Iranian mobile operator ousts chief amid dispute over blackout policy

For Alex, an Iranian living in Texas, the violence is no longer something he is witnessing from afar.

His cousin Mehdi was killed on Friday, January 9, in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah after joining nationwide protests following exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call for Iranians to rise up.

Iran International is withholding Alex’s last name to protect family members inside Iran.

“The Basij shot him in the head and the stomach," Alex said, recounting what his aunt told him. "They (Basij) hunted him like a dog."

Authorities later cut internet access across much of the country, severing communication and leaving families unable to confirm who was alive or dead.

Alex only learned what had happened days later, on Wednesday afternoon, when landlines briefly reopened during the blackout. The connection was poor and repeatedly cut out, but he could hear his aunt howling in tears and screaming.

"I only got like three minutes out of the call but what I got out of it was my aunt screaming and she said he's been killed."

Mehdi was 32 years old. Alex said his aunt later identified the body at a forensic center after days of searching. He says his aunt recognized her son by his hair.

"His face was completely unrecognizable," said Alex.

He said authorities are now demanding payment from the family to release Mehdi’s body.

From Texas, Alex said he feels hollow and barely able to function, but believes speaking publicly is the only way to honor his cousin and push back against the silence imposed by the blackout.

"He wanted a free Iran and King Reza Pahlavi."

'Fear and helplessness'

In Canada, Iranian-Canadian Ghazal Shokri described a similar sense of fear and helplessness as she waits for fragile contact with her family inside Iran. She said she has heard her mother’s voice only for seconds and her sister’s for minutes since the violence escalated.

Shokri said the scale of the killings is unlike anything Iranians have experienced before, warning that nearly every family now knows someone who has been killed.

She said she is increasingly worried not only about the physical destruction of the country but about the long-term psychological toll on Iranian society, including widespread trauma, depression and lasting social damage.

“There is every family now in Iran knows a few people got killed," Ghazal said.

"Honestly, it's not easy to talk about it. I mean, as a human being, we haven't been designed for this," she said.

Another Iranian in exile, Sobhan Nofar, said the nationwide communications blackout has intensified fear among Iranians living abroad.

“That silence is terrifying,” he said.

He said the loss of contact with people inside Iran has left many Iranians outside the country sleepless and consumed by anxiety for their families, with every fragment of information feeling like evidence of a growing bloodbath.

Hediyeh, a journalist based in Washington, DC, says she is worried not only about the health of her parents and her husband's family, but also about their financial situation, as they largely relied on allowances the couple sent through friends and relatives.

With the internet shut down, it is no longer possible to send money to the family, leaving Hediyeh concerned about how the elderly parents will make ends meet under Iran’s severe economic conditions.

Iran International has reported that at least 12,000 people were killed in just two days as security forces unleashed what analysts describe as the deadliest wave of state violence in the Islamic Republic’s history. Other estimates suggest the toll may be even higher as the blackout continues to limit verification.

Growing calls for US action

The testimonies come as calls by Iranians inside the country and across the diaspora for US military action have intensified, with demands for targeted strikes against the Islamic Republic’s security and repression apparatus.

For Iranians in exile like Alex, Shokri and Nofar, the debate is no longer abstract. It is shaped by the names and faces of people they knew and by the fear that more families will soon join them in mourning.

"Every piece of news, videos or photos coming from Iran feels like another sense of a blood bath," said Nofar "I'm really scared, deeply scared but I don't allow myself to completely fall apart because I truly believe Iranian people are bigger than this terrorist regime."

As Iran remains largely cut off from the outside world, they say speaking publicly is one of the few ways left to ensure the dead are not reduced to statistics.

The report said the executions were carried out between January 5 and January 14 in at least 42 prisons across multiple provinces.

Those executed had previously been sentenced to death on charges including murder and drug-related offences, which HRANA said were non-political and non-security related.

The executions were reported during a time of severe restrictions on access to information, with a total internet blackout limiting public scrutiny and independent monitoring of judicial proceedings and the implementation of death sentences.

“At least 37 prisoners were executed between January 5 and January 12. Additional executions were reported in the days that followed, including a wave of executions between January 13 and January 14 in several prisons across the country,” the report said.

The group said prison authorities and relevant institutions had not officially announced the executions at the time of reporting.

