A record number of Iranian security forces have been killed in anti-regime protests. Photo / Getty Images
A record number of Iranian security forces have been killed in the anti-regime protests sweeping across Iran.
Dissidents shot security personnel with handguns, burned them alive and beat them to death in revenge for a harsh crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
As many as 114 agents have been killed so far, according to the Iranian authorities – significantly more than during waves of previous anti-regime protests and demonstrations.
The dead include members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, police, regular Army and the Basij paramilitary forces.
Videos show masked men using handguns and what appears to be Kalashnikovs in street battles with security forces – scenes rarely seen in previous outbreaks of unrest.
Human rights groups said they had verified at least 50 deaths among security forces, while Iranian authorities claim the number is higher and growing.
The total death toll in the nationwide demonstrations has risen to at least 648, human rights groups said. United States President Donald Trump said Iran had started to cross a line with its violent response to the unrest.
The emergence of armed resistance is a fundamental shift in Iran’s protest dynamics, and has been seized upon by the regime.
During the 2009 Green Movement, the 2019 economic protests and the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising following Mahsa Amini’s death, demonstrators faced bullets, tear gas, and mass arrests while largely unarmed.
Protesters firing at armed forces did not indicate a military coup was under way, analysts said.
Tribal groups in the south and southwest traditionally possess firearms for use in ceremonies such as weddings, and these weapons appear to have been turned against security forces in unprecedented numbers.
The armed nature of clashes has handed the Islamic Republic a propaganda victory, allowing officials to characterise the uprising as terrorism rather than legitimate protest.
Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister, seized on footage of armed protesters to draw comparisons with American law enforcement.
He posted a clip with the caption: “Just the other day, an innocent young woman in the US – an American citizen and mother of three – was executed by Ice at point-blank range.
“The US Administration labelled her a ‘domestic terrorist’ ... Here in Iran, police officers are being executed by actual terrorists overseen by what Mr Pompeo has openly called Mossad agents. Does this look like a ‘protest’ for FREEDOM?”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was receiving “hourly updates” on the situation in Iran and that the US military was “looking at some very strong options”, including cyber attacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel.
He also said Iran had called his Administration to negotiate a new nuclear deal after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic.
Tehran summoned British and other European diplomats to object to what it described as support by those countries for the protests.
The diplomats were shown a video of the damage caused by “rioters” and told their governments should “withdraw official statements supporting the protesters”.
Araghchi said the protests were “now under total control” after claiming “terrorists” had targeted both protesters and security officials.
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence announced on Monday that it had seized 100 handguns and 120 shotgun hunting rifles in West Azerbaijan province, arresting four people in connection with the cache.
Esmail Baghaei, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, confirmed that the “communication channel” between Araghchi and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, “is open” and “messages are exchanged when needed”.
State media claimed that “calm prevailed” across Iranian cities, shops had reopened, and “there was no sign of anxiety or unrest”.
The report claimed merchants, who make up a key component of the various groups protesting, said they would no longer continue protests and that by evening hours, “no gatherings or unrest were seen”.
Merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar – whose closures have historically signalled serious political trouble for Iranian governments – were among the first groups to join the current wave of demonstrations.
Yesterday, the regime responded by staging mass pro-government rallies, and such shows of force have in past crises helped dampen anti-regime sentiment.
State media broadcast images of large crowds waving Iranian flags and portraits of the supreme leader, chanting support for the Islamic Republic and condemning “terrorists”.
Khamenei said the strong turnout at pro-government rallies should serve as “a warning” to the US against taking action in Iran.
“This was a warning to American politicians to stop their deceit and not rely on treacherous mercenaries,” he said, according to Iranian state TV. “These massive rallies, full of determination, have thwarted the plan of foreign enemies that were supposed to be carried out by domestic mercenaries.”
Protests began over economic conditions but fast spiralled into anti-regime demonstrations that were met with bullets from the security services.
Some protesters began fighting back. The violence has taken a heavy toll on security forces, especially lower-ranking personnel who often come from the same impoverished provinces that are now in revolt.
In Tehran province, five security personnel were killed. In Isfahan, at least 30 security force members were killed in some of the bloodiest clashes of the protests.
In North Khorasan province, six security personnel were killed and their funerals attended by large pro-government crowds.
The regime has seized on these deaths to portray security forces as martyrs “defending the nation against terrorism”.
State television broadcast funerals with full honours, families weeping over flag-draped coffins, and clerics denouncing the “terrorists” responsible.
One official in Isfahan described dissidents shooting wounded security personnel in the back – “finishing them off” – and claimed a 2-month-old infant and a woman transporting her sick husband to the hospital were also killed.
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary chief, praised security forces for their “wisdom and rationality” in handling the crisis, making no mention of hundreds of confirmed protester deaths or the siege of hospitals.
Instead, he thanked police commander Ahmad Radan and warned that detained protesters would receive no leniency, with courts issuing verdicts “quickly”.
Araghchi, in a briefing with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, claimed 53 mosques had been set on fire nationwide – a figure that cannot be independently verified but serves the narrative that this is religious warfare rather than political protest.
He accused the US of “interference in internal affairs” through Trump’s threats of military action.
The IRGC intelligence organisation announced the arrest of an unnamed foreign national accused of “gathering information for Israel,” claiming the person “had deliberately entered the country under cover” and was caught “collecting information and assessing the status of terrorist actions”.
No details of identity, arrest location, or evidence were provided – a pattern typical of the regime’s use of espionage accusations to deflect from domestic unrest.
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