Iran does not wake up from horror. , and on the sixth day of the information blackout, the death toll is close to 2,600 victims and threatens to continue increasing, amid testimonies that point to unprecedented police brutality since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979. At the same time, tension is growing between the Iranian authorities and the United States Government: Tehran has warned this Wednesday that it will bomb US bases in the region if Washington attacks Iranian territory, something that the Donald Trump administration He has hinted what he will do imminently.
The death toll has reached 2,571, as reported this Wednesday by the United States-based human rights group HRANA. According to the organization, 2,403 deaths were protesters and 147 were members of the security forces. On the list of victims there are also 12 minors and nine people identified as “neither protesters nor security agents.” The group claims to be working to verify hundreds more possible deaths.
The HRANA accounts fit the only data that Iranian officials, on condition of anonymity, have told the press. On Tuesday, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the demonstrations had left 2,000 dead, and two others assured The New York Times that the figure was around 3,000. Various analysts fear that these confessions by the authorities mean that the final number of victims from Tehran’s repressive campaign to quell the largest wave of dissent in years is much higher.
In parallel, the United States and Iran are engaged in a rhetorical escalation with unpredictable consequences. Trump on Tuesday urged Iranians to continue protesting, encouraged them to “take over the institutions” and promised them that. Iranian authorities accuse the United States and Israel of fueling violence in the country and blame the deaths on “terrorist agents” supposedly trained abroad.
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nafizardeh warned this Wednesday that his country will attack US bases in the region if the United States launches an offensive against the Iranian nation. “Iran will attack US bases if it is attacked,” said the Defense official, according to the local Mehr agency. “All United States bases and military bases of other countries in the region that assist the United States in attacks against Iranian soil will be considered legitimate targets,” he added. “The Iranian response will be painful for enemies.”
The Islamic Republic has conveyed the same message to its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye, through private messages. As an Iranian representative told Reuters, the warning warns that “US bases in those countries will be attacked” if Washington attacks Iran. The notice, the Iranian leader acknowledges, seeks to “ask those countries” to contain Trump.
Several of these States want to avoid aggression against Iran that could trigger a conflict that destabilizes the region or causes a wave of refugees. Some have stepped forward on a diplomatic level. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for de-escalation during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi. Qatar, for its part, said Tuesday that it was trying to mediate to avoid an escalation that would have “catastrophic results.”
Trump has threatened the Iranian regime on several occasions with launching an attack against the country. Last June it already attacked the nuclear facilities in Iran during the war that Israel fought with that country, in a military offensive that, most of them civilians, according to independent groups. Tehran responded to this US action with an attack on a US base in neighboring Qatar, without many consequences. This Wednesday, some of the staff at that facility have been called to evacuate in the event of a possible imminent attack by the United States that puts the center in danger, according to three sources cited by Reuters.
Iran is holding funerals this Wednesday for the more than one hundred members of the security forces who have died during the protests. The bodies will be carried in a procession from the University of Tehran to the cemetery of the Persian capital, according to the Mehr agency. This official media has called for massive citizen participation, in the face of the largest protests held in the country in years.
