Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has confirmed that more than 300 people have died since protests began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman arrested in the capital Tehran for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly, in the first official toll since the start of the demonstrations.
The commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force, Amir Ali Hayizade, stressed that «more than 300 people have died and martyrs have fallen during these two months because they did not recognize the enemy», as reported by the Iranian news portal Tabnak. «We must know the enemy,» he said.
So far, the Revolutionary Guard had only confirmed the death of members of the security forces and agents of the intelligence services in the framework of the mobilizations, blamed by Tehran on Western countries – among them the United States – seeking to destabilize the internal situation.
The toll is however much lower than that reported by the non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), which speaks of more than 410 deaths as a result of the repression of the protests, which have been going on for more than two months in all the provinces of the Central Asian country. For its part, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) puts the number of demonstrators killed at 451, to which must be added 60 agents of the security forces.
The repression of the protests led the United Nations Human Rights Council to approve last week the creation of an independent international mission to investigate «alleged human rights violations» in Iran, although the Iranian government has stressed that it «will not cooperate» and has affirmed that it «has proof» of the role of foreign countries in the demonstrations.
