US says diplomacy with Iran the ‘first option’ as toll in protests rises to 648 |
The death toll in the anti-regime protests that have taken Iran by storm over the past two weeks hit 648, an activist group said Monday evening, as Tehran staged major pro-regime rallies and reportedly reached out to the US to de-escalate tensions amid President Donald Trump’s repeated threats of intervention if large numbers of protesters are killed.
The latest tally was reported Monday by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), which said the actual toll could be far higher.
“The international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killing by the Islamic Republic,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
IHR said that “according to some estimates, more than 6,000 may have been killed,” but warned that the almost four-day internet blackout imposed by the Iranian authorities makes it “extremely difficult to independently verify these reports.”
According to Israeli defense officials speaking with Axios, Israel’s intelligence agencies estimate that the real death toll has likely passed 1,000.
More than 10,600 people have also been detained over the two weeks of protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll.
این ویدیو از اعتراضات یکشنبه شب ۲۱ دی در منطقه جنتآباد تهران به دست بیبیسی فارسی رسیده است.
مشخصات فایل فرستاده شده زمان آن را تایید میکند.
فرستنده در پیامش گفته نیروهای سرکوب با گاز اشک آور، نارنجک صوتی، لیزر و تفنگ ساچمهای مردم را متفرق کردند تا به پونک نرسند. pic.twitter.com/2AGXYzkDWO
— BBC NEWS فارسی (@bbcpersian) January 12, 2026
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations and the casualty and arrest figures from abroad has grown more difficult. International news agencies have been unable to independently assess the toll, and Iran’s government hasn’t offered overall casualty figures.
Iran FM, Witkoff spoke over weekend — report
Amid the rising toll and increased tensions with the US over Trump’s repeated threats, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reportedly reached out to the president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff over the weekend to discuss the protests.
Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, Axios reported that Araghchi’s outreach appeared to be an effort by Tehran to defuse tensions with the United States or delay potential American strikes that Trump has threatened in response to the deadly crackdown on the demonstrations.
One of the sources added that Witkoff and Araghchi discussed a possible sit-down in the coming days.
Iran's FM Abbas Araghchi says his country is ready for war but also for dialogue, after US........