Iran Death Toll Estimates Run From 2,000 to 12,000 as Trump Weighs Options

Estimates of how many people have died in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests ranged on Tuesday from about 2,000 to more than 12,000, with almost no way to verify any of them because Iran has cut the internet, CBS News reported. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly warned that the United States will act if protesters are killed, was scheduled to meet his national security team at the White House on Tuesday to discuss options, though CBS said it was unclear whether he would attend.

The protests began Dec. 28 over rising living costs and spread to all 31 of Iran’s provinces, according to CBS. Violence escalated sharply after about Jan. 8, when a communications blackout began as thousands answered a call from exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, CBS reported. The shutdown was in its fifth day on Tuesday, CBS said.

The numbers differ widely. On Sunday, ABC News reported that the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, known as HRANA, had counted 544 people killed and at least 10,681 arrested, a tally ABC said it could not independently verify. By Tuesday, CBS cited an Iranian official telling Reuters that about 2,000 people had been killed, and British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the toll may have been about 2,000 and feared it was higher. Two sources, one of them inside Iran, told CBS that at least 12,000 and possibly as many as 20,000 had been killed. CBS said it had not independently verified that figure. The London-based Iran International reported about 12,000.

The Iranian government has not released detailed casualty statistics, ABC reported, though the state-aligned Tasnim news agency said 109 security personnel had been killed. President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed foreign “terrorists” for the unrest but said the government would address economic problems, while Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other officials called protesters “rioters” backed by foreign powers, mainly the United States and Israel, ABC said. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said U.S. forces and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if the United States strikes Iran.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that it “looks like” Iran may have crossed the administration’s red line and that the military has “strong options,” ABC reported. Asked about the death toll Tuesday, he said, “Nobody’s been able to give me an accurate number,” according to CBS. He has not specified a red line or what response he would take. In a social media post he told protesters “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” and said he had cancelled meetings with Iranian officials, CBS reported, without saying what help would be offered.

Two Pentagon officials told CBS that Trump had been briefed on a wide range of military and covert tools, beyond conventional airstrikes. ABC’s Australian service later reported that Trump announced 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Iran, “effective immediately,” and that it was unclear whether they had taken effect; that account is dated Wednesday and rests on that outlet’s reporting alone.

Iran’s currency has collapsed and the clerical leadership’s authority has weakened since last year’s 12-day war with Israel, in which the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear program, ABC’s Australian service noted. Qalibaf’s warning that U.S. forces would be targets if the United States strikes Iran is among the risks that any American action would carry.