EXCLUSIVE: Inside Iran’s Violent Crackdown on Anti-Regime Protesters

The camera pans across a large, brightly lit auditorium lined with dead bodies. Hundreds of them fill the room. Many more are being stacked outside, in the open air, because there is no space left in the hall.

This is one of many harrowing videos recently sent from Iran to Mehdi Parpanchi, executive editor of Iran International, a Persian-language television network based in London. Even under the near-total digital blackout that was imposed by the Iranian government a few days ago, footage and eyewitness reports have continued to reach his team through Starlink.

The protests began a little more than two weeks ago over the collapse of Iran’s currency, first spreading through Tehran’s Grand Bazaar before erupting nationwide. Last week, millions took to the streets across more than 400 cities, according to Parpanchi.

What followed, he said, was a coordinated and unprecedented violent crackdown: at least 12,000 killed nationwide in just two days, according to official figures that were leaked to Iran International.

“This is not an estimate. It is based on information that came from inside Iran’s president’s office and the Supreme National Security Council,” Parpanchi told The Free Press on Tuesday morning. “The scale of the crackdown on protesters has shaken everyone, including those who work inside [the Iranian government]. These staff members, who are horrified by what they are seeing, have decided to leak the truth.”

For comparison, Iran’s 2019 fuel protests left an estimated 300 dead. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in 2022 saw roughly 550 killed over several months. This time, Parpanchi said, the scale is different.

“This is a full massacre,” he added.