3 teens killed in Iran protests

Jan. 5 (UPI) — At least 19 protesters in Iran have been killed over the last eight days of unrest, including three teens.

Protests and strikes in Iran began on Dec. 28 against the falling currency rate and inflation.

President Donald Trump has warned that the United States will intervene if more protesters were killed.

“We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

The uprising has spread to at least 78 cities and 222 locations, with demonstrators calling for the end of the regime, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists in Iran.

The three teens killed were Mostafa Falahi, 15, from Azna; Razul Kadivarian, 17; and a 17-year-old in Qom, whose identity hasn’t been verified.

HRAI told The Guardian it had documented the deaths and the arrests of 44 children and teens.

Halahi was killed when security forces fired on protesters on Jan. 1. Kadivarian was killed along with his brother Reza, 20, on Jan. 3 when security forces fired on protesters in Kermanshah, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported.

So far, 990 people have been arrested and at least 20 killed, according to HRAI.

“These numbers provide clear evidence that youth are present throughout the ongoing protests. The indiscriminate targeting of a civilian population must be widely condemned as a violation of international law, especially with the clear illustration of children present,” said Skylar Thompson, deputy director of Hengaw, told The Guardian.

During the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022, there were more than 500 people killed, including at least 60 children. Some were as young as 8.

One protester over the weekend in Ilam described the scene to The Guardian. They said crowds had been chanting anti-government slogans and demanded the release of protesters.

“We then gathered in front of a government building. That was when the forces opened fire on us. It felt as if they were shooting at enemies or armed groups. I felt like I was in a war zone. I saw several people injured, and I believe some were killed on the spot. We tried to take the wounded to hospitals and prevent government forces from arresting injured protesters,” the witness said.

“State forces are firing directly at gatherings and protests without regard for whether those targeted are children or adults,” said Hengaw’s Awyar Shekhi. “The crackdowns are brutal: teargas and military-grade weapons are being used, and detainees are severely beaten before being transferred to undisclosed locations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government stands in “solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people.”

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baquai said in a press conference that the statements by Netanyahu and “certain radical American officials” were “nothing more than incitement to violence.”