After mass protests in Iran broke out in December and continued to intensify into the new year, the government shut down internet access across the country. But after weeks of effort, a man in Iran managed to overcome the blackout and speak with CBS News on a video call, describing what looked like a massacre of anti-government protesters in early January.
January 8 and 9 are considered the bloodiest and most brutal days of the government’s crackdown on protesters since its inception in 1979.
The man asked not to be identified and had his head wrapped in a black cloth and his eyes covered with goggles because he feared the government would find him and put him in prison or execute him. He described a crackdown on January 9 in the city of Yazd, about 600 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran.
He was part of a crowd of about 1,500 people marching toward Imam Hossein Square when, he said, government forces began shooting at them from the front and back, as part of what he believes was a plan to mow them down from both sides.
Two sources, including one in Iran, previously told CBS News that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people were killed across Iran during the protests.
“More than a thousand dead that night… because I hear a lot of gunshots,” he said.
He said the only reason he survived was because he was in the middle of the crowd and was able to escape down a side street.
Now the streets of the country are calm. The man told CBS News that people are sad and angry and that he lost many of his “brothers and sisters” – friends, comrades in arms – during the protests aimed at overthrowing the regime.
When asked what he hoped the protests would achieve, the man replied: “All the people came out that night and said ‘Pahlavi,'” referring to Crown Prince Reza Pahlavithe exiled son of the last shah of Iran, now living in the Washington, DC area.
“I just want Pahlavi, okay?” he said.
In an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell earlier this month, Pahlavi described himself as the voice of Iranians to the outside world and said people chanting his name during protests showed he could play a role as a leader in the transition, although it’s unclear how much support he actually has inside the country.
“Why am I offering my services to Iran? I am responding to their call,” he said. “I am a bridge and not the destination at this point.”
Pahlavi’s father became shah in 1941 and consolidated his power in a 1953 coup, backed by the United States and the United Kingdom, that overthrew Iran’s prime minister. He ruled until 1979, when he was deposed by the Islamic Revolution.
Some now hope that the United States will intervene again.
“On behalf of all Iranians, I ask President Trump to help us achieve freedom, because our freedom is the freedom of the whole world from terrorists,” the man said.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly warned Iranian leaders against killing peaceful protesters and mass execution of people arrested during the unrest. He also threatened possible military action.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group recently arrived in the U.S. Army Central Command area of operations, which covers much of the Middle East region, including Iran. The arrival of the warships comes after the commander of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that his forces had their “finger on the trigger” following threats from Mr. Trump.
The video call with the Iranian, who suffered numerous problems due to the power outage, was cut short shortly after his appeal for U.S. support, but in follow-up texts he told CBS News that he wanted the United States to provide air support “to send the entire leadership of this regime to their own ideological paradise in a lightning strike.”
