BBC News Persian Forensic has been able to confirm the security forces' deployment of a wide array of lethal and non-lethal weaponry.
Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesHomeNewsUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessWorld of BusinessTechnology of BusinessNYSE Opening BellTechnologyWatch DocumentariesArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindHealthWatch DocumentariesCultureWatch DocumentariesFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsWatch DocumentariesArts in MotionTravelWatch DocumentariesDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthWatch DocumentariesScienceNatural WondersClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcast CategoriesRadioAudio FAQsVideoWatch DocumentariesBBC MaestroDiscover the WorldLiveLive NewsLive SportDocumentariesHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveMachine guns to machetes: Weapons that massacred thousands in Iran26 minutes agoShareSaveFarzad SeifikaranBBC News PersianShareSaveMamlekateVerified images showing weaponry used by security forces against protesters Warning: The following story contains graphic details of violence which some readers might find upsetting.
A BBC Persian analysis of hundreds of videos and photographs taken during recent protests in Iran confirms the security forces' use of a wide range of weaponry, including machine guns, snipier rifles and shotguns.
Protesters were reportedly killed in many of the more than 200 cities where protests had been recorded. While the exact death toll remains unclear, the level of brutality and the deployment of lethal weaponry evidenced in pictures, witness accounts and reports by human rights groups and the media show thousands have been killed across the country.
The crackdown on protests - which began over the economy but rapidly escalated - employed a level of violence unprecedented in modern Iranian history.
"This is the largest mass killing in contemporary Iranian history and one of the largest in the world," Payam Akhavan, an Iranian Canadian former UN prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, told BBC News Persian.
The Iranian government has blamed the killings on "rioters and terrorists".
But BBC News Persian analysis shows security forces used a number of different weapons on protesters, including:
Footage from cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Yazdanshahr, and Shahsavar, verified by BBC News Persian, shows both heavy - such as the DShK - and medium - such as the PK - machine guns mounted on military pickup trucks.
The security forces reportedly used these for crowd control and to impose a state of siege.
The Vahid Online Telegram channel shared two photographs of a black pickup truck with a machine gun mounted in the back in Tehran's Sadeghiyeh Square on the night of 8 January.
BBC News Persian cross-referenced these with photos, published by Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, of a 2025 military parade, showing nearly identical Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pickups equipped with the same weapon. Weapons expert Amael Kotlarski, of Janes defence-intelligence company, has identified it as
0 Comments