Iran International
Tehran's decision to form a committee to investigate violence during January protests has been met with widespread skepticism, including from some moderate voice inside Iran who say only an independent investigation can establish credibility.
The administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian announced on January 21 that it had created a committee to examine the causes and consequences of the unrest. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the body is collecting documents and testimony related to the violence.
Critics across Iran’s political spectrum have questioned whether a government-appointed panel can impartially investigate events in which state institutions themselves are accused of involvement.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has already mandated an independent fact-finding mission to investigate alleged serious rights violations linked to the protests.
Established after the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising and extended in January 2026, the mission has never been permitted to enter Iran. Tehran has refused to cooperate with the UN inquiry, dismissing it as politically motivated.
Even moderate commentators—who typically favor gradual change within the system—have questioned the credibility of the government’s initiative.
The reformist newspaper Tose’e Irani wrote that rebuilding public trust would require participation from figures independent of the state.
“For the report of the committee investigating the January events to be credible,” it said, it must include “independent lawyers, human rights activists and even prominent Iranian academics living abroad.”
Journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi similarly warned that any internal investigation would face deep public suspicion.
“What is the problem with inviting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a professional team to investigate?” he wrote, arguing that “only a credible international report can end the conflict of narratives.”
Lawyer and political activist Hassan Younesi urged the president to pursue a genuinely independent inquiry, while journalist Hossein Yazdi wrote that a committee would be trusted only if formed by individuals “not themselves accused.”
Public distrust reflects a broader history of disputed official investigations.
Many Iranians have cited previous cases—including the 1999 attack on Tehran University dormitories, the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed 176 people, and the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody—as examples where official explanations were widely contested.
Iran’s presidential office says 3,117 people died in the January unrest, including more than 2,400 civilians and security personnel whom authorities say were killed by “foreign enemy agents.”
That figure has been widely challenged. Human rights groups and independent media have reported far higher death tolls. Iran International has reviewed leaked internal government documents indicating the toll may be as high as 36,500.
Allegations from within Iran’s own political establishment have further fueled skepticism.
In a leaked audio recording, reformist politician Ali Shakouri-Rad said security institutions had “deliberately injected violence into the scene” to justify a sweeping crackdown, describing such conduct as “systematic” in Iran’s security policies.
Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made similar claims, saying forces within the state were responsible for protest deaths.
Pezeshkian initially dismissed Shakouri-Rad’s remarks as “unfair,” but later softened his position, saying he had ordered further investigation into the allegations and authorized additional review through relevant officials.
For many critics, the central question remains whether institutions accused of responsibility for violence can credibly investigate themselves, especially while Tehran rejects all international scrutiny, even refusing to recognise the UN investigators’ mandate.
German authorities said nearly 250,000 people attended the Munich rally, calling it the largest protest by Iranians in Europe to date. Organizers and local officials also reported large turnouts in Toronto and Los Angeles, each estimated at around 350,000, as well as 50,000 in London and 45,000 in Vancouver.
Speaking at the Munich event, Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed people inside Iran directly. “Know and see that you are not alone and that your voice has reached the world,” he said.
Messages sent to Iran International and widely shared on social media described what contributors called an unprecedented display of cohesion and discipline across continents.
Messages from inside Iran
One viewer wrote: “Salute to our honorable compatriots outside Iran. Seeing the beautiful images of unity, harmony, civility and order brought tears of joy to our eyes inside the country.”
Another message read: “We were tired and disappointed, but when we saw you in the gatherings abroad, we cried for all of us. Who can separate us from each other?”
A resident of Tehran wrote, “We bow our heads in respect to all our compatriots around the world. We saw your gatherings everywhere and wept.”
From Shiraz, a viewer addressed the authorities, writing: “Every bullet you fired at our young people united our hearts more. We are now united, aware and full of faith.”
Others described the rallies as a turning point after weeks of pressure at home. “Yesterday, after 37 days, for the first time we were not sad or hopeless. Everyone was talking about you, and there was excitement in their eyes,” one message said.
Several framed the demonstrations as evidence of a shared national purpose transcending borders. “It was proven that the power of love for Iran and Iranians does not fit within political and geographical boundaries,” one viewer wrote.