Human rights organizations raised concerns about the continued use of the death penalty in Iran, particularly during periods of heightened security and restricted information flows.

“The continuation of executions amid internet shutdowns has intensified concerns over a lack of judicial transparency, access to fair trials and the increased risk of violations of the right to life,” HRANA said.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday authorities in Iran stopped what he called planned executions of more than 800 protestors.

"The pampered offspring of Iran’s ruling elite are living the American Dream as the country’s brutal regime kills protesters by the thousands — and fed-up Iranians in California and across the US want them out," the outlet wrote.

The report said two online petitions are demanding the deportation of Eissa Hashemi, the son of former Iranian vice president Masoumeh Ebtekar, and Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of Ali Larijani, who currently serves as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

According to the Post, Hashemi lives in California and works as an academic, while Ardeshir-Larijani resides in Georgia and is a medical professor.

The petitions said that allowing relatives of Iranian leaders to live in the United States is unjust as Iranian authorities continue a deadly crackdown on protesters at home.

The development comes as the United States imposed new sanctions on Thursday against Ali Larijani, citing his role in overseeing the government’s response to nationwide protests.

The measures were part of a broader sanctions package targeting senior Iranian officials and entities accused of involvement in the violent crackdown on demonstrators.

Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests has drawn international attention, with the United Nations Security Council holding an emergency session on Thursday at the request of the United States to discuss developments in Iran and the reported use of lethal force against demonstrators.

In the meeting, the United States and several other countries condemned the violence and urged restraint, while Iranian representatives pushed back against foreign criticism.

The designation of Larijani cites his affiliation to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Elevated to leadership of Iran's Supreme National Security Council last year, he is a veteran security and political insider of the theocracy.

Larijani, the treasury said in a statement, was "one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people."

"LARIJANI, Ali (Arabic: علی لاریجانی) (a.k.a. LARIJANI, Ali Ardeshir), Tehran, Iran; DOB 03 Jun 1958; POB Najaf, Iraq; nationality Iran; Additional Sanctions Information - Subject to Secondary Sanctions; Gender Male; Passport D10010646 (Iran) expires 05 Sep 2027 (individual) [IRAN-EO13876] (Linked To: KHAMENEI, Ali Husseini)," the entry on the US Treasury Department's website read.

Other sanctions targeted top officers in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps including provincial commanders.

The Treasury also added 13 entities to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, including Fardis Prison and companies allegedly linked to US-sanctioned Iranian trade in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

“The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights.”

The United States is moving a carrier strike group toward the Persian Gulf as President Trump has mooted attacking the country for its killing of protestors.

At least 12,000 people have been killed in Iran in the largest killing in the country's contemporary history, much of it carried out on January 8-9 during an ongoing internet shutdown, senior government and security sources told Iran International.

"Elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have even attacked wounded protesters in one hospital in Ilam Province, firing tear gas and metal pellets into the hospital grounds and assaulting patients, family members, and medical workers," the treasury added.

"The officials sanctioned today—and their organizations—bear responsibility for the thousands of deaths and injuries of their fellow citizens as protests erupted in each of these provinces."

"KLM is currently avoiding Iranian airspace as a precaution—a route we already rarely ⁠use. Last night's closure of Iranian airspace therefore had no effect on our operations," a KLM spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Iran closed its airspace for nearly five hours on Wednesday before reopening it, but airlines continued to take alternative routes.

British Airways’ owner IAG said BA flights to Bahrain were canceled through January 16. Wizz Air said avoiding Iran and Iraq could force some westbound flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to make refueling and crew-change stops in Cyprus or Greece.

Germany issued new guidance on Wednesday cautioning its airlines against entering Iranian airspace, after Lufthansa adjusted Middle East operations.

Carriers diverted over Afghanistan and Central Asia or used longer routings to reduce operational risk, according to Reuters.

US President Donald Trump signaled on Tuesday that he was leaning toward a military strike on Iran when he said Iranian protesters should keep up the demonstrations and that “help is on its way.”

Trump said on Wednesday he had been informed that the killing in Iran has stopped and Tehran would not execute any of the protesters.

At least 12,000 people have been killed in Iran in the largest killing in the country's contemporary history, much of it carried out on January 8-9 during an ongoing internet shutdown, senior government and security sources told Iran International.