Iran official says 2,000 people have been killed in unrest

Reuters:

DUBAI, Jan 13 – About 2,000 people including security personnel have been killed in protests in Iran, an Iranian official said on Tuesday, the first time authorities have acknowledged the high death toll from an intense crackdown on two weeks of nationwide unrest.

The Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, said that people he called terrorists were behind the deaths of both protesters and security personnel. The official, who declined to be named, did not give a breakdown of who had been killed.

The unrest, sparked by dire economic conditions, has posed the biggest internal challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers for at least three years and has come at a time of intensifying international pressure after Israeli and U.S. strikes last year.

On Monday evening U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran – a major oil exporter. Trump has also said more military action is among options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown, saying earlier this month “we are locked and loaded”.

Tehran has not yet responded publicly to Trump’s announcement of the tariffs, but it was swiftly criticized by China. Iran, already under heavy U.S. sanctions, exports much of its oil to China, with Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and India among its other top trading partners.