Officials Say Over 500 Security Personnel Killed in Nationwide Protests.

Officials Say Over 500 Security Personnel Killed in Nationwide Protests

More than 500 members of Iran’s military and security forces are believed to have been killed in sweeping anti-government demonstrations across the country, officials told Israel’s Channel 13, as some of the most violent clashes erupted in the capital, Tehran.

Officials quoted by Israel’s Channel 13 say the death toll among Iran’s security and military ranks has surpassed 500 as protests, triggered by mounting economic grievances and political anger, enter their third week in cities across the Islamic Republic.

The figure, which has not been acknowledged by Tehran, suggests a far deadlier confrontation between demonstrators and the state than previously indicated by Iranian state media and rights groups.

According to rights activists and independent outlets, security forces have used live ammunition, mass arrests and sweeping internet shutdowns in an attempt to crush the unrest, which has spread from provincial towns to major cities including Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan.

Footage verified by these groups shows heavily armed units firing into crowds and scenes from mortuaries and hospitals packed with the dead and wounded, underscoring what observers describe as one of the bloodiest crackdowns in Iran in years.

While some Iran-based and diaspora rights organizations put the overall protest death toll demonstrators and security forces combined at well over 500, they estimate that the majority of those killed are protesters, with dozens of documented fatalities among police, Revolutionary Guard and Basij personnel.

State-affiliated media, by contrast, have acknowledged only scores of dead security personnel and accuse what they call “rioters” and “terrorists” backed by foreign adversaries of fomenting the violence.

The reported estimate of more than 500 security and military dead, if accurate, highlights the intensity of clashes in key flashpoints such as Tehran, where witnesses describe running street battles, burned-out checkpoints and attacks on government buildings.

Analysts note that such a high casualty figure within the security apparatus could strain loyalty within Iran’s coercive institutions and further escalate the confrontation between protesters and the state.