US warships are heading towards Iran as Iranian officials defend the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, which the United Nations is calling the Islamic Republic's deadliest crackdown on its people since it seized power in the 1979 revolution.
Amid a weeks-long internet blockade, information about the extent of the crackdown on the protests - which began with merchants in Tehran protesting rising inflation and the devaluation of the national currency - continues to slowly emerge, as human rights groups are gathering data from hospitals and eyewitnesses.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that as of January 22, after 26 days of protests, it has verified 5,002 deaths, including 201 members of the security forces, while over 9,787 other deaths are still being investigated.
Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said on January 22 that the number of civilians killed during the crackdown on protests could exceed 20,000, as reports from doctors are emerging.
During a meeting on January 23 on events in Iran, the UN Human Rights Council expressed deep concern about “the unprecedented scale of the violent repression of peaceful protests by security forces in Iran, reports of extrajudicial killings of protesters, including women and children, and the excessive and lethal use of force, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of peaceful protesters and the injury of many more.”
US President Donald Trump said on January 22 that the United States had a "fleet" heading towards Iran but hoped it would not have to use it, as he repeated warnings to Tehran not to kill protesters and not to restart its nuclear program.
"We have a lot of ships going that way, just in case. I would prefer nothing to happen, but we're watching them very closely... we have a fleet... that's going that way and we might not have to use it," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Iranians in Tokyo on January 18 participate in a rally in support of nationwide protests in Iran. Similar demonstrations are continuing in cities around the world.
The US Treasury Department on January 23 announced sanctions on nine ships that are part of what it called Iran's "shadow fleet," which transports sanctioned Iranian oil and petroleum products around the world.
"Today's sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds it uses to oppress its own people. As previously stated, Treasury will continue to track the tens of millions of dollars the regime has stolen and is attempting to transfer to banks outside of Iran," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
People walk past a large patriotic banner depicting the Iranian flag in Enghelab Square in Tehran on January 14.
Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, an influential cleric who leads Friday prayers in Tehran, said on January 23 that Iran would retaliate for any US attack on the country, including by targeting American investments in the region.
This statement came after Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, head of Iran's Khatam-al Anbiya Central Command, which coordinates the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that any military strike would make all US bases in the region "legitimate targets."
Iranians have been cut off from the outside world since January 8, when authorities imposed a near-total nationwide internet blockade as a crackdown on protests intensified.
It is unclear when services will be restored, but even when they do, experts fear that authorities will force Iranians to use a domestically designed "internet" that operates independently of the global internet./REL
