Iranian authorities were on Wednesday expected to execute the first person in relation to the nationwide unrest that has rocked the country, according to the United States and human rights groups.
President Donald Trump has warned of “very strong action” if the regime goes through with the killing, though Israeli and Arab officials have privately suggested the U.S. hold off on strikes.
Iranians have had no internet connection for days, but information and videos trickling out of the Islamic Republic suggest the protests were met with a brutal response not seen in decades of crackdowns against internal dissent.
At least 2,500 people have been killed since the unrest erupted last month against spiraling prices, according to the the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. It added that this figure includes nearly 150 security personnel.
An additional 18,000 people have been arrested, according to HRANA.
The advocacy group says it relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information and that its data goes through “multiple internal checks.” HRANA attributed a dramatic rise in its death toll Tuesday to Iranians’ ability to make their first calls to the outside world in days.
Among those arrested is Erfan Soltani, 26, whose execution is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the State Department, Amnesty International and other human rights activists.
“This time, the Islamic Republic regime didn’t even bother with its usual 10-minute sham trial; Erfan was sentenced to execution without any legal process or defense lawyer,” the State Department said in an X post.
“Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he will not be the last; the wave of executions against these protesters has officially begun,” it added.
A senior Iranian official called for the country to impose swift penalties to ensure order is restored.
“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” said Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, in a video shared online by Iranian state television.
“If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”
Soltani lost contact with his loved ones on Jan. 8 amid the nationwide protests, and his family was told Sunday that he had been sentenced to death, Amnesty said in a statement.
“The international community must urgently call on Iran’s authorities to immediately halt all executions, including Erfan Soltani. Following mass protests in 2022 against the death of Mahsa Amini, Iranian authorities have “weaponized the death penalty” and have since “embarked on an execution spree killing thousands,” it said.
Trump told CBS News that “if they do such a thing” — and go ahead with Soltani’s execution — “we will take very strong action.”
He described the killing of protesters as “significant,” but added that “we don’t know yet for certain” what the actual death toll is.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio on Wednesday that “we suspect this is the most violent repression in Iran’s contemporary history” and that “it must stop immediately.”
Despite the communications blackout, videos geolocated by NBC News have emerged showing scores of bodies piled outside a makeshift morgue near Tehran. Though the internet has now been down more than 132 hours, Iranians have been able to make some international calls, describing a heavy security presence on the streets and light foot traffic despite shops reopening.
Trump has weighed both military and diplomatic options in response to the deadly government crackdown. But he suggested Tuesday that talks with Iran were on hold while the violence continued, adding that Iranians should “keep protesting” and that “help is on its way.”
Iran has acknowledged a high number of casualties, but instead claimed they are ordinary people killed by “terrorists” and “rioters.” The semi-official Fars news agency said that most of those who died were “ordinary citizens and passers-by who had no connection whatsoever to the riots themselves.”
A mass funeral to be held under heavy security in Tehran on Wednesday would include 300 bodies of security force members and civilians, Iranian state television said.
Iran has also accused the U.S. of engineering “unrest and chaos, serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the country’s mission to the United Nations posted on X.
“U.S. fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change,” it said. “This playbook has failed before. The Iranian people will defend their country—and, most assuredly, it will fail again.”
U.S. allies have also indicated that striking Iran now may not have the desired effect.
Israeli and Arab officials have told the Trump administration in recent days that they believe regime may not yet be weakened to the point where U.S. military strikes would be the decisive blow that topples it, sources told NBC News.