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The number of deaths in a crackdown by authorities during Iran’s ongoing nationwide anti-government protests now exceeds 4,000, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The rights group revised the death toll to at least 4,029 on Tuesday, adding that 3,786 were demonstrators, 180 were security forces, 28 were children and 35 were people not demonstrating.
The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations and unrest in Iran, relying on a network of activists inside the country that confirms all reported fatalities.
They fear the number will grow far higher as information leaks out of the country, still gripped by the government’s decision to shut down the internet.
Iranian officials have not given a clear death toll, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that the protests had left “several thousand” people dead, blaming the United States.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency also reported over 26,000 people had been arrested. Comments from officials have led to fears of some of those detained being put to death.
Tensions with US remain high
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had his invitation to speak at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, withdrawn over the killings.
“Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year,” the forum said.
Araghchi denounced the decision, saying the forum “cancelled my appearance in Davos on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its US-based proxies and apologists.”
The Munich Security Conference also withdrew its invitation for Iranian government officials over the crackdown.
Tensions remain high between the United States and Iran over the crackdown after President Donald Trump drew two red lines — the killing of peaceful protesters and Tehran conducting mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to intervene should his administration assess that Iran has crossed those lines.
A US aircraft carrier, which days earlier had been in the South China Sea, passed Singapore overnight to enter the Strait of Malacca, putting it on a route that could bring it to the Middle East, according to US media reports.
Ship-tracking data show the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, as well as other American military vessels were travelling through the strait.
It would still need several days of travel before its aircraft would be in range of the region, which has been without an aircraft carrier group or an amphibious ready group, likely complicating any discussion of a military operation targeting Iran given Gulf Arab states’ broad opposition to such an attack.
Additional sources • AP
