Iran Protest Death Toll Tops 3,000 as Clerics Demand Executions

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Jan. 16, as residents reported no sign of new demonstrations after a sweeping brutal suppression, while Iranian state media said authorities were pressing ahead with fresh arrests and hard-line officials escalated calls for executions of detained protesters.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had verified 3,090 deaths by the end of the protests’ 20th day, including 2,885 protesters. The agency said 165 members of government or security forces and 21 non-protesting civilians were also killed, and at least 19 children were among the dead.

Iran has not released casualty figures and denies widespread killings of peaceful protesters, blaming violence on what it describes as armed rioters and terrorist groups backed by foreign powers.

Residents in Tehran said the capital had been comparatively quiet for four days, with no sign of major protests on Jan. 15 or Jan. 16, after the most intense clashes in weeks of unrest that began on Dec. 28, 2025, over economic hardship that expanded into calls for the end of clerical rule.

The reported calm on the streets contrasted with mounting political and diplomatic pressure on Tehran over the scale of bloodshed, and with increasingly volatile rhetoric from elements of Iran’s religious establishment, including threats directed at U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, who has warned of “very strong action” if Iran begins executing demonstrators, struck a conciliatory note on Jan. 16 by publicly thanking Iran’s leaders for not carrying out mass hangings of detainees—signaling he may be backing away from his prior threats even as the White House maintains that executions and the killing of peaceful protesters are two of Washington’s red lines.

Trump Admin Warns Iran Against Attacking US Bases

Washington on Jan. 17 warned Tehran against targeting U.S. bases, and the State Department’s Persian-language account on X said that the United States is closely monitoring reports of possible plans. Quoting Trump, it said any attack on U.S. assets would be met with “very, very powerful force.”

The State Department said it had heard reports that Iran was preparing “options” to target U.S. bases, warning the Islamic Republic not to test Trump’s resolve and noting that the U.S. president has repeatedly said that “all options remain on the table.”

Rumors have mounted in recent days that Iran was laying the groundwork for possible strikes against U.S. military assets. Mohsen Rezaei, a senior general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a member of Iran’s Expediency Council, recently issued a direct warning aimed at Trump.

“Trump has said his hand is on the trigger. We will cut off his hand and his finger,” Rezaei said on Jan. 15, according to the Iran International news agency.

He also said that Iran would no longer accept a cease-fire if attacked.

“If we move forward, there will be no talk of a ceasefire anymore,” he said. “You do not pay attention to the restraint and strategic patience we have shown. Stop right now. Step back, otherwise none of your bases in the region will be safe.”

The United States maintains an extensive military footprint across the Middle East, operating facilities at more than a dozen locations and relying on major bases that support regional air, naval, and intelligence operations.

Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East and has at times housed more than 8,000 U.S. service members alongside coalition forces. In June, Iran launched several ballistic missiles at Al Udeid two days after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, underscoring the base’s prominence in the event of renewed escalation.

The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14 urged Americans in the region to take extra precautions and avoid traveling to U.S. military installations across the Middle East, amid warnings from Iranian officials that Tehran is prepared to use force.

Iran’s Leaders Blame US for Unrest, Clerics Demand Executions

Iranian leader Ali Khamenei escalated his rhetoric against the United States on Jan. 17, accusing Trump personally of orchestrating unrest and committing crimes against the Iranian nation.

“The recent sedition was an American sedition, and America’s goal is to swallow Iran,” he said at a meeting with thousands of supporters on Jan. 17, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“In the recent sedition, the President of the United States personally intervened, spoke, threatened, encouraged, and supported the seditionists. The Iranian nation broke the back of the sedition, and will also break the back of the seditionists.”

At the same time, Khamenei acknowledged the economic woes that initially triggered the unrest.

“The economic situation of the people truly has problems, and government officials must work twice as hard in this regard,” he said.

Meanwhile, hard-line voices in Iran’s political and religious establishment also escalated demands for harsher punishment of detainees, including calls for execution.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior cleric and member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, called for the death penalty for detained demonstrators during a fiery Jan. 16 sermon carried by Iranian state radio.

The sermon sparked chants from worshippers, including “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”

Khatami accused protesters of being the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers,” warning both leaders to await “hard revenge from the system.”

“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” he said.

Earlier on Jan. 13, Trump encouraged demonstrators to keep up pressure on Iran’s leadership, writing on Truth Social that protesters should take over the country’s institutions and preserve evidence of abuses.

“Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” he wrote.

He also said that all meetings with Iranian officials had been canceled until the killing stops, and he said help is on the way.

When asked about the “end game,” Trump pointed to examples from his first term, referring to the elimination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and ISIS terrorist group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen,” he said. “If they want to have protests, that’s one thing. When they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging, we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.