US House speaker Johnson says he hopes Iran crisis won’t lead to war

Iran’s judiciary spokesman rejected as “completely false” a report by Iran International that put the death toll from the recent crackdown at 12,000, and denied claims that families are being charged to receive bodies.

Asghar Jahanagir dismissed the 12,000 figure as a fabrication promoted by what he called anti-Islamic Republic media.

He argued that whatever the number of deaths, responsibility lay with those he accused of inciting unrest.

He also denied reports that money is taken from families to hand over bodies, saying forensic services are provided free of charge.

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  Iran crackdown left 16,500 dead, 330,000 injured - Sunday Times

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  At least 12,000 killed in Iran crackdown during internet blackout

The United States is responsible for escalating tensions with Tehran, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said.

Esmail Baghaei further rejected claims that Iran has threatened the United States or interfered in its affairs.

“It is not Iran that has advanced from the Persian Gulf towards America’s borders or interfered in US internal affairs,” Baghaei said. “It is the United States that interferes in Iran’s affairs and in the region,” Baghaei said.

Plainclothes agents have insulted and verbally abused families collecting the bodies of protesters killed in recent unrest in Tehran and Karaj, according to information shared with Iran International.

An eyewitness said that at Kahrizak, when families arrived to identify bodies, plainclothes agents derided the dead and told relatives to “go find the bodies of Mossad mercenaries,” according to the account.

Another resident in Karaj said that at Behesht-e Sakineh cemetery, agents swore at grieving families and urged them to bury the bodies quickly, the report said.

Similar accounts of abusive treatment at Kahrizak have also circulated on social media in recent days.

Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Sunday that acts linked to the recent protests were “crimes” and warned of very severe punishments for cases deemed moharebeh (“enmity against God”), an offense that can carry the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code.

Jahangir said security and intelligence bodies were completing detainees’ files to identify what he called domestic ringleaders and their alleged foreign links, adding that authorities would later publish a final tally of arrests after investigations were completed.

He also said the judiciary and the state-linked lawyers’ center were documenting what authorities describe as crimes and assessing financial damages, and warned that those he said encouraged protests or cooperated with “enemies” would face prosecution.

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the judiciary’s lawyers’ center said Iran planned legal complaints in domestic and foreign forums against US President Donald Trump and exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi.