Shocking Toll Revealed: Up to 30,000 Killed in Two Days During Iran Riots | Frightening New Details
A harrowing TIME report reveals claims that nearly 30,000 people were killed in just two days during Iran's recent unrest. Eyewitnesses provide accounts of the brutal crackdown.
In a harrowing report published today by TIME magazine, the scale of the atrocities during the peak of the riots in Iran earlier this month has come to light. According to the data cited, nearly 30,000 people were slaughtered by the brutal regime in Tehran over just two days. While these figures remain unverified, they align closely with information gathered by Iranian medical teams.
In the TIME report, senior Iranian sources were quoted as stating that over 30,000 people were killed at the height of the unrest on January 8 and 9.
The figures, provided anonymously by two officials from Iran's Ministry of Health, represent the highest death toll estimate to date and significantly exceed the Iranian government's official count of 3,117 fatalities.
However, opposition sources provide a much lower estimate, suggesting the death toll is around 6,000, while official authorities in Iran report figures closer to 3,000. The report emphasized that the high estimate of 30,000 does not include natural deaths.The volume of casualties was so overwhelming that body bags ran out, forcing the use of heavy trucks to carry the dead.
TIME emphasized that it could not independently verify the numbers but noted they align with accounts from doctors, emergency responders, and other on-the-ground sources.
The report details the overwhelming scale of the violence, with officials stating that the regime's crackdown led to such a high volume of casualties that body bags ran out, forcing the use of 18-wheeler trucks to transport the dead instead of ambulances.
Eyewitness descriptions included in the article paint a grim picture of snipers positioned on rooftops and machine guns mounted on trucks firing into crowds of demonstrators.
One specific source mentioned is Dr. Amir Parasta, a German-Iranian ophthalmologist who compiled a secret tally from hospital data, reporting 30,304 registered deaths as of January 23, 2026—excluding cases from military hospitals or unsurveyed regions, suggesting the true figure could be even higher.
The protests, which began on December 28, 2025, amid economic collapse and evolved into widespread calls for regime change, were met with brutal force, including live ammunition, mass arrests, and an internet blackout that hindered reporting.
TIME compared the two-day death toll to historical atrocities like the Babi Yar massacre in 1941, where over 33,000 Jews were killed in 48 hours.
A U.S.-based human rights group corroborated parts of the report by confirming 5,459 named deaths and reviewing an additional 17,031 cases.
Earlier TIME coverage from January 11 estimated the toll at around 6,000 based on expatriate surveys and human rights data, highlighting the challenges of verification amid blackouts.
Other estimates from UN rapporteurs and activists range from 16,500 to 20,000, indicating ongoing discrepancies in reporting.
Israel Realtime added:
A message from a contact inside Iran claims the Islamic Republic is refusing to hand over bodies of the fallen to their families, with the stated goal of holding them until a U.S. military strike and then framing the deaths as civilian casualties caused by the U.S. to stir outrage and pressure President Trump.
Additional reports from Iran claim prisons are overcrowded and that authorities have started releasing detainees, with allegations that some are injected with high levels of potassium or given substances mixed into food before release, followed by deaths days later. Families are reportedly told the deaths were “suicide.”