In recent protests across Iran, official sources report at least 5,000 fatalities, including around 500 security personnel. This figure marks a significant escalation in the violence that has unfolded since demonstrations began on December 28, triggered by a sharp decline in the value of the rial. Initially sparked by economic discontent, the protests swiftly evolved into a widespread Anti-Government Movement, demanding the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. An Iranian official attributed the high death toll to external influences, specifically pointing to “Israel and armed groups abroad.” The government has indicated that the current death toll is unlikely to increase significantly. However, human rights organizations have reported that security forces have killed many protesters, with over 20,000 arrests linked to the unrest. The Iranian government imposed an internet blackout on January 8, complicating efforts to ascertain the true extent of the casualties and limiting humanitarian organizations’ ability to respond. Estimates from independent sources suggest that protester deaths could have reached 6,000 in a matter of days during the blackout.

As often happens with authoritarian regimes, things here are worse below the surface than realized by the outside world. It is simply the latest in a long-term saga of evil intentions bumping into more enlightened nations and their influence, which to the mind of the tyrant must be resisted at all costs and punished, if people stray from the straight and narrow of their official constraints. This is an orchestration of the Extraterrestrial Alliance on every level, both to prop up the fundamentalist regime and to perpetuate their extremist mindset and fundamentalist views, as the goal is to stamp out freedom of the individual. That perspective is easy to cultivate in the minds of tyrannical leaders because they want power and control over everything and everyone, and view the idea of individual rights and liberty as dangerous to allow because this could lead to people opposing their uniform control of society. It is interesting as well, that the Iranian government is turning yet again to the same old playbook of blaming the Jews and the Western nations, particularly the US, the so-called Little Satan Big Satan, respectively. Such characterizations and name-calling are part and parcel of how propaganda can be intensified to morph into physical acts of suppression, including incarceration and even genocidal elimination of those in opposition.