Death toll from protest crackdown in Iran at least 5,002

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The death toll from Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests reached at least 5,002 people killed Friday, activists said, warning many more still were feared dead as the most-comprehensive internet blackout in the country crossed the two-week mark.

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The challenge in getting information out of Iran persists due to authorities cutting off access to the world through the internet on Jan. 8, even as tensions rise between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East.

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The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the toll, saying 4,716 were demonstrators, 203 were government-affiliated, 43 were children and 40 were civilians not taking part in the protests. It added that over 26,800 people had been detained in a widening arrest campaign by authorities.

The agency has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being “terrorists.” Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

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The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, in part due to authorities cutting access to the internet and blocking international calls into the country. Iran also reportedly has limited journalists’ ability locally to report on the aftermath, instead repeatedly airing claims on state television that refer to demonstrators as “rioters” motivated by America and Israel, without offering evidence to support the allegation.

The new toll comes as tensions remain high over U.S. President Donald Trump laying down two red lines over the protests _ the killing of peaceful demonstrators and Tehran conducting mass executions. The U.S. military has moved more military assets toward the Mideast, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea.

A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the Lincoln strike group is currently in the Indian Ocean.

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Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One that the U.S. is moving the ships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action.

“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said.

Trump said he had threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier U.S. strikes against its nuclear sites “look like peanuts” if the government proceeded with planned executions of some protesters.

— Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

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