Footage Leaked From Iran Reveals ‘New Level Of Brutality’, 16,500 Killed And 330,000 Injured

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The Sunday Times reported that during the protests in Iran, which the regime is believed to have succeeded in suppressing, 16,500 people were killed. Doctors who treated the injured on the ground told the British newspaper that in addition to the massive death toll, 330,000 people were wounded.

Most of the victims in Iran are under the age of 30. The Sunday Times described several of the protesters who were killed: a 23-year-old fashion designer, three soccer players, a 21-year-old basketball player, a young aspiring film director, and a student who had hoped to pursue a PhD at the University of Bristol, whose first protest was also his last.

“This is a new level of brutality,” says Professor Amir Parasta, an Iranian-German ophthalmic surgeon now living in Munich, who treated wounded protesters during Iran’s hijab protests in 2022. “In 2022 they used rubber bullets to blind people. This time they are using live ammunition, and the wounded are arriving with gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries to the head, neck, and chest. I spoke with dozens of doctors on the ground and they are literally crying and in shock. They saw a war.”

مادرجنده‌ها انگار فیلم هالیوود، ببینید چجوری مردم میزنند، تک تکتون نابود میکنیم#IranMassacre

pic.twitter.com/Ac0ivLWwgx

— ImanOracle.eth (@ImanOracle) January 17, 2026

Warning: Graphic footage

🚨 FIRST VIDEOS BREAKING OUT OF IRAN 🚨
Despite blackouts, massacres, and martial law — the truth is getting out.

Video 1 | Isfahan
Using internet filter breakers, residents show the aftermath:
🚌 The bus carrying IRGC and proxy jihadist units is destroyed.
They fled… pic.twitter.com/kfMgBOiqD7

— Gazelle غزاله شارمهد (@GazelleSharmahd) January 17, 2026

The doctors who spoke with The Sunday Times communicated via Starlink, a satellite technology developed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, which allows internet access through private terminals. The technology bypasses traditional and outdated internet infrastructure. Since January 8, this has been the only way to access the internet in Iran. It is estimated that there are around 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran, but using them carries great risk, as they are illegal and the regime actively hunts down users.

Parasta passed on the testimonies and video footage from the doctors to The Sunday Times, as many Iranians who manage to access the internet are afraid to speak with foreigners. The report also noted that some of the testimonies came from Iranians who fled the country. “Tell everyone that on Friday they shot people in the head,” one of them said. “The Revolutionary Guards calmly aimed their guns at people’s heads.”

Another Iranian citizen testified: “Snipers fired from rooftops and aimed at the protesters’ heads. We were marching when suddenly several demonstrators collapsed next to us. When we tried to approach and retrieve the bodies, they fired at us as well.”

Disturbing footage from Iran circulated yesterday showing regime forces raiding hospitals, abducting wounded protesters from their beds, and executing them by gunfire, according to Iranian opposition sources.