A two-day crackdown that new reporting says killed as many as 36,500 Iranians — a death toll placing it among the deadliest short-term mass killings documented in modern history — followed an order by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to mercilessly crush nationwide protests “by any means necessary,” including accounts of wounded civilians executed inside hospitals, living victims stuffed in body bags, and a surgeon who described the scenes as a “nightmare” unlike anything he had seen. As evidence of how widespread and indiscriminate the violence had become, the Times documented cases in which people were shot simply for being present in the streets, as well as accounts of protesters and bystanders killed while attempting to flee gunfire. Iran International warned that the true death toll may still rise, citing deliberate body concealment, pressure on families, quiet burials, and disorder in the registration and transfer of corpses — adding that the full scale of the massacre may never be known.
Author: Joshua Klein
Published at: 2026-01-25 23:47:50
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