A massive two-day security crackdown in Iran has reportedly killed as many as 36,500 people, marking one of the deadliest short-term mass killings in modern times, Breitbart reports. According to multiple investigative reports, the operation was ordered directly by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to violently suppress nationwide protests. Eyewitness accounts describe scenes of extreme brutality—wounded demonstrators executed in hospitals, survivors sealed in body bags while still alive, and overwhelmed medical workers caught in what one surgeon called an unimaginable “nightmare.”

The terror began on December 28, following strikes by Tehran merchants, and quickly spread nationwide amid growing economic collapse and political repression. The Media Line reported that security forces placed some still-living protesters into body bags and sent them to forensic centers, where they were killed after showing signs of movement. One survivor told investigators that he pretended to be dead for three days until families searching for missing relatives broke into the facility and found him alive.

A forensic doctor in Tehran described hospitals overcrowded with the wounded, many of whom were taken alive to morgues and suffocated or shot. Medical workers reported seeing corpses with hospital equipment still attached—oxygen tubes and IV lines left in place—indicating that patients were executed mid-treatment. A nurse’s message obtained by The Media Line alleged that patients were being systematically killed, including some taken directly from surgery. The nurse was reportedly murdered soon after sending the message.

Classified intelligence obtained by Iran International revealed that the crackdown reached its height on January 8–9, when the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militia were deployed to more than 400 sites. Authorities switched from riot-control tactics to live ammunition and imposed a total communication blackout—cutting off internet and phone networks to conceal the death toll.

Following Khamenei’s January 9 address, senior commanders were ordered to use maximum force under an internal directive labeled “victory through terror,” which explicitly authorized lethal action. Initial regime counts suggested 12,000 deaths in the first days, but internal briefings later estimated between 30,000 and 36,500 deaths by the end of January. Intelligence reports cited data from parliamentary and military committees to support these numbers.

Images obtained by Iran International allegedly showed patients executed while connected to life-support machines, with gunshot wounds to the head. Witnesses also reported that security forces stormed hospitals, pulling patients off gurneys or out of ambulances before executing them on-site.

A parallel investigation by The New York Times, based on hundreds of verified videos, medical worker interviews, and witness accounts, documented continuous gunfire in Tehran and at least 19 other cities. Security forces opened fire from rooftops, chased demonstrators on motorcycles, and shot people fleeing from behind. Hospitals functioned as combat zones, overwhelmed by shooting victims. At the Kahrizak Forensic Center, families identified loved ones through numbered digital photos as bodies piled up in the courtyards.

According to TIME magazine, citing Iranian Health Ministry sources, roughly 30,000 people were killed within 48 hours. Morgues overflowed, body bags ran out, and trucks were used to transport corpses. Hospital documents reviewed by TIME listed 30,304 deaths as of January 9, though that figure excluded casualties from military hospitals and secret burials conducted during the communications blackout. According to Breitbart, analysts noted that the only comparable massacre in scale and speed was the 1941 Babyn Yar atrocity, where Nazi forces executed over 33,000 Jews near Kyiv in two days.

The Guardian quoted an Iranian surgeon describing hospitals turned into “massacre zones.” The doctor said, “I’ve worked in disaster areas, but nothing compares to this—blood everywhere, hundreds of gunshot wounds, no limits.”

Experts believe the death toll could be even higher, pointing to unmarked graves, intimidation of victims’ families, and incomplete registry data. Despite mounting evidence, Iranian officials have acknowledged only 3,117 deaths, according to Breitbart.

The revelations have intensified global outrage. U.S. President Donald Trump condemned Khamenei as a “sick man” and called for “new leadership” in Iran, labeling the Islamic Republic “the worst place to live.” Iranian officials warned that attempts to undermine the supreme leader would provoke “all-out war.” In response, Washington has moved additional naval forces to the region and expanded sanctions against regime-linked entities.