A doctor working inside Iran has delivered a stark warning about the scale of violence unfolding during the country’s anti-government protests, saying widespread killings, overwhelmed hospitals, and a nationwide internet blackout are concealing the true extent of the bloodshed. Speaking in a CNN video interview while remaining in the shadows for safety, the doctor described a medical system pushed to the brink as security forces respond to unrest with lethal force.

According to the doctor, hospitals across multiple cities are inundated with patients suffering from gunshot wounds, many of them civilians caught in street protests. Medical staff are struggling to cope with the volume of casualties, while bodies continue to arrive faster than facilities can properly process them. In some locations, makeshift morgues have been set up as existing capacity is exhausted.

The doctor said the internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities has played a critical role in hiding the scale of the killings from the outside world. With communications restricted, images and firsthand accounts are slow to emerge, leaving much of the violence unseen beyond Iran’s borders. “What the world is seeing is only a fraction,” the doctor warned, describing scenes of grief and chaos that rarely reach international audiences.

Human rights groups monitoring the unrest estimate that between 1,200 and as many as 20,000 people may have been killed since early January 2026, though precise figures remain impossible to verify under current conditions. Verified videos reviewed by advocacy organizations show security forces firing on crowds and rows of bodies laid out in improvised morgues, reinforcing claims of a severe and ongoing crackdown.

The protests, triggered by economic hardship and deep political repression, are widely described as the most serious challenge to Iran’s ruling system since the 1979 revolution. While authorities have attempted to suppress demonstrations through force and censorship, testimonies from doctors, refugees, and activists continue to surface, painting a grim picture of events on the ground.

The doctor’s message is clear: without transparency and outside pressure, he fears the killings will continue largely unseen, and the true human cost of Iran’s unrest will remain hidden behind hospital walls and digital silence.