שיחות עם איראן

In Iran, I recently found a VPN that sometimes sends messages on WhatsApp. I'm not sure if this message will be sent or not because sometimes it is sent or rejected hours later. In Iran, access to the Internet and news and communications has been completely cut off, but it is clear that unprecedented repression and killings have taken place. Almost everyone we talk to (including myself) knows a person or persons who have been shot and killed on a straight street. They have been killed so much that the streets are finally empty of protesters. Unfortunately, censorship of the Internet and the media and communications will probably continue and the executions will begin. This is undoubtedly a massacre and war crime. I hope that the world will not remain silent and Trump, Reza Pahlavi and all those who promised the people a quick imaginary victory and sold the dream of freedom and sent the masses in front of the bullet of the bloodthirsty regime of Iran, will not leave the people now. I hate Trump and the Israeli regime. But I hope that this time they will keep their promise before the executions and the next massacre. Unfortunately, there is no other way but direct foreign interference, and if this does not happen, the repression and killing of the Iranian people by the illegitimate regime of the Islamic Republic will continue. The Islamic Republic is over, with this brutal massacre it can no longer continue, people will not cope with it forever; The thing that remains is the time to happen and prevent more bleeding. I can not believe that I am defending the military attack of two dictatorial regimes on my country, but there is no way left. Currently, everyone in Iran is holding their breath and is waiting for the moment

I don’t even know where to begin. These past two weeks felt like years.
When RP called for a nationwide protest on January 8 and 9, not many people thought it would lead to the biggest uprising this country has seen in modern history. What started as a few hundred people in each city around 8 p.m. became thousands, and then tens or even hundreds of thousands. Here in Karaj I couldn't believe it as I watched. Even though the internet was cut off about 30 minutes after the protests began, people still managed to post videos and pictures and send many of them to Iran International and Manoto. Hours later, when those channels showed the footage, it gave people hope and helped make the second night even bigger than the first. Millions marched across the country demanding the same thing, an end to Khamenei and his regime.
On the first night, protesters were able to push back some security forces at first, but an hour later the forces came back stronger and more heavily armed. They fired tear gas and began shooting people. They opened fire on people at the frontlines and protesters scattered. Some ran home, some hid in parks, some kept running for their lives. You could still hear gunshots hours later. Those animals shot anyone on the streets just to create fear.
Once the internet was cut, there was no clear estimate of how many were killed or captured. The scale of the first night pushed people to come out again on January 9. The crowds were bigger, but the regime was more prepared. The protests lasted about an hour before they were scattered. The same pattern repeated on January 10 and 11 except with fewer protesters.
After the fourth day, if you were on the streets after 7:00 p.m., there was a real chance you could be shot on sight or arrested for no reason. The entire country was under martial law and curfew. There was almost no way to communicate. IRGC and Basij were operating openly, and Iraqi militias were helping them suppress people. But the worst atrocities were happening off the streets.
Bodies were delivered to hospitals by the truckload, hundreds upon hundreds. Morgues were overloaded to the point that bodies were being stored in hospital basements or in front yards. Some were placed in front of hospital entrances by security forces as deliberate warnings. Families had to pay up to 2 billion tomans (20 billion rials, roughly 14k USD) just to get a body back. They were even charged for the bullets used on their loved ones. Families received threats and were not allowed to hold funerals. Before returning bodies, forces would intimidate families, spit on corpses, and crush them underfoot to humiliate and terrify people who had no power to respond.
I first heard about what happened to wounded protesters in hospitals from my neighbor (who is a doctor working at two of the biggest hospitals in Karaj and one in Tehran) before the news broke on TV. Wounded protesters get finished off by Basij forces (shot or stabbed on hospital beds). The critically wounded were sometimes killed by having life support removed. Hospital staff were searched to make sure they couldn’t smuggle bandages or first aid out. They were threatened with death or arrest if they disobeyed. Pharmacies were banned from selling certain first aid supplies and medicines, and sometimes forces were stationed there to enforce the bans.
Business owners who supported the protests are being arrested and their assets frozen.
Despite what Trump said, there are executions taking place silently and their planning to execute thousands soon.
I could keep writing and still not cover a fraction of what really happened. In simple words, a bloodbath is what happened. The country is deeply scarred. Many people, including myself, saw things we will never forget. I had a couple close calls during the second and third nights. I try to sit for a moment and clear my head, but I can’t forget what I saw. I watched my fellow countrymen and women being slaughtered by those animals right in front of me.
Everywhere you look, people are mourning. I keep hearing the 16k–20k figures, but I’m afraid it’s much higher. Back in 2019 the regime initially reported around 400 deaths, but the real number later turned out to be over 3,000. If the regime is admitting to thousands now, I don’t want to imagine the truth.
Regime supporters are already taunting the rest of the nation. State media is trying to normalize thousands of deaths. Regime-affiliated groups abroad are spreading propaganda, calling every killed protester a CIA or Mossad agent( and after spending a few hours on this website it seems to be working on some people).
Despite everything, I do not fear these fuckers. I feel more hatred than fear. Not just for the regime, but for anyone who supports them.
I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I was never optimistic that Trump would do anything, and I still don’t expect him to. I don’t know if the nation will heal in time for another uprising. I don’t know if the fragile internet connection we have now is permanent. But I know one thing too well, the next few months, and possibly years if the regime is not toppled, are going to be brutal. This country will never be the same again. There is only one path forward and we all know what it is.