UN Warns Of Unprecedented Protest Death Toll As US 'Armada' Heads To Iran

US warships are heading toward Iran as Iranian officials defend a brutal suppression of anti-leadership protests that the United Nations is calling the deadliest crackdown by the Islamic republic on its people since it took power during the 1979 revolution.

Amid a weeks-long Internet blackout, information about the extent of the crackdown on protests -- which started with shopkeepers in Tehran demonstrating over an inflation spike and currency freefall -- continues to trickle out as rights groups cobble together reports from hospitals and eyewitnesses.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that as of January 22, following 26 days of unrest, it had verified 5,002 deaths, including 201 security forces, with more than 9,787 deaths still under investigation.

Mai Sato, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said on January 22 the number of civilians killed in the crackdown could even surpass 20,000 as reports from doctors surface.

During a January 23 hearing on the events in Iran, the UN Human Rights Council expressed deep concern over the "unprecedented scale of the violent repression of peaceful protests by security forces in Iran, reports of extrajudicial killings of protesters, including women and children, and the excessive and lethal use of force, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of peaceful protesters and the injury of many more."

Trump said on January 22 that the United States had an "armada" heading toward Iran but hoped he would not ‌have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear program.

"We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely…. We have an armada...heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it," Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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Iranians Mourn Family Members Killed In Mass Protests

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers are reportedly due to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.

The US Treasury Department on January 23 also announced sanctions on nine ships that are part of what it called Iran's "shadow fleet" that carry embargoed Iranian oil and petroleum products around the world.

"Today's sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people. As previously outlined, Treasury will continue to track ⁠the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, an influential cleric who leads Friday Prayers in Tehran, said on January 23 that Iran would retaliate for any US attacks on the country, including targeting US investments in the region.

That came after Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, head of Iran's Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said any military strikes would makes all US bases in the region "legitimate targets."

Iranians have been cut off from the outside world since January 8, when the authorities imposed a near-total nationwide Internet shutdown as the crackdown on protests intensified.

It remains unclear when services will resume, but even when they do, experts fear the authorities will force Iranians to use a domestically designed "intranet" that works independently from the world's Internet.

Watchdog Netblocks said on January 23 that the wider availability of messaging apps inside Iran "had been confirmed and more VPN tunnels are connecting from Iran."

"However, service is heavily filtered and observable international connectivity remains low, indicating a 'filternet plus' configuration," it added.