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Iran’s armed forces chief Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi rejected suggestions that Iran could be weakened by a naval blockade, saying the country was geographically and strategically “impossible to encircle.”
He said during a late-night visit to a military unit on Sunday that Iran is fully prepared to retaliate against Israel and warned that any miscalculation could trigger a broader regional conflict.
Mousavi said Iran had revised its military doctrine after the 12-day war shifting from a defensive posture to an offensive one based on rapid and sustained operations.
He added that Iran’s response to any attack would be “swift and decisive” and not shaped by US calculations.
Mousavi also warned that in the event of escalation, “no American will be safe,” saying the fire of a regional conflict would engulf the United States and its allies. He said Iran was focused solely on victory and was fully prepared “to confront and deliver a retaliatory blow.”
Iranian expatriates around the world held massive rallies and demonstrations over the weekend to support protesters in Iran and call on the international community to take firm action against the Islamic Republic following the recent brutal crackdown.
On Sunday, 100,000 people attended one of the biggest rallies worldwide in the city of Toronto, Canada, according to the local police.
Huge crowds of people also took to the streets of London, Washington DC, Vienna, Paris, Brussels, Cologne in Germany, Sofia in Bulgaria, Adelaide in Australia, and Nicosia in Cyprus.
Earlier Saturday, similar demonstrations took place in London, Berlin, Paris, Hamburg, Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Manchester, Newcastle, and several other cities.
Protesters carried Lion and Sun flags and displayed images of those killed during the national uprising. They chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and urged governments worldwide to provide practical support to the people of Iran.
Detainees in Iran are being forcibly injected with unknown substances inside detention facilities, according to eyewitness testimonies, informed sources and human rights monitors who warn of a growing pattern of deaths among current and former prisoners.
Shiva Mahbobi, a former political prisoner and a spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, said her organization has been collecting accounts suggesting that detainees—particularly those wounded during recent protests—are being denied medical care and, in some cases, subjected to injections of unknown substances.
“One massacre happened on the street,” Mahbobi said in an interview with Iran International. “Another may be happening quietly in prisons and detention centers.”
In one recent case described by an informed source, a 16-year-old girl detained last week fell into a coma after what the source said was an injection administered in custody.
Medical tests later indicated signs of poisoning, though doctors have not determined the cause.
The teenager, who was released only after her family paid heavy bail, was transferred to intensive care and remains hospitalized, the source told Iran International.
Detainees in Iran are being forcibly injected with unknown substances inside detention facilities, according to eyewitness testimonies, informed sources and human rights monitors who warn of a growing pattern of deaths among current and former prisoners.
Shiva Mahbobi, a former political prisoner and a spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, said her organization has been collecting accounts suggesting that detainees—particularly those wounded during recent protests—are being denied medical care and, in some cases, subjected to injections of unknown substances.
“One massacre happened on the street,” Mahbobi said in an interview with Iran International. “Another may be happening quietly in prisons and detention centers.”
Iranian authorities tightly restrict access to detention facilities, families are often warned against speaking publicly, and there is no mechanism for independent medical or forensic investigation.
Still, Mahbobi and other activists say the reports they are receiving show a troubling pattern rather than isolated incidents.
According to Mahbobi, injured protesters are frequently taken directly into custody rather than to hospitals, where some are left without treatment.
In several cases reported to her organization, detainees were allegedly injected during detention and later experienced rapid medical deterioration.
'Teenage girl in a coma'
In one recent case described by an informed source, a 16-year-old girl detained last week fell into a coma after what the source said was an injection administered in custody.
Medical tests later indicated signs of poisoning, though doctors have not determined the cause.
The teenager, who was released only after her family paid heavy bail, was transferred to intensive care and remains hospitalized, the source said.
Mahbobi also cited a case in Isfahan in which a young woman was detained, released on bail, and died the following day.
In another reported incident, in Shahinshahr, near Isfahan, Mahbobi said the family of a detained man was told he would be released only after posting bail and receiving what officials described as a “vaccine.”
According to Mahbobi, the man resisted the injection, was beaten, and later found it difficult to obtain medical care after his release, as doctors feared repercussions.
'Voices calling for help in morgue'
Eyewitness accounts received by Iran International describe similarly disturbing scenes beyond detention centers.
One witness said voices calling for help could be heard inside a morgue as bodies were being processed, alleging that they were resisting injections.
Mahbobi said documenting abuses inside prisons remains particularly difficult.
“What people don’t see on television is the most frightening part,” she said. “There is no footage from inside prisons.”
The allegations echo reports from the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, when several detainees died shortly after their release following unexplained medical treatment in custody.
In some cases, families and rights groups raised concerns about injections or drug administration, but no independent investigations were carried out.
At the time, medical experts warned that the forced use of sedatives or psychiatric drugs in detention—and their abrupt withdrawal—could cause severe complications, including cardiac failure.
'Lethal injections in jails'
The exact substances allegedly being used in current cases remain unknown.“We don’t know what they are injecting,” Mahbobi said.
“What we know is that people are being injected in custody, and some of them are dying.”
Mahbobi also said her organization has received reports of injured protesters taken away by ambulance who later returned to their families as bodies, as well as accounts from Kermanshah of residents being summoned to identify corpses which locals believed belonged to detainees.
She warned that executions may increasingly be carried out away from public view. “The executions won’t look like before,” she said. "They will be hidden.”
Iranian officials have not commented on the allegations.
Mahbobi called on the international community to pressure Iranian authorities to disclose the identities and locations of detainees and allow independent monitoring of detention facilities.
“Our fear,” she said, “is that if this continues in silence, many people will never come out alive.”
A mocking segment aired on Iran’s state television about the bodies of protesters killed in January has sparked public outrage and renewed calls, including from Islamic Republic loyalists, for the removal of the head of the national broadcaster.
The public anger erupted after a host on Ofogh TV, a channel operated by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB and affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, referred to reports that thousands killed during the January 8–9 crackdown were transported in refrigerated trailers.
Addressing viewers, he asked sarcastically: “What type of refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic keeps the bodies in?”
He then offered mock multiple-choice answers, including a “side-by-side fridge,” an “ice cream machine,” and a “supermarket freezer,” before adding a fourth option in a joking tone: “I’m an ice seller—don’t ruin my business.”
For many Iranians, the episode has become a stark illustration of a state media apparatus increasingly detached from the pain, grief, and anger of the society it claims to represent.
