WASHINGTON (TNND) — Iranian news site, Iran International, reported on Sunday that over 36,000 people have been killed during the height of the protests that took place earlier this month. The number reported is like that from Time magazine.
Protests in Iran started on December 28, after the collapse of the rial, the country’s currency, and the protests swept the country for about two weeks. The government responded with force, arresting and killing thousands of protesters.
The outlet said it estimated the death toll between January 8 and 9 is based on data it compiled from “classified documents, field reports, and accounts from medical staff, witnesses, and victims’ families.”
Iran International said, based on its data, the killings mark the “bloodiest massacre of civilians during street protests, over a two-day period, in history.”
Most killings were reportedly done by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and allied Basij militia. However, according to the report, proxies from Iraq and Syria were also used.
Sources in Iran’s interior ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Iran International that, once including figures from provincial security councils that were submitted on Jan. 20, the toll is over 30,000.
In a report from Time magazine published on Sunday, the death toll was reported to reach over 30,000. While Time itself was unable to verify the figure, it corroborated reports from doctors and other first responders during the protests to calculate the estimation.
Time cited Iranian officials saying that the country used 18-wheeler trucks instead of ambulances during the protests and ran out of body bags.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei dismissed Time’s article as a “Hitler-style BIG LIE.”
In a social media post, Baqaei wrote, “Isn’t this the number they planned to kill in the streets of Iran?! They failed, though, and now they’re trying to FAKE it in the media. Truly vicious!”
As of Sunday, the Iranian government has acknowledged a death toll of 3,117, including members of security services.
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