“With seeing you, every moment was tears and emotion. We hope to celebrate our freedom soon on our own soil,” another message said.
Support extended beyond messages sent directly to Iran International. Similar posts circulated widely across social media platforms, echoing themes of unity, perseverance and anticipation of political change.
The scale of the February 14 rallies prompted criticism from state media, officials and pro-government online activists, who questioned attendance figures and accused organizers of exaggeration.
Responses ranged from attempts to downplay the gatherings to verbal attacks on participants abroad. Supporters inside Iran, however, portrayed the demonstrations as a morale boost amid continuing domestic restrictions.
“Your presence is a bridge of hope and solidarity that lights many hearts inside the country,” another Tehran resident wrote.
“The US president said in one of his recent remarks that for 47 years America has been unable to eliminate the Islamic Republic; he complained about it to his own people. For 47 years, America has not been able to eliminate the Islamic Republic. That is a good admission,” Khamenei said at a meeting with people from East Azarbaijan province on Tuesday.
“I say: You, too, will not be able to do this.”
His comments come days after Trump said regime change “would be the best thing that could happen.”
Khamenei also addressed remarks by the US president that the American military is the strongest in the world.
“The strongest army in the world may at times receive such a slap that it cannot rise,” he said.
“They keep saying we have sent an aircraft carrier toward Iran. Very well, an aircraft carrier is a dangerous device, but more dangerous than the carrier is the weapon that can send it to the bottom of the sea.”
His statements come amid heightened rhetoric between Tehran and Washington over military deployments and regional security and at the time a new round of negotiations mediated by Oman is underway in Geneva.
Talks with US
US threats and demands, Khamenei added, reflected an attempt to dominate Iran. “These statements by the US president, sometimes threatening, sometimes saying this must be done or that must not be done, mean they seek domination over the Iranian nation,” he said.
“Iran will not pledge allegiance to corrupt leaders currently in power in the United States.”
“They say let us negotiate about your nuclear energy, and the result of the negotiation should be that you do not have this energy,” he continued. “If a negotiation is to take place, and there is no place for negotiation, determining its result in advance is wrong and foolish.”
US presidents and some senators, he went on, were making an “absurd” demand by setting conditions before any dialogue.
January protest remarks
In the same speech, Khamenei said those killed during the January protests are mourned as martyrs.
“Blood was shed. We are grieving. I say we are in mourning for the blood that was shed,” he said, adding that not all of the dead fell into the same category.
Security forces responded to the latest nationwide protests with lethal force, mass arrests, and communication blackouts. At least 36,500 people killed in the recent wave of unrest, while authorities acknowledge a far lower figure of about 3,117.
Security forces, according to the Amnesty International, moved quickly after the killings to impose sweeping controls aimed at silencing survivors, intimidating families of victims and preventing documentation of what it described as unlawful mass killings carried out to crush what it called a popular uprising.
The measures included arbitrary mass arrests, enforced disappearances, bans on gatherings, night-time curfews, and a near-total internet blackout, alongside the deployment of heavily armed patrols across cities and inter-city roads, Amnesty International said.
Khamenei argued some were “corrupt elements and instigators,” while others were not involved in organizing the protests. He divided the dead into three groups, beginning with what he described as "defenders of security" – police, Basij and Guards members and those alongside them – calling them “among the greatest martyrs.”
He described a second group as bystanders. When turmoil breaks out in a city, he said, “innocent people walking toward their workplace or their homes are also killed,” adding that they too should be considered martyrs because their deaths occurred within “the enemy’s sedition.”
A third group, he said, consisted of those who had been misled. “They were deceived, inexperienced… they are also ours; they are our children,” he said, adding that some later wrote to him expressing regret. Officials, he said, were right to count those killed from this group as martyrs.
“Therefore, the circle of our fallen whom we count as martyrs is a wide one,” he added, excluding only what he called “the ringleaders and those who took money and weapons from the enemy.”
Khamenei concluded by offering prayers for mercy and forgiveness for those he described as misled participants, framing the uprising as an enemy-driven plot rather than a domestic protest movement.
