DocumentedNamed / verified
7,015
Deaths confirmed by HRANA by mid-February, including 6,508 protesters and 226 children. HRANA was still reviewing thousands of additional cases.
HRA / HRANA report ↗Iran · 18–19 Dey 1404 · January 8–9, 2026
Two nights.
A nation silenced.
A nationwide uprising met a near-total internet blackout and lethal force. The full number of people killed remains contested. The evidence of a mass crackdown does not.
Living archive Last reviewed 17 August 2026
00 / Purpose
This site documents what happened while Iran was cut off from the world. It separates confirmed names from estimates and public claims, records attacks on protesters and medical care, and argues for a democratic transitional authority led by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
01 / The scale
One tragedy. Different standards of proof.
Read the numbers
for what they are.
Under reviewHRANA case files
11,744
Additional reported deaths pending verification. “Under review” is not the same as confirmed—and is not zero.
HRANA update ↗Hospital estimateJan 8–9 alone
up to 30,000
Two senior Iranian Health Ministry officials told TIME the two-night toll could be this high; a separate hospital list contained 30,304 registrations.
TIME investigation ↗Document claimNot independently published
36,500+
Iran International says classified Interior Ministry and intelligence documents it reviewed placed the Jan 8–9 toll above 36,500.
Iran International report ↗02 / The method
Not crowd control. Lethal force.
How the
crackdown worked.
Live fire at vital areas
Rights investigators, doctors and verified video described live ammunition, automatic fire, and wounds to heads, necks and chests across multiple cities.
Shooting into crowds
Human Rights Watch documented hundreds of shots in a six-minute recording; medical testimony described a flow of dead and wounded protesters and bystanders through emergency wards.
Darkness as cover
Connectivity fell to roughly one percent of normal levels as the uprising surged, obstructing reporting, family contact and real-time documentation.
When hospitals stopped being safe
Care under
armed surveillance.
Associated Press interviews with doctors and medical professionals described armed agents entering wards, filming patients, checking documents, obstructing care and taking away people identified as protesters. Amnesty documented arrests of wounded people needing life-saving treatment and of medical workers who cared for them.
“Every 15 to 30 minutes, the entire emergency ward would be emptied and then refilled.” — Doctor in Rasht, interviewed by AP
83+
Medical workers reportedly detained across 33 cities
66 hrs
One Rasht doctor’s account of continuous emergency work
500
Bodies reportedly brought to two Tehran hospitals by Jan 8 evening
03 / Our position
A state that massacres citizens to retain power has forfeited its claim to represent them.
This is an editorial conclusion, grounded in the record assembled here: mass lethal force, a nationwide communications blackout, attacks on medical care and continuing punishment of the wounded and those who treated them. Authority maintained by these means is coercion—not legitimacy.
04 / The sequence
The two nights
From uprising
to blackout.
Crowds gather nationwide
Demonstrations swell across Tehran and cities throughout Iran following a call for coordinated action.
The country goes dark
Internet traffic collapses toward zero. International calling and messaging are also heavily disrupted.
Fire intensifies
Reports and video describe automatic gunfire and shooting into crowds. Emergency rooms receive waves of casualties.
The second night
The crackdown continues. Hospitals and makeshift clinics operate under pressure as agents monitor, arrest and remove the wounded.
Evidence emerges slowly
Named lists, medical testimony and fragments of video begin to cross the blackout. Verification continues for months.
05 / Evidence desk
Open the source material
The record is
still being built.
Growing Evidence of Countrywide Massacres
Human Rights Watch · 16 Jan 2026
Open case file ↗Agents Obstructed Care in Packed Hospitals
Associated Press · 27 Feb 2026
Open case file ↗What Happened at the Protests in Iran?
Amnesty International · Jan 2026
Open case file ↗Nationwide Internet Shutdown Record
Internet Society Pulse · 8 Jan 2026
Open case file ↗The Crimson Winter
Human Rights Activists in Iran · Feb 2026
Open report PDF ↗Detailed Findings on Iran
UN Fact-Finding Mission · 2026
Open report PDF ↗06 / The path forward
Our call
Recognition.
Transition. Choice.
We call on democratic governments, Iranian communities abroad and citizens inside Iran to recognize Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as leader of a transitional authority.
The purpose of transition is not to predetermine Iran’s permanent system of government. It is to restore order under civilian authority, protect equal rights, preserve territorial integrity, separate religion and state, pursue accountability, and reach free elections in which Iranians choose that system.
01 · Secular democracy
02 · Equal individual rights
03 · Territorial integrity
04 · Free and fair elections
This advocacy position is the publisher’s. The evidence links above should be assessed independently of it.
07 / Source notes
Trace every claim
Sources &
further reading.
- 01 Human Rights Activists in Iran The Crimson Winter: First 50 Days of Nationwide Protests
- 02 Amnesty International What Happened at the Protests in Iran?
- 03 Human Rights Watch Growing Evidence of Countrywide Massacres
- 04 Associated Press Iranian Agents Obstructed Care at Hospitals
- 05 TIME Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000
- 06 Internet Society Pulse Iran Nationwide Shutdown
- 07 UN Fact-Finding Mission Detailed Findings on the Islamic Republic of Iran
- 08 Reza Pahlavi Public transition principles and commitment to free elections
A note on certainty
Numbers on this page are not presented as interchangeable. “Confirmed” refers to individually documented cases. “Under review” refers to reports awaiting that standard. Hospital-network estimates, accounts of unpublished state records and statements by political leaders are labeled as such. All figures may change as documentation continues.