A growing number of Iranian officials have released confidential information on the Islamic Republic regime’s brutalization of protesters, indicating growing dissent, the nonpartisan American think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, published on Sunday.
Conflicting with statements made by regime representatives, two Iranian officials briefed on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told The New York Times that regime forces had been instructed to quell the protests and that regime security forces had been ordered to use live fire to kill and “show no mercy.”
Two senior Iranian officials separately told TIME on Sunday that 30,000 people may have been killed between January 8 and January 9, conflicting with the regime’s official claims at the UN Human Rights Council meeting on Friday that the number stood at 3,117 deaths.
The leaked information threatens the regime’s narrative of violent foreign-backed terrorist organizations killing civilians and protesters and causing unrest, the institute noted.
Describing the regime’s rhetoric as an “ongoing information operation,” the institute warned that the Islamic Republic is promoting a narrative that is designed to conceal its use of lethal force.
Dissent grows as Iranian officials expose protest crackdown
Human rights groups, some of which spoke with The Jerusalem Post last week, say that Iran has been forcing families to identify their murdered loved ones as members of the paramilitary-sanctioned Basij Force, which operates under the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Beyond information leaks, the US State Department condemned reports that a soldier was set to be executed for refusing orders to fire on protesters. Javid Khales’s “refusal was not only justified, but it was the only moral choice,” the department said.
Additionally, despite ongoing internal debates, Iran has not restored international Internet access. Regime factions opposed to the restoration have said that this could trigger more protests. Alternatively, those in favor of restoring Internet access fear that if it is not, the economic toll of the shutdown could spark further unrest.
IRGC-affiliated media had promised that Internet access would be restored to all provinces by Saturday. However, NetBlocks confirmed on Sunday that connectivity in Iran had only experienced brief spikes.
Adding to the reports of growing dissent, the Iranian Information and Communications Technology Ministry denied the IRGC-linked media’s claim on Sunday.
Divisions over the restoration have become increasingly apparent, as multiple IRGC-affiliated media outlets have taken different stances on the Internet shutdown.
One of them, Tasnim News Agency, criticized plans to restore access on Sunday, claiming it would threaten the same environment needed for economic activity to resume.
However, the Institute for the Study of War noted, an IRGC-affiliated Telegram channel claimed on Wednesday that the shutdown undermines national security interests. The channel argued that the shutdown risked fueling public resentment and worsening the country’s economic situation.
The think tank’s assessment follows a report from the Iranian dissident media site Iran International last week, saying that a senior Iranian diplomat to the UN had abandoned his post and is now seeking asylum with his family in Switzerland.
Diplomatic sources told Iran International that Alireza Jeyrani Hokmabad, a senior official at Iran’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva, decided not to return to Iran out of fear of potential repercussions linked to the current precarious climate.
Further, the sources reportedly claimed that Hokmabad was only one of several Iranian officials probing the possibility of leaving the regime, seeking asylum in the West.