Deaths confirmed in Iran as violent protests against Islamic Republic turn into ‘battlefield’ with regime on brink of collapse

Footage circulating online appeared to show protesters lying motionless following the shootings, while the Oslo-based Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights claimed one victim was struck by live rounds and passed away before reaching hospital.

The unrest represents the largest popular uprising since the nationwide demonstrations triggered by Kurdish prisoner Mahsa Amini's death in police custody in 2022.

Human rights organisations have warned authorities are intensifying their violent response to the growing movement against Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Activists have sounded the alarm over an increasingly brutal crackdown, with security personnel continuing to shoot directly at those taking part in demonstrations.

An eyewitness told The Guardian: "It's a battlefield here and they [security forces] are firing mercilessly."

Images showed two bodies with apparent pellet and bullet injuries, although these could not be independently verified.

State media suggested some demonstrators had been armed and fired at officers, but no evidence was provided to support this assertion.

Unverified video footage depicted crowds fleeing through streets filled with smoke as wounded individuals were carried to safety.

On Wednesday, a member of the Basij paramilitary force died and thirteen others sustained injuries during violent confrontations in Kuhdasht, Lorestan province.

The demonstrations erupted on Sunday in Tehran, initially driven by the collapse of Iran's national currency to record lows and worsening economic hardship.

Within days, the protests had spread across multiple provinces, drawing shopkeepers, bazaar traders and university students onto the streets.

Participants have been chanting slogans against the regime while demanding economic reforms and respect for their fundamental rights.

The US State Department expressed concern over reports of intimidation, violence and arrests targeting demonstrators, calling on Iranian authorities to halt their crackdown.

"First the bazaars. Then the students. Now the whole country. Iranians are united. Different lives, one demand: respect our voices and our rights," the department posted on its Farsi-language account.

Twenty people were detained during the Kuhdasht protests, according to the local prosecutor.

Ebrahim Eshaghi, an Iranian wrestler based in Germany who hails from Lordegan and has maintained contact with protesters, issued an appeal for international attention, saying: "Today, the people of my city came out into the streets to demand their rights. So far, two young people have been killed and many more have been injured. We ask all the people of the world to be our voice. The Islamic Republic is the enemy of us all."

Roya Boroumand, managing director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, attributed the unrest to currency devaluation and soaring living costs, noting growing numbers of Iranians now live beneath the poverty line with little prospect of improvement.

The protests follow a year in which the Iranian state reportedly executed more than 1,500 people, the highest figure since 1989.

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