IRAN UPDATE

The following is another compilation of recent reports from my X feed — some verified, some not.

I remain convinced that these accounts represent a far more accurate picture of what is taking place in Iran than what the legacy media is spouting. A recent ABC article I read, for example, claims the death toll is just over 500, and used the Iran regime’s propaganda as its main source of information for the revolution’s status quo.

Keep sharing — keep praying.

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A witness testimony from Iran: “The situation is far worse than what the world estimates. Based on my conversations with friends, I estimate that the number of people killed is over 10,000. In hospitals, they stack bodies together as if they were rice bags in a warehouse. Security forces are using Kalashnikovs, I saw it first hand. They shoot directly at lines of protestors and they fall to the ground.”

Message from inside Iran: “Please help us. The situation here is horrific. It is a full scale war. The regime’s forces show no mercy. They shoot protesters in the head and heart and even finish off those already wounded on the streets. In hospitals the wounded are being kidnapped and killed. Please tell the world we need help.”

Starlink messages slipping out of Iran: The fear is gone. The regime killed the internet 100 hours ago, but messages are still getting through, and what Iranians are describing is a psychological shift that wasn’t there in 2022. People have made peace with the consequences of being in the streets. They believe outside help is coming, and they’re determined to hold out until it does. The conviction spreading through the crowds is that this time is different. The plea from inside is simple: every day of delay means more funerals, and the regime isn’t going to stop shooting on its own.

According to the Editorial Board of Iran International, at least 12,000 people have been killed so far by security forces in ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Iran, calling it the “largest massacre in contemporary Iranian history,” occurring primarily over two consecutive nights, last Thursday and Friday, January 8 and 9. Iran International stated that the statistics are based on information received from one source close to the Supreme National Security Council, two sources in the Office of the President, accounts received from several sources in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the cities of Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Isfahan, eyewitness accounts and families of the deceased, field reports, data related to medical centers, and information obtained by doctors and nurses in various cities across Iran.

Iran is now begging Iraqi militias, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, for assistance in quelling protests.

Reza Pahlavi: “To put it into perspective, in the last 48 hours, Iranians have suffered more casualties than America did after the 9/11 attack. This is a moment that is defining. This is an opportunity to liberate that nation.”

Iranian crown prince says he has received intelligence reports from inside the country stating that the Iranian regime is actively making plans to leave the country.

Following the Prince’s directive that Iran’s national Lion and Sun flag should replace the Islamic Republic’s flag at Iranian embassies worldwide, Iranians in Australia raised the national flag of Iran in place of the Islamic Republic’s flag.

More than 30,000 Brits stood in solidarity with the brave anti-IRGC protesters in Central London today.

Israel has called on the European Union to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a “terrorist organisation.”

German Chancellor Merz: “The Iranian regime is close to collapse. These are its final days or weeks… We are witnessing the last days or weeks of this regime […] When a regime can remain in power only through violence, it has de facto already reached its end.”

A U.S. official tells Al Jazeera that planning for potential strikes on Iran is nearly complete. American forces across the Middle East are on alert for any response from Tehran. Military posture has shifted to prepare for “any contingency or retaliation.”

From inside Iran: “This is probably my last message. The regime is going door to door, confiscating satelite dishes and Starlink. Just like in the early 2000s. Be our voice.”