US must deploy funding to expand internet freedom in Iran, lawmaker says

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the violence against protesters and expressed hope that the Iranian people remove the current government to establish a democratic Iran where human rights are respected.

“We stand with the people of Iran in fighting against what is an oppressive regime, one that has oppressed its people, one that, I hope, is removed by the people,” Albanese said at a press conference on Tuesday in Canberra.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the current Iranian government “lacks any legitimacy” because it requires the murder of its own citizens to maintain power.

“What I would say to that regime is not only is the world calling on you to stop killing your people, but a regime that requires the murder of its own people to maintain authority is not a regime with any legitimacy,” she said.

“We continue to call on the regime, as has President Trump and world leaders, to cease this brutal oppression of its people,” she added.

The killings in Kuhdasht, Azna and Lordegan came before the government shut down internet access, cutting off communication with the outside world and plunging Iran into silence. The area home to Iran's marginalized Lur ethnic minority.

In those early hours, shock and horror spread through hushed calls and voice notes, as brief videos surfaced of blood-stained children of Iran — someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s loved one — all killed by security forces.

Sources who spoke to Iran International requested anonymity, fearing reprisals from authorities for speaking to the media.

Hessam Khodayarifard: a life snuffed out on New Year’s Eve

Hessam Khodayarifard was shot dead in the western Iranian city of Kuhdasht on the evening of New Year's eve. The 22-year-old was killed on Wednesday night, December 31, 2025, during a crackdown on protests, two family sources told Iran International.

Authorities initially refused to hand over his body and pressured the family to present him as a member of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij militia, relatives said. The claim was later publicly rejected by Hessam’s father, who spoke at his son’s funeral after the body was eventually returned.

But his burial brought no peace. Mourners gathered in large numbers, chanting anti-government slogans. Confrontations erupted as security personnel moved in, turning the funeral into another site of repression where grief and anger were met with force.

Shayan Asadollahi: the family’s only provider

On New Year’s Day, gunfire cut through the night in Azna in Iran’s western Lorestan province, where Shayan Asadollahi was shot dead. He was 28.

A relative told Iran International that Shayan was killed as he and a group of other protesters were returning home from a demonstration. Several military pickup trucks belonging to the Revolutionary Guard attacked the group, the source said, and security forces opened fire using military-grade weapons.

A live round struck Shayan in the abdomen according to photographs verified by Iran International. At least two other protesters were also killed during the same crackdown, the source added. Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars News later reported that three protesters had been killed in Azna.

Shayan was a barber, known in his community for working long hours to support his family. About a year earlier, his father and uncle had both died in an accident, the source said, leaving Shayan as the family’s sole breadwinner.

Reza Moradi: a child killed in the protests

Another victim from Azna was still a child.

Reza Moradi was 17 — the eldest child in his family which hails from the Abdolvand tribe, part of Iran’s Lur minority. He was shot on Thursday, January 1 during protests outside Azna’s central police station.

Security forces shot him twice, a source close to the family said: once in the head and once in the lower torso.

Video analyzed and verified by Iran International from that evening shows Reza unconscious on the ground, blood visible along the side of his head. Bystanders carried him to Valian Hospital in the nearby city of Aligudarz.

The hospital was placed under heavy security, the source said. Visits were banned. Only once — after repeated insistence — was Reza’s mother allowed to see her son briefly.

Reza died in hospital on the following Monday morning.

Authorities initially refused to hand over his body. When Reza was eventually returned and buried, a video at his grave site showed his younger brother clinging to the fresh earth in tears.

Reza had dropped out of school to help support his family, working as an apprentice in auto body repair and paint. His father is a laborer, and the family’s financial situation was dire, the source said.

Sajjad Valamanesh: grief and coercion

In neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, home to Bakhtiari Lur communities and about a three-hour drive southeast of Azna, authorities followed up another deadly shooting with further crackdowns.

In the city of Lordegan, Sajjad Valamanesh, a 20-year-old protester, was killed after being shot by security forces during demonstrations on Thursday, January 1, sources close to the family told Iran International.

The violence did not end with his death. Authorities repeatedly contacted Sajjad’s relatives in the days that followed, including calls from the Revolutionary Guard’s Intelligence Organization, a source close to the family said.

His father was pressured into giving an interview aired by state media in which he called for an official crackdown on "rioters," but the source said he did so only to secure the release of Sajjad’s body for burial.

