Rights group says Iran hanged at least 313 prisoners during protests

Witnesses told Iran International that a well-known Iranian taekwondo athlete and coach was killed during protests earlier this month after trying to help wounded demonstrators.

The man, identified as Afshin Miarkiani, was killed on the evening of Jan. 8.

According to the witnesses, security forces noticed him as he tried to assist injured protesters and then shot him from behind. He died at the scene.

An Iranian from Cyprus told Iran International that the violence in Iran should be treated as a global issue, urging governments to take steps beyond statements and condemnations.

Peyman said the scale of the bloodshed had turned the crisis into what he called a confrontation with freedom itself.

“This is not only about our country anymore, and it is a declaration of war on freedom,” he said.

He criticized symbolic actions by foreign governments as inadequate. “Statements and condemnations do not help.”

The United States’ special envoy to the Middle East said the United States is not currently negotiating with Iran, but that there has been contact with Iranian officials.

“Well, we’re not negotiating with them now. But we’ve had contact with them,” Steve Witkoff said in an interview with CNBC.

He said President Donald Trump had said that the contact led Iran to say the killings of protesters would stop.

“As the president said, that contact led them to make a statement that the killings would stop,” Witkoff said.

Asked whether the killings had in fact stopped, Witkoff said: “Well, it’s hard to tell. I mean, there’s certainly been plenty of killings, more than necessary, that’s for sure.”

Witkoff said he believed an agreement with Iran “ought to happen” and said any deal would have to cover Iran’s missile program, uranium enrichment and its support for armed groups.

“Obviously, the deal has to do with missiles. It has to do with enrichment. It has to do with non-state actor proxies,” he said.

He added that if no agreement could be reached, “I don’t think it’s such a good day for that country or for the world at large.”

Witkoff also said he was surprised there had not been more international reaction to the killing of protesters in Iran.

“There should be protests because plenty of good, decent, innocent people died,” he said. “They were just out there expressing their right to protest. And they were killed. And that’s horrible.”

An Iranian woman calling Iran International from the Netherlands said pressure and threats against critics extend beyond Iran’s borders, warning that fear has become systematic and long-lasting for those who speak out.

Mira said she had lived for years under surveillance and intimidation in Iran and now faces similar pressure abroad because of her public criticism.

“These fears are not imagined, and they have been placed inside us in a systematic way,” she said.

She urged international media and governments to move beyond documenting testimony.

“Do not just record people’s voices, and take them seriously,” she said.

A former senior Iranian diplomat said the risk of war with the United States is now greater than the chance of negotiations, warning that Iran has effectively lost its window for talks.

Qassem Mohabbali, a former director general for the Middle East and North Africa at Iran’s foreign ministry, said the current situation pointed toward a major confrontation rather than dialogue.

“At the moment, Iran has practically lost the opportunity to negotiate. The chance of war is much higher than the chance of talks,” he said in an interview with the Iranian news outlet Eghtesadnews.

Mohabbali said the United States had signaled it could consider a solution if Iran showed readiness to negotiate, but that Tehran had ruled out talks on issues such as uranium enrichment, its missile program and allied armed groups.

He said Washington had turned to what he described as “gunboat diplomacy,” pointing to the deployment of aircraft carriers in regional waters.

Mohabbali said regional countries could play a role but were not decisive, adding that they were worried about being drawn into a wider conflict.

He said a formal signal of readiness for political steps, including talks on enrichment, missiles and regional security, could still help prevent war.