The more we know, the more brutal the regime's genocide in Iran

New footage shows snipers on rooftops, close range shootings, attacks and hospital killings.

The more we know, the more brutal the regime's carnage in Iran

New footage shows snipers on rooftops, shootings in close quarters, raids and hospital killings

We still have partial information about the violent crackdown the regime has used to suppress protests in Iran.It was mainly held from January 9th to 12th.Despite the problems caused by constant internet shutdowns, as time passes, various international media outlets are reviewing videos published online and gathering testimonies.All information obtained confirms the brutality of the regime's methods.Security forces fired into the crowd from the rooftops, causing a massacre.They shot at and attacked hospitals to arrest the injured.The injured then disappeared or were returned as corpses to their families.

The scale of the carnage is still unclear: it is certainly much higher than those acknowledged by the regime, which mentions around 3,000 deaths.The US-based Iran Human Rights Activists Agency (HRANA), which operates from the United States, confirmed around 6,000 deaths but estimated another 17,000. Other organizations believe the death toll is even higher, and UK-based media Iran International said it had access to documents proving the deaths of 36,500 people (but did not provide further evidence to support this estimate).

Protests in Iran began in the final days of 2025 due to the country's economic situation, and over the following weeks they expanded into mass demonstrations against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's rule.According to the New York Times, citing two anonymous Iranian officials, on January 9, Khamenei ordered the National Security Council (particularly the main body in these types of matters) to suppress the protests by any means necessary.Security forces have the authority to shoot and kill.Three days later, on January 12, the protests stopped.

The use of semi-automatic rifles, pistols and weapons by the security forces to shoot at crowds is also evident from dozens of videos validated by the international media (ie found not changed and were not filmed on other dates or elsewhere).There are images of security forces shooting at protesters in at least 19 cities in Iran and in six neighborhoods in the Tehran capital.

– Also read: Iranian regime suppresses protests with unprecedented brutality

Snipers are regular police;men of the Bassij militias, a group of volunteers who usually wear simple clothes and travel on motorcycles;and the Revolutionary Guard (also known as the Pasdaran), the country's most powerful army.

In some videos, snipers are seen shooting people with sniper rifles on the roofs of buildings.Shots from automatic weapons can be seen, and security forces can be seen arriving at the protesters and firing from a distance.Videos often show the effects of these attacks, with men and women injured or killed by bullets, people trying to evacuate the wounded, and others running away after hearing the gunshots.Many were beaten and the demonstrators attacked them with knives and heavy weapons, especially Basijs who arrived on motorbikes.

- Read more: Police, Basij and Revolutionary Guards

- Also Read: How Repression Works in Iran

Evidence of attacks on security forces also came from videos and testimonies from hospitals. They found themselves facing a large number of bullet wounds. This is not common in Iran. This is because the general public is not allowed to have weapons. And this type of crime is rare.

Photos and videos from hospitals also show two other things.According to independent teams of forensic experts, a significant number of demonstrators suffered injuries, often fatal and to the head, that could only be explained by firearms or firearms used at close range.In such cases, it would be deliberate street killings.

Some bodies in hospitals and morgues are still intubated;hoses or rescue devices still attached;But they also have holes in their heads.This type of injury can be fatal in hospitals, as it is unlikely that resuscitation efforts will be considered.This reconstruction is based on other testimonies of doctors and nurses found in the international media.Military personnel are said to have entered hospitals to search for injured protesters.Moreover, the wounded died on the spot, the others were taken away and never heard from again.Or after a few days their bodies were taken to their families.

The hospital raids were also condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, who added that some families were asking for huge sums ($5-7 thousand) to get their relatives' bodies back.

– Read: Bodies of protesters killed in Iran used to punish their families

Most of the videos that have circulated in the first days of the protests were taken from the Kahrizak morgue, south of Tehran, where relatives and friends searched for missing people among 300 corpses lying in rooms and courtyards.There are similar videos of places in hospitals and other morgues full of black bags containing the bodies of protesters: they do not give specific indications of the number of people killed, but they show the killing of many people in different parts of Iran.This suggests that the official death toll of 3,000 may be unreliable.

The internet and nearly all communications have been blocked for three weeks now: only a small number of Iranians sometimes manage to bypass it by using Starlink satellites or connecting to foreign networks near the border.This is how the testimonies of violence, murders and massacres come, mostly anonymously.Hence, the information that has emerged is still partial.

Also read: How strong is the Iranian regime?