Sajjad was not a member of the Basij and was a monarchy supporter, the source said.

He was buried on Friday with a large crowd attending his funeral.

Witness to the fate of the boy in a blue T-shirt

A 20-year-old witness who was present at the protests in Azna said he saw security forces shoot a teenager who looked “no more than 15 years old” on a road near the city’s main police station, where protesters had gathered on January 1.

“I saw them with my own eyes,” he said. “Security forces shot the boy, and he fell into a roadside drainage ditch.”

A group of protesters rushed to help him, he said. “But he was not moving anymore.”

The witness said the scene stayed with him.

“After seeing what I saw, I just could not take it anymore,” he said. “So I went back to the protests the next day as well.”

In messages sent shortly before the internet was shut down, the witness said he feared the world would never know what was happening in his hometown.

“Maybe it does not matter to the world,” he said, “because Azna is so small.”

“But the truth is that Lurs and Bakhtiaris have been deeply harmed by this wretched regime, even though this land is rich and full of resources,” he added.

“For us, it is already over,” he said. “I only wish that the lives of the next generation will be more beautiful.”

Before contact was cut, he made a final plea: “Please tell our stories,” he said. “Please tell the world what they did to my people.”

Four names, countless others remain unknown

These four names represent only a fraction of what unfolded in those days. They are among the few cases Iran International was able to document in detail.

Eyewitnesses and medics told Iran International the preliminary death tolls since protests began on Dec. 28 had ramped up in recent days to up to 2,000 people.

As an internet shutdown entered its fifth day, cutting off Iranians from the world and silencing independent reporting, the scale of the violence and suffering remained unknown.

President Trump received a briefing from senior officials on Monday on possible responses to Iran’s protests, including military strikes, cyber operations, and psychological measures to support protesters, CBS News reported, citing sources.

“The officials said cyber and psychological operations can occur simultaneously with traditional military force, in what military planners call integrated operations. They could also be deployed as stand-alone options,” CBS reported.

"The two American officials said that no final decision had been made and that diplomatic channels remain open," the report said.

The Islamic Republic is facing one of the greatest ever challenges to its nearly 50-year rule as nationwide protests which have swelled since starting on Dec. 28 have been met with deadly force.

Eyewitnesses and medics told Iran International the preliminary death tolls since protests began on Dec. 28 had ramped up in recent days to at least 2,000 people.

The two longtime adversaries were already in a diplomatic stalemate even before US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened attacking Iran should it kill demonstrators.

But both countries signaled openness to diplomacy on Monday.

“I think one thing President Trump is very good at is always keeping all of his options on the table,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.

“Airstrikes would be of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief," she added. "Diplomacy is always the first option for the president. He told all of you last night that what you’re hearing from the Iranian regime is quite differently from the messages the administration has received privately.”

“I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages. However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when deemed necessary,” Leavitt continued. “Nobody knows that better than Iran.”

US air strikes capped off a surprise Israeli military attack on Iran in June which Trump said had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites.

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has been in touch in recent days with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, CNN and Axios reported on Monday citing sources familiar with the matter, but it remained unclear what progress the contacts achieved.

But the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Sky News on Monday that bringing about regime change in Iran was not Washington's aim.

"I don't think it's something that the United States is actively engaged in trying to hasten anything," he was quoted as saying. "It's a matter of respect," he added, "and this is what President Trump has framed it (as); he wants there to be recognition that the government of Iran should not murder its own people."

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has long rejected US demands that it end domestic uranium enrichment and rein in its missile program and support for armed allies in the region, saying it amounts to an attack on Iran's sovereignty.

But foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday appeared to signal the possibility of a diplomatic off-ramp to the quarrel.

“The Islamic Republic is not seeking war, but it is fully prepared for war," he said. “The Islamic Republic is also ready for negotiations, but these talks must be fair, based on equal rights and founded on mutual respect.”

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Donald Trump "is no chump" and will not permit the ongoing slaughter of protesters in Iran to continue.

"He would just rather never have to deploy it. This president is not a chump. He is not going to watch people slaughtered. He will intervene when it's necessary and he will deal with those who do horrific things,” Mike Huckabee told Sky News on Monday.

"The people are protesting because they can't feed their families. They're protesting because there's not enough water. Inflation is so high that what was once enough to purchase a car can barely buy a loaf of bread,” he added.