Iran International
After Iran’s deadliest protest crackdown in decades, authorities have extended their response beyond the streets into morgues, hospitals and family homes, turning the protesters’ bodies into a key tool for suppressing dissent and controlling the narrative.
Iran International has received a large volume of videos, audio testimonies and written accounts describing how the bodies of protesters killed in the latest unrest are being collected, stored and released under strict security conditions.
While a nationwide internet blackout, now about a week, has made independent verification difficult in some cases, Iran International has cross-checked and verified key elements through corroborating footage, eyewitness commentary and the consistency of reports from multiple cities.
According to senior government and security sources speaking to Iran International, the number of protesters killed during the current unrest is believed to be in the thousands, with estimates placing the figure at around 12,000.
Morgues under security control
Videos verified by Iran International show the continued transfer of protesters’ bodies to the Kahrizak forensic medicine complex south of Tehran. One verified video, dated Wednesday, shows dozens of bodies laid out inside large warehouse-style halls at the facility. In the same footage, a trailer is seen as security forces unload additional bodies.
Similar videos and reports received from Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan and Rasht show what appear to be large numbers of bodies stored in forensic facilities and hospitals.
Field reports describe heavily securitized conditions around morgues and hospitals, with access tightly controlled by security forces. Families seeking information about missing relatives have described chaotic scenes, long waits and limited communication.
Pressure on families
Multiple sources told Iran International that families attempting to retrieve the bodies of their relatives face intimidation and pressure from security forces, including plainclothes agents and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to these accounts, security forces have raided the homes of victims’ families and their neighbors, searched mobile phones, verbally abused family members and, in some cases, fired shots at walls during nighttime raids. Hospital conditions have also been described as critical, with families reporting security presence inside medical facilities.
Sources said authorities have informed families that bodies can only be released during the early hours of the morning. Burial ceremonies, they said, are restricted to individual funerals and must be completed by 4 a.m.
Several families reported being warned that if they refuse to comply with these conditions, the bodies of their relatives would be buried collectively, without their consent.
Paying for the bullets
One of the most consistent elements across testimonies received by Iran International is the demand for money in exchange for the release of bodies.
According to multiple sources, families are being told they must pay for each bullet used to kill their relatives. The amounts demanded range from 700 million rials to 2.5 billion rials per bullet, depending on the case.
At the current exchange rate of approximately 1,450,000 rials to the US dollar, this translates to roughly $480 to $1,720. The average monthly income of a worker in Iran is less than $100, making such payments unaffordable for many families.
This practice is not new and has been used by Iranian authorities in previous crackdowns. However, they described its application during the current unrest as unusually widespread.
Forced Basij membership
In addition to financial demands, families have reported pressure to consent to their relatives being identified as members of the Basij militia, the paramilitary volunteer force of the Revolutionary Guards.
Rights monitors and sources said families are told that if they agree to a Basij membership card being issued posthumously for their relative, the body may be released without payment.
According to Dadban, a rights monitoring group, authorities in several cities have made free release of bodies conditional on families accepting that their killed relatives be registered as Basij members allegedly killed by protesters.
Rights groups say the practice amounts to forced identity alteration and an effort to inflate official claims of security force casualties, supporting authorities’ assertions that the unrest involved “terrorist elements.”
Hospitals overwhelmed
Audio testimonies sent to Tavaana, a civil society platform, describe hospitals overwhelmed by gunshot victims and bodies, with security forces intervening to prevent bodies from being released or funerals from taking place.
One audio account said security forces raided the homes of families who had managed to retrieve bodies. Another described a nurse who died by suicide after exposure to what was described as an overwhelming number of corpses.
Additional messages from Isfahan described widespread killings, mass arrests and refusal to release bodies. Some accounts said entire neighborhoods had lost at least one resident, with businesses shut down amid fear and anger.
Silencing grief
The restrictions placed on funerals and burials appear designed to prevent public mourning from becoming a focal point for further protest.
Families described being forced to bury their dead quickly, quietly and under surveillance. Some said they were instructed not to speak publicly or share images, while others reported continued monitoring after burial.
For many families, the process has turned private grief into a prolonged ordeal – one shaped by fear, financial coercion and the threat of erasure.
Iranian authorities have blamed foreign enemies, including the United States and Israel, for the unrest and have described the protests as a security threat. They have denied allegations of mass killings.
US officials said Washington began withdrawing some personnel from military facilities in the region, describing the move as a precaution as tensions rose.
The drawdowns came as the United States weighed its response to unrest inside Iran and after repeated warnings from Tehran that any US strike would be met with retaliation against American bases in neighboring countries.
US President Donald Trump struck an ambivalent tone, telling reporters he was monitoring the situation closely and suggesting reports of killings inside Iran were easing. He said he had received what he described as “a very good statement” from Iran, while stopping short of ruling out military action.
Privately, officials and diplomats from several countries said they remained concerned that US intervention was still possible, with some suggesting there was a limited window in which action could occur.
Regional governments, including Qatar, confirmed adjustments tied to heightened tensions, while Britain also reported precautionary measures involving its personnel.
Britain said it had closed its embassy in Tehran, citing security concerns, adding to signs of diplomatic retrenchment as foreign governments reassessed their presence in Iran amid the unrest.
Inside Iran, the leadership has sought to project control in what officials describe as the most serious unrest in decades. Iranian authorities have blamed foreign enemies, particularly Israel and the United States, for fueling violence, while insisting calm has returned after what they describe as a brief but intense period.
In a combative television interview with Fox News, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected allegations that Iranian security forces carried out mass killings of protesters. He said the violence stemmed from clashes with what he called foreign-backed “terrorist elements,” and portrayed the unrest as part of a wider conflict imposed on Iran.
“There was fighting between our security forces and terrorist elements,” Araghchi said, dismissing accounts of widespread repression as misinformation and accusing Israel of trying to draw the United States into war.
Human rights groups outside Iran have reported high casualty figures, while an internet blackout has restricted independent verification on the ground. The information gap has fueled uncertainty, with competing narratives from Iranian officials, foreign governments and activists.
Iran has also intensified contacts with regional states in recent days, officials said. Tehran has urged neighboring countries to prevent any US military action, warning that American bases in the region would be at risk if Iran were attacked. Direct communication between Iranian and US officials remains suspended, they added.
Despite the scale of the unrest and mounting external pressure, Western officials have said Iran’s security apparatus appears intact and the government does not look on the brink of collapse. Iranian state media has broadcast images of funerals and rallies that it presented as evidence of continued public support for the Islamic Republic.