Iranian security agents are posing as ordinary civilians to lure protesters into deadly ‘killing zones’ before opening fire, a demonstrator has revealed.
As the regime continues its brutal crackdown on anti-government riots, demonstrators in Iran say undercover Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents have now infiltrated protest groups.
They claim the plainclothes IRGC members pretend to offer help and guidance – only to shepherd protesters into specific locations where security forces await to unleash lethal violence.
‘They come dressed as civilians and say: “Let’s help.” But later it becomes clear they are IRGC. They encourage people to go to certain places that are actually killing zones, and then they shoot everyone there,’ a Tehran protester said, according to The Times.
‘They are doing this so people become more afraid and stop trusting each other.’
The claims come as Iran’s official death toll surged to around 2,000, a dramatic rise that signals the regime’s determination to crush dissent.
Protesters and medics insist the real figure is far higher, with most victims believed to be young people shot at close range.
Two sources inside Iran said the IRGC now also ‘controls’ the hospitals, turning places of sanctuary and healing into traps.
Demonstrators in Iran say undercover Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents have now infiltrated protest groups. Pictured: Clashes between protesters and security forces in Urmia, in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, January 12, 2026
Protesters claim the plainclothes IRGC members pretend to offer help and guidance – only to shepherd demonstrators into specific locations where security forces await to unleash lethal violence
Families and residents gather at the Kahrizak Coroner’s Office confronting rows of body bags as they search for relatives killed during the regime’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests
According to witnesses, wounded protesters who seek medical help are arrested once treated and taken away, while grieving families are allegedly pressured to sign documents blaming ‘terrorists’ – the regime’s term for demonstrators – for the deaths.
A surgeon working in a Tehran hospital said he had treated dozens of gunshot wounds in recent days, many involving shots to the head or genitals, and revealed that the majority of those killed were under 30-years-old.
He warned that the situation inside the country is almost impossible to comprehend from abroad.
Earlier, a protester described the scale of the violence: ‘We have never witnessed such brutality in the past, and the death toll reported by international media so far represents only a fraction of their estimates.
It is enormous; many have been killed by bullets.’
Another added: ‘The reality inside Iran is hard for the outside world to imagine and understand. The scale of the crackdown is severe, and security forces are using lethal violence.
‘Bodies were stacked in hospital wards and not handed over to families.’
Activists now say the deliberate use of ‘killing zones’ is designed to terrorise the population, fracture trust among protesters, and drive people off the streets.
It comes after Iran vowed to fast-track executions after detaining around 18,000 protesters, despite threats from US President Donald Trump.
‘We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,’ Trump told CBS News on Tuesday when asked about potential executions. ‘If they hang them, you’re going to see something.’
The threat came as a 26-year-old Iranian shopkeeper was set to face execution today after he was tried, convicted, and sentenced for taking part in a protest on Thursday last week.
The family of Erfan Soltani made a desperate last-minute bid to save him last night by protesting outside the Ghezel Hesar prison, where the young man from Fardis in Karaj is being held in solitary confinement, a human rights activist told the Daily Mail.
The head of Iran’s judiciary signalled on Wednesday that there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests, despite the warning from Trump.
Protesters set fire to makeshift barricades near a religious centre on January 10, 2026
Iranian demonstrators gather in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value, in Tehran on January 8, 2026
The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, come after activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon.
Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.
That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
State TV showed dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office, saying the dead were victims of events caused by ‘armed terrorists’, as well as footage of loved ones gathered outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran waiting to identify bodies.
Witnesses described how streets have turned into ‘warzones’, as security forces open fire on unarmed protesters with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.
‘It’s like a warzone, the streets are full of blood,’ an anonymous Iranian told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘They’re taking away bodies in trucks, everyone is frightened tonight. They’re carrying out a massacre here.’
Authorities on Sunday declared three days of national mourning ‘in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,’ according to state media.
Trump has repeatedly warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.
Despite the warnings, Iran’s Chief Justice Mohseni-Ejei urged swift and lethal action against demonstrators in a video shared by Iranian state television online.
‘If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,’ he said. ‘If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.’
It comes after Rubina Aminian, a 23-year-old fashion student, was shot in the head ‘from close range’ during last Thursday’s protests.
Rubina Aminian, 23, was shot in the back of the head by Iranian security services after joining the street protests after a day of classes in her textiles programme at Shariati College on Thursday
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way
The protests broke out in two major markets in downtown Tehran after the Iranian rial plunged to 1.42million to the US dollar, a new record low, compounding inflationary pressure and pushing up the prices of food and other daily necessities.
This was after the Iranian government had raised prices for nationally subsidised gasoline in early December, with Central Bank head Mohammad Reza Farzin resigning a day later as the protests spread to cities outside of Tehran, where police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations.
The UN human rights chief said on Tuesday that he was ‘horrified’ by mounting violence by Iran’s security forces against peaceful protesters.
‘This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian people and their demands for fairness, equality, and justice must be heard,’ Volker Turk said.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way.
‘Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,’ Trump said, without specifying what that help might be.
He said he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the ‘senseless killing’ of protesters stopped, and in a later speech told Iranians to ‘save the name of the killers and the abusers … because they’ll pay a very big price’.
Asked what he meant by ‘help is on its way’, Trump told reporters they would have to figure that out. Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.
‘The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,’ said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening about the Iran protests.
‘We’ll act accordingly,’ he said.