Security forces in Najafabad, a major city in Isfahan province in central Iran, implemented deliberate power outages on January 8 and 9 to facilitate a lethal crackdown on protesters.
According to accounts received by Iran International, the use of gunfire under the cover of darkness resulted in dozens of fatalities during these two nights.
These events were part of the January Massacre, a nationwide suppression of anti-establishment protests that led to thousands of deaths across Iran.
Amirhossein Zeinali, a 26-year-old conscripted soldier, was one of the first victims identified from the evening of January 8.
Zeinali had only recently begun his mandatory military service when he was shot by security forces in front of Police Station 12.
According to local witnesses, he was not participating in the demonstrations but was targeted by direct gunfire while he was attempting to help a woman who had been wounded by earlier shots.
Amirhossein Khodadadi, 27, was also killed during the darkness of the January 8 crackdown.
Khodadadi was a cafe staff who, along with his fiancée, had been working long hours to save money for their dream of opening an independent business.
Following his death, government authorities withheld his body for a full week, only releasing it to his family after significant pressure.
Omid Ghasemi Nafchi, 37, died after being struck by a military-grade bullet to the heart during the protests in Najafabad.
A father of two children, aged five and ten, his body was eventually transported to the city of Shahrekord for interment following the fatal shooting.
Mahmoud Maleki, a 38-year-old truck driver, was killed by a direct shot to his side.
His grave in Najafabad bears the inscription "Bahar's Dear Father" (Baba Jan-e Bahar). This refers to his young daughter, who, according to family sources, fulfilled her goal of reading aloud to him by reciting at his graveside after his death.
Vahid Shahrashoub was killed the following morning, January 9, in the vicinity of the Najafabad cemetery.
Shahrashoub, a local vendor, witnessed security forces using municipal waste management trucks to transport the remains of those killed during the previous night's operations, according to sources familiar with the matter.
After he vocally protested the use of these vehicles, security agents shot him in the head and placed his body into the same waste truck.
The operational approach in Najafabad – coordinating utility blackouts with armed intervention and using non-standard vehicles for transporting remains – mirrors reporting from other protest hubs during the January Massacre.
These methods were utilized by security forces to obscure the scale of the casualties and minimize the documentation of violence during the peak of the demonstrations.
A Panama-flagged oil tanker managed by Japan's Eneos passed through the Strait of Hormuz safely, the second Japan-linked vessel to do so since the war disrupted shipping through the waterway, ship-tracking data showed on Thursday.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she had directly contacted Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to allow the vessel's transit. The tanker has four Japanese crew members onboard.
Eneos Chief Executive Miyata Tomohide said the tanker was carrying crude from Kuwait and the UAE and was expected to arrive in Japan in late May or early June.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan did not pay Iran a toll for the transit. Takaichi said 39 Japan-related vessels remained stranded in the region.
Parham Mehrabi, 18, was killed by direct fire from security forces in Mashhad on January 8, 2026, while standing alongside his father, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
His death occurred during the January Massacre, a nationwide crackdown on anti-establishment protests that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people across Iran.
Witnessing the shooting from just a few meters away, Parham's father immediately retrieved his son’s body.
To prevent security forces from seizing the remains — a frequent occurrence during the crackdown — the father carried the teenager in his arms for hundreds of meters through the protest zone to reach his vehicle, eventually transporting him directly to the family home.
Security forces demand 'rioter' narrative for burial
The day after the killing, security officials refused to grant burial permits unless the family agreed to their terms.
According to sources familiar with the matter, officials coerced the father into signing a written commitment saying his son had been killed by "rioters" rather than state forces.
Authorities threatened to withhold the body indefinitely if the family did not comply with the official narrative.
Conscience over safety
Family and friends remember Parham as a kind and soft-spoken teenager who was deeply devoted to his parents.
His family said that on the night of the protest, his father had tried to convince him to stay home, promising to buy him a PlayStation 5 if he avoided the streets.
In an exchange that has since defined his legacy, Parham replied: "If I don't go, what am I supposed to do with my conscience?"
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz remained open to commercial vessels cooperating with Iran, while blaming the United States for disruptions in the waterway.
He told the state media on the sidelines of a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi that Tehran had not created obstacles for shipping and called Washington’s blockade on Iran illegal.
“As far as we are concerned the Strait of Hormuz is open for all commercial vessels, but they need to cooperate with our navy forces,” he said.
A vessel at anchor has been taken over by unauthorized personnel and is now heading toward Iranian territorial waters after an incident northeast of the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Thursday.
UKMTO said it received a report of an incident 38 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah in the UAE and that the vessel was subsequently taken and redirected toward Iranian territorial waters.
The agency did not identify the vessel or say who may have taken control.
