Warning: The following story contains graphic details of violence which some readers might find upsetting.


A BBC Persian analysis of hundreds of videos and photographs taken during recent protests in Iran confirms the security forces' use of a wide range of weaponry, including machine guns, sniper rifles, and shotguns.


Protesters were reportedly killed in many of the more than 200 cities where protests had been recorded. While the exact death toll remains unclear, the level of brutality and the deployment of lethal weaponry, evidenced in pictures, witness accounts, and reports by human rights groups, indicate that thousands have been killed across the country.


The crackdown on protests, which began over the economy but rapidly escalated, employed violence unprecedented in modern Iranian history.


Payam Akhavan, an Iranian Canadian former UN prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, stated, This is the largest mass killing in contemporary Iranian history and one of the largest in the world. The Iranian government has attributed the killings to rioters and terrorists.


However, BBC News Persian's analysis shows security forces used several different weapons on protesters:



  • Machine guns

  • Sniper rifles

  • Assault rifles

  • Shotguns

  • Handguns

  • Pellet-firing paintball guns

  • Tear gas

  • Machetes

  • Knives

  • Batons

  • Large wooden clubs

  • Green laser sights and pointers (for blinding and targeting)


Footage from cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Yazdanshahr, and others has verified that heavy and medium machine guns were mounted on military pickup trucks used for crowd control. Correspondingly, sniper rifles have also been reported widely utilized during protests, further contributing to the violent crackdown.


Injuries from the use of shotguns have resulted in significant numbers of permanent disabilities, including severe eye injuries from the metal pellets fired into crowds, leading to about 1,000 emergency surgeries sought at a single eye hospital.


Despite the Iranian regime's narratives, the extensive deployment of such lethal weaponry against demonstrators raises critical human rights concerns and demands urgent global attention and action.