Hussain Hazbavi 
Fragmented reports emerging from Iran after a nationwide internet blackout imposed on January 8 suggest large-scale bloodshed across the country. Information received through Starlink messages, rare phone calls, and smuggled videos indicates that killings may have occurred in major cities, smaller towns, and villages.
Sources cited by Iran International describe widespread deaths, with residents reporting the loss of family members, neighbors, and friends. Accounts from Tehran neighborhoods such as Tajrish and Narmak speak of streets covered in blood, later washed away by municipal vehicles. Witnesses also reported heavy deployments of IRGC forces prior to the blackout, including the movement and concealment of heavy machine guns in residential areas.
Iran International claims up to 12,000 people may have been killed between January 8 and 9, while CBS News, citing sources inside Iran, estimates the death toll could reach 20,000. Thousands more are reportedly detained nationwide. Iranian authorities have labeled those present on the streets after January 8 as mohareb, a charge punishable by death.
Due to the ongoing communications blackout, independent verification of these figures remains extremely difficult.
