Iran offers first government-issued death toll from protest crackdown,
one far lower than activists
[January 22, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran offered its first
government-issued death toll Wednesday following a crackdown on
nationwide protests, giving a far lower figure than activists abroad as
the country’s theocracy tries to reassert control after unrest recalling
the chaos surrounding its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
State television carried statements by the Interior Ministry and the
Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, an official body providing
services to families of those killed in wars, saying 3,117 people were
killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began
Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces. It did not elaborate on the
rest. Iran's government in the past has undercounted or not reported
fatalities from unrest.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll
early Thursday was at least 4,902, with many more feared dead. The human
rights group has been accurate throughout the years on demonstrations
and unrest in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country
that confirms all reported fatalities. Other groups similarly have
offered higher numbers than the Iranian government tally.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death
toll, in part due to authorities cutting access to the internet and
blocking international calls into the country. Iran also reportedly has
limited journalists' ability locally to report on the aftermath, instead
repeatedly airing claims on state television that refer to demonstrators
as “rioters” motivated by America and Israel, without offering evidence
to support the allegation.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued his
most-direct threat yet to the United States, warning the Islamic
Republic will be “firing back with everything we have if we come under
renewed attack.”
The comments came as Araghchi saw his invitation to the World Economic
Forum in Davos rescinded over the killings, and as a U.S. aircraft
carrier group moved west toward the Middle East from Asia. U.S. fighter
jets and other equipment appeared to be moving in the Mideast after a
major U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean saw troops seize
Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.
Protest death toll rises
The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in
Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution
that brought the Islamic Republic into being. Although there have been
no protests for days, there are fears the toll could increase
significantly as information gradually emerges from a country under a
government-imposed shutdown of the internet since Jan. 8.
Nearly 26,500 people have also been arrested, according to the Human
Rights Activists News Agency. Comments from officials have led to fears
of some of those detained being put to death in Iran, one of the world’s
top executioners.
Mass executions and the killing of peaceful protesters have been two red
lines laid down by U.S. President Donald Trump in the tensions.
Araghchi makes threat in column
Araghchi made the threat in an opinion article published by The Wall
Street Journal. The foreign minister contended “the violent phase of the
unrest lasted less than 72 hours” and sought again to blame armed
demonstrators for the violence. Videos that made it out of Iran despite
an internet shutdown appear to show security forces repeatedly using
live fire to target apparently unarmed protesters, something unaddressed
by Araghchi.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, attends a seminar in
Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
“Unlike the restraint Iran showed in June 2025, our powerful armed
forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if
we come under renewed attack,” Araghchi wrote, referring to the
12-day war launched by Israel on Iran in June. “This isn’t a threat,
but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a
diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war.”
He added: “An all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and
drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and
its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House. It will
certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary
people around the globe.”
Araghchi's comments likely refer to Iran's short- and medium-range
missiles. The Islamic Republic relied on ballistic missiles to
target Israel in the war and left its stockpile of the shorter-range
missiles unused, something that could be fired to target U.S. bases
and interests in the Persian Gulf. Already, there have been some
restrictions on U.S. diplomats traveling to bases in Kuwait and
Qatar.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been in the South China Sea in
recent days, had passed through the Strait of Malacca, a key
waterway connecting the sea and Indian Ocean, by Tuesday,
ship-tracking data showed.
While naval and other defense officials stopped short of saying the
carrier strike group was headed to the Middle East, its current
heading and location in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away
from moving into the region.
U.S. military images released in recent days also showed F-15E
Strike Eagles arriving in the Mideast and forces in the region
moving a HIMARS missile system, the type used with great success by
Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in the country in 2022.
Kurdish exiles claim Iranian attack in Iraq
The National Army of Kurdistan, the armed wing of the Kurdistan
Freedom Party, or PAK, meanwhile claimed Iran launched an attack
Wednesday against one of its bases near Irbil, some 320 kilometers
(200 miles) north of Baghdad. It said one fighter had been killed,
and released mobile phone footage of a fire in the predawn darkness.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the attack, which would be the
first foreign operation Tehran has launched since the protests
started.
A handful of Iranian Kurdish dissident or separatist groups — some
with armed wings — have long found a safe haven in northern Iraq’s
semiautonomous Kurdish region, where their presence has been a point
of friction between the central government in Baghdad and Tehran.
The PAK has claimed it launched attacks in Iran as a crackdown on
the demonstrations took place, something reported by semiofficial
Iranian news agencies as well.
___
Associated Press writers Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, Konstantin
Toropin in Washington and Elena Becatoros in Dubai contributed to
this report.
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