At least 35 people have been killed during Iran's economic protests, activists announced Tuesday, while authorities acknowledged turmoil in a western province where security personnel allegedly stormed a hospital, according to ABC News.
Human rights monitors based in the US reported the casualty count alongside figures showing authorities have imprisoned over 1,200 demonstrators since unrest erupted more than seven days ago. Twenty-nine protesters, four children, and two security officers comprise the death toll, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. Demonstrations have spread to over 250 sites across 27 of Iran's 31 provinces.
Approximately 250 police officers and 45 Basij volunteer militia members sustained injuries in clashes with demonstrators, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Monday. The outlet maintains close ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards. Central authorities have released no aggregate casualty data or substantive details regarding the unrest.
عاجل | مواجهات عنيفة اندلعت بين تجّار بازار طهران الكبير وقوات خامنئي القمعية مع تصاعد الاحتجاجات داخل البازار.#احتجاجات_طهران pic.twitter.com/5N7lVAwisk
— Mohamad Ahwaze (@MohamadAhwaze) January 6, 2026
Monday evening brought President Masoud Pezeshkian's directive ordering the interior ministry to assemble an investigative unit for a "full-fledged investigation" into developments in Ilam province. Fatalities occurred in Malekshahi County – situated roughly 320 miles southwest of Tehran – where online videos allegedly depicted officers opening fire on civilians.
Officials confirmed an "incident in a hospital in the city of Ilam." Footage captured riot-gear-clad security teams raiding the medical center, where activists claimed they pursued fleeing demonstrators. Washington condemned the hospital incursion, labeling it "a crime." State Department messaging on X declared: "Storming the wards, beating medical staff and attacking the wounded with tear gas and ammunition is a clear crime against humanity," adding, "Hospitals are not battlefields." Mounting fatalities have introduced possibilities of American military action. Friday brought President Donald Trump's warning to Tehran: should Iran "violently kills peaceful protesters," Washington will come to their rescue."
Economic desperation grips rural Ilam province, home primarily to Kurdish and Lur communities.
Trump's intervention methodology remains unspecified; however, Saturday's US military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro – Tehran's enduring ally – amplified the significance of Trump's statements.
Protests continued on Tuesday, according to the opposition website Iran International. Shop owners in Tehran's Grand Bazaar remained on strike and shuttered their businesses, while demonstrations were reported in Mashhad, Lahijan, and Bandar Abbas. Retirees in Kermanshah held a rally supporting the protesters.
Current unrest represents Iran's largest protest movement since 2022, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's detention-related death sparked nationwide demonstrations. Present protests have not matched the 2022 movement's geographic reach or ferocity, which erupted after authorities arrested Amini for allegedly inadequate hijab compliance.
December brought the rial's collapse to an open market exchange rate of 1.4 million per dollar following intensified sanctions and Iran's struggles after a 12-day conflict with Israel. Demonstrators soon filled the streets, chanting anti-theocracy slogans, and continued unabated despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Saturday pronouncement that "rioters must be put in their place."
