Iran detains Jewish community members over alleged protest role - Israeli media
Iranian authorities have detained several members of the country’s Jewish community on what sources cited by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster described as a pretext linked to recent protests.
The sources said those detained were not involved in the demonstrations. They did not give details on the number of people held or their identities.
Iran has carried out arrests across the country since protests erupted late last year and were met with a violent response by security forces.
An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Jews live in Iran, making it home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel.
The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq launched a drive for members to pledge their willingness to defend Tehran with suicide missions, the group announced on Tuesday.
The campaign came after the group's leader Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi urged Iran's supporters everywhere to ready for its defense against Israel and the United States.
"We say to our dear mujahideen brothers to prepare themselves on the ground for this," he said in a statement, "(and) Jihadist action that rises to the level of martyrdom operations in defense of the people of Islam."
Image circulated on the group's Telegram account showed al-Hamidawi and followers of the group wearing symbolic white burial shrouds signing a document vowing readiness for suicide missions.
"Names of the martyrdom-seeking brothers ready to defend the Islamic Republic of Iran," the documents on the militia's official letterhead said.
Kataib Hezbollah, designated by the US as a terrorist organization, is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces and has carried out attacks on US and allied targets in the region.
In a joint statement, Iran’s Martyrs Foundation and the Legal Medicine Organization said 3,117 people were killed during the nationwide protests in January.
The number itself, however, is strikingly familiar.
The same figure – 3,117 – has appeared in multiple, otherwise unrelated official datasets over recent years, including public health statistics, economic reports, and earlier protest-related announcements.
Variants of the number, particularly 1,039 and its multiples, have also been cited repeatedly in COVID-19 infection and hospitalization figures released by state bodies.
Analysts say that while identical numbers can recur by chance, the repeated use of a non-rounded figure across different sectors and time periods is statistically unlikely.
The pattern has prompted questions about whether such figures reflect genuine record-keeping, administrative shortcuts, or the use of standardized numbers in situations where full data are unavailable or politically sensitive.
Independent human rights organizations and international media have consistently challenged official casualty figures following protest crackdowns.
Their estimates – based on eyewitness testimony, hospital documentation, verified video evidence, and reports of serious injuries and enforced disappearances—point to significantly higher death tolls than those acknowledged by authorities.
According to documents reviewed by Iran International, more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history.
Official statements, by contrast, have offered little supporting detail. Names, locations, dates, and provincial breakdowns have not been released, limiting independent verification and intensifying criticism that casualty figures may be framed to downplay the scale of violence, particularly as international attention grows, including at the UN Human Rights Council.
The reappearance of 3,117 has reinforced long-standing skepticism over the reliability of official statistics in moments of crisis—when numbers carry political weight well beyond their face value.
