military hospitals and locations the inquiry could not reach.
“We are getting closer to reality,” Dr. Parasta told TIME. “But I guess the real figures are still way higher.”
Les Roberts, a Columbia University professor who studies violent death, struggled to find a comparison. “Most spasms of killing are not from shootings,” Roberts said. He pointed to the 1941 Nazi massacre at Babyn Yar, where death squads executed 33,000 Ukrainian Jews in two days, as the only comparable event in modern records. TIME stated it could not independently verify the figures.
Day 28 of protests in Iran: 5,459 confirmed killed, over 40,887 arrested, 7,403 severely injured, and 205 forced confessions aired. Internet shutdowns and repression continue amid growing international pressure.#IranProtests
Read more in HRANA’s report:https://t.co/7lBkftvs8D pic.twitter.com/9ey709tcVE— HRANA English (@HRANA_English) January 24, 2026
The United Nations (U.N.) offered its own grim assessment. Special Rapporteur Mai Sato said Jan. 22 that civilian deaths could exceed 20,000 based on reports from doctors inside the country, according to Bloomberg. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported 5,459 confirmed deaths with another 17,031 under investigation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Iran’s official toll stands at 3,117.
Doctors documented between 330,000 and 360,000 injuries, Iran International reported. Dr. Parasta told the outlet that security forces used military-grade weapons and that 700 to 1,000 protesters lost an eye.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei acknowledged “several thousand” deaths but blamed President Donald Trump and called protesters “foot-soldiers of the United States.”
In Isfahan, 23-year-old aspiring animator Sahba Rashtian was shot before she could join the chants. Her father wore white to her burial. “My daughter became a martyr on the path to freedom,” he told mourners.
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