• Trump tells reporters 32,000 killed during last month’s nationwide protests; UN expert puts toll at 20,000
• Pezeshkian says Tehran will not bow to pressure as threat of war looms large

TEHRAN: The Iranian government has demanded evidence after the US President Donald Trump told reporters that 32,000 people were killed during last month’s nationwide protests in the Islamic Republic, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the government released a list of 3,117 people, including about 200 security personnel, whom he described as “victims of recent terrorist operation”.

“If anyone disputes accuracy of our data, please share any evidence,” the diplomat, who has previously stated that 690 people on the list were “terrorists” armed and funded by the US and Israel, wrote on X.

His comments came as the threat of war looms increasingly large over the country and potentially the region, with Serbia on Saturday becoming the latest country to call on all its citizens to immediately leave Iran.

‘20,000 civilians’

Mai Sato, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, has said more than 20,000 civilians may have been killed, but information remains limited amid heavy internet filtering by the state, six weeks after a nationwide communications blackout was imposed.

The US-based HRANA says it has documented more than 7,000 people killed during the nationwide protests, and is investigating nearly 12,000 more cases.

Sato was among 30 special rapporteurs and international human rights experts who signed a joint statement on Friday calling on Iranian authorities to fully disclose the fate and whereabouts of tens of thousands arrested, forcibly disappeared or missing in the aftermath of the nationwide protests, and to halt all related death sentences and executions.

‘Iran will not bow to pressure’

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States, Reuters reported.

“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads … but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.

On the other hand, the Iranian foreign minister has also been speaking with multiple US media outlets to advocate for a “fair” agreement with Washington over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The comments come after President Trump said he was considering a limited strike on Iran after ordering a major naval build-up in the Middle East aimed at pressuring Tehran to reach a deal to curb its nuclear programme.

The latest warning came after Iran’s foreign minister said a draft proposal for an agreement with Washington would be ready within days, following negotiations between the two sides in Geneva earlier this week.

Trump had suggested on Thursday that “bad things” would happen if Tehran did not strike a deal within 10 days, a deadline he later extended to 15 days.

Asked by a reporter on Friday whether he was contemplating a limited military strike, Trump replied: “The most I can say — I am considering it.”

As part of the military build-up, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was seen entering the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, transiting the Strait of Gibraltar, after being ordered to the region by Trump.

Washington had already deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln and escort warships to the Gulf in January.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2026