The scale of the loss was publicly acknowledged on Saturday by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the deaths ran into the thousands.
Thousands of Iranians lost their lives during more than two weeks of nationwide unrest, as anti-government protests triggered by worsening economic conditions spiraled into one of the deadliest episodes in the country’s recent history.
The scale of the loss was publicly acknowledged on Saturday by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the deaths ran into the thousands.
However, responsibility for the bloodshed was laid not on Iran’s security forces, but on external actors, particularly the United States.
According to the CNN, in a televised address, Khamenei accused US President Donald Trump of fueling the unrest, saying he had “openly encouraged” protesters by promising them US “military support.”
He described Trump as a “criminal” responsible “both for the casualties and the damage” recorded during the protests that erupted in late December.
For families of the dead, the acknowledgement came without any reference to the methods used to suppress the demonstration.
Khamenei made no mention of allegations by witnesses and human rights organisations that Iranian security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters from rooftops and deployed drones overhead.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), more than 3,000 people were killed during the unrest, though CNN said it could not independently verify the figure.
One protester in Tehran described how the streets filled with unarmed civilians facing overwhelming force.
"They were aiming with lasers and shooting people in the face” the eye-witness said, speaking anonymously for security reasons.
“They massacred people… They killed our most beautiful, most gorgeous and bravest, our kids.”
The victims, many of them young, were described by Khamenei as falling into two groups: those “supported, funded and trained by the US and Israel,” and others he called “naive individuals whom the ringleaders manipulated.”
He accused the latter of attacking power facilities, mosques, educational institutes, banks, medical facilities and grocery stores.
"By harming the people, they (the ‘rioters’) killed several thousand of them,” Khamenei said.
“Some were killed with a force that was inhuman … completely savagely,” the Iranian leader continued. “These actions were part of the sedition’s pre-prepared blueprint.”
The Iranian government has repeatedly blamed “foreign” actors for deadly protests in the country, often without presenting evidence. During the unrest, Trump publicly urged demonstrators to continue and “take over” state institutions, assuring them that “help is on its way.”
“We consider the US President a criminal, both for the casualties and damage, and for the slander he leveled against the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to excerpts published on his official website.
As accusations and counter-accusations continue, the names and stories of those killed remain largely unacknowledged, their deaths reduced to figures in a widening political standoff, even as families across Iran mourn lives cut short amid the unrest.
The protesters were kicking against downturn in economic policies and struggle to live.