More than 30,000 may have been killed in Iran protests, officials say – report

According to a report by the Times of Israel on Sunday 25 January, 2026, Iranian officials are privately warning that the death toll from this month’s nationwide protests may be far higher than what has been publicly acknowledged. According to a report by Time magazine, as many as 30,000 people could have been killed over the course of just two days during the unrest.

The estimate, attributed to two senior figures in Iran’s Health Ministry who spoke anonymously, would dwarf the numbers the government has released so far. Officials in Tehran have recently cited a figure of 3,117 deaths, a count that already raised eyebrows among observers. But this new claim, if accurate, would mark a staggering escalation and the highest toll suggested to date.

Time cautions that it has not been able to independently confirm the numbers. Still, the magazine notes that the estimate broadly lines up with accounts from doctors, nurses, and first responders who were working amid the chaos. Many of them, it says, described scenes that overwhelmed hospitals and emergency services as protests spread rapidly from city to city.

According to the officials cited in the report, most of the deaths occurred between January 8 and 9, at the height of weeks-long demonstrations against the regime. During that period, they said, authorities resorted to using large cargo trucks instead of ambulances and even ran out of body bags.

If you love political news or like to get more news happening around the globe, use the button below to get more verified news happening around Nigeria and the world today.