Family in Fooladshahr forced to hide child’s body, eyewitnesses say

The IHRDC reported that the teenager, whose name it withheld for his safety, was held among bodies of slain protestors transferred to the Kahrizak Forensic Center south of Tehran where he stayed motionless until his family eventually found him alive.

It added it was not able to independently verify the account as a nationwide internet blackout persists in Iran.

The youth, who is under 18, was in critical condition after suffering gunshot wounds.

“During the three days he was held among the bodies transferred to Kahrizak, he heard the ringing of cell phones among the corpses and smelled the intense stench of decay,” the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said, citing the teenager’s account.

The group said the young man described hearing gunfire after sounds from wounded detainees, suggesting they were summarily executed.

“The witness reported that whenever groans from the wounded were heard, they were shortly followed by the sound of gunfire and the cessation of the groaning, strongly indicating that security forces delivered fatal shots to wounded individuals who were still alive,” IHRDC said.

“These details raise serious concerns regarding the treatment of the wounded, violations of the right to life, and extrajudicial killings, including of minors, during the suppression of protests,” the rights group added.

"What could change the odds in their favor is the much needed neutralization of the regime's instruments of repression, which can only occur based on what the President stated a few days ago," US-based exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi told Fox News on Thursday.

Tehran crushed protests earlier this month, in the deadliest crackdown on unrest in the nearly fifty-year history of the Islamic Republic.

Amid the violence, US President encouraged Iranian protestors to take over institutions and said "HELP IS ON ITS WAY," in a social media post.

Trump this week said he relented from an attack after Iran stood down on plans to execute 837 protestors in a single day and told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that Washington and Iran would hold talks, without elaborating.

"You should not believe a word the regime says, because as an act of desperation," Prince Pahlavi added. "They're trying to buy time, it will make the same false promises that they've done before, and you cannot rely on their words at all."

In a separate message posted on his social media, the prince issued a new appeal to Iranians in the diaspora to attend rallies and better coordinate campaigns in support of protesters inside Iran.

In his video message, Pahlavi thanked Iranians abroad for “large and magnificent” rallies worldwide, saying their solidarity gives protesters at home “strength and hope” and urging them to avoid infighting.

The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) said a wounded protester who remained motionless inside a plastic body bag for three days out of fear that security forces would kill him was a teenager under the age of 18, according to new information obtained by the rights group.

IHRDC said the teenager was held among bodies of slain protestors transferred to the Kahrizak Forensic Center, south of Tehran, where he stayed still to avoid detection until his family eventually found him alive.

“During the three days he was held among the bodies transferred to Kahrizak, he heard the ringing of cell phones among the corpses and smelled the intense stench of decay,” the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said, citing the teenager’s account.

The group said the witness described hearing gunfire after sounds from wounded detainees, suggesting they were summarily executed.

“The witness reported that whenever groans from the wounded were heard, they were shortly followed by the sound of gunfire and the cessation of the groaning, strongly indicating that security forces delivered fatal shots to wounded individuals who were still alive,” IHRDC said.

“These details raise serious concerns regarding the treatment of the wounded, violations of the right to life, and extrajudicial killings, including of minors, during the suppression of protests,” the rights group added.

A US military formation including the aircraft carrier ‍USS Abraham Lincoln, several destroyers and warplanes is set to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days, Reuters reported on Thursday citing two US officials.

The strike group has been en route from the Asia-Pacific region even after US President Donald Trump mooted diplomacy in the wake of an Iranian crackdown on protests which has left thousands dead.

Washington was weighing the deployment of additional air defense systems in the region, the news agency cited one of the officials as saying.

Trump this week said he relented from an attack after Iran stood down on plans to execute 837 protestors and that Washington will hold talks with Tehran, without elaborating.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that Tehran planned to take international legal action against the United States for supporting "terrorist' unrest.

Authorities this month quashed anti-government protests in the deadliest crackdown in the Islamic Republic's nearly fifty-year history.

"The explicit and repeated threats made by the US President against the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, who is the highest official authority of an independent state, are an unacceptable act," Araghchi was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the foreign ministry's official page on X.

"Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seriously and continuously pursuing legal and international action to establish the responsibility of the US government for the imposed 12-Day War and the recent terrorist operations. The documentation of interventions and hostile actions is underway."

Tehran had previously said it was referring US actions during a war it joined with Israel against Iran last year for international legal consideration. There was no immediate sign that those efforts had advanced.

The number of civilians killed in Iran’s crackdown on protests may top 20,000, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran Mai Sato said on Thursday citing reports from doctors inside the country according to Bloomberg.