Manufacturing Consent: False claims being propagated, repeated about Iran protest casualty numbers to promote war

by AltMediaGuy

There is currently a full court press by Zionist activists and shady NGOs to inflate casualties from the Iran protests and manufacture consent for regime change.

Laura Loomer is spreading the claim that “over 40,000 people murdered” by the Iran government. Bill Ackman spreading the claim that 43,000 “men, women, and children” were killed by the Iranian regime. Mark Levin echos these claims, citing the “International Centre of Human Rights”, covered below.

An American NGO based in Fairfax, VA called “Human Rights Activists in Iran” is spreading the claim that up to 22,490 protestors were killed, with only 5,459 confirmed. But this NGO is backed by the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA-front—not a trustworthy source!

The “International Centre for Human Rights” is the source of the claim that 43,000 protestors have been killed, and 350,000 injured based on “conducted investigations, field research, verification of received images and videos, and interviews with multiple sources inside Iran” [https://humanrightsintl.com/2026/01/20/latest-human-rights-report-43000-killed-in-the-crackdown-on-protests-in-iran-for-immediate-release/]. But the “ICHR” is a Toronto-based NGO that focuses almost exclusively on Iran. Paging through their news stories, they seem to only report on Iran protests and supposed abuses of the regime. There is no transparency regarding their methods for coming to these numbers, and their data is not accessible. This behavior is inconsistent with an organization generally and professionally focused on human rights.

Time Magazine is spreading the claim that two anonymous senior officials in the Iran Ministry of Health told them that as many as 30,000 people have died. But the magazine admits it was not able to independently verify any of these figures [https://time.com/7357635/more-than-30000-killed-in-iran-say-senior-officials/].

LBC is spreading the claim that more than 30,000 peoples’ deaths have been confirmed, 350,000 people wounded and “some people estimate it to 80,000” killed. But the source for all of this is: “Iranian human rights activist Paul Smith” [https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/iran-execute-prisoners-hospital-tehrans-crackdown-5HjdRHb_2/]. It is unclear who Paul Smith is or how he obtained these numbers.

More established Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have refrained from reporting total death counts amid the uncertainty caused by the internet blackout.

Iran maintains that only 3,117 people were killed, “2,427 of whom were killed by terrorists armed and funded by the United States, Israel and their allies.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/24/iran-rejects-un-rights-resolution-condemning-protest-killings

[Author’s note: Anyone evaluating these claims should take note of the fact that it is unlikely that Loomer, Ackman, and Levin sympathize with Iranian civilians, given that Iranian civilians sympathize with Palestinians and any secular, liberal democracy constructed by the people would also be opposed to Israel. It is overwhelmingly more likely that they would prefer either the imposition of a harsh autocrat like Pahlavi, or to completely destroy the government of Iran, leading to anarchy and chaos as was observed in Libya. Indeed, a Channel 14 news anchor stated that Israel intended to begin bombing Iran in earnest only after the regime fell, in order to turn Iran into a “shooting gallery” [https://altmedia.house/post/180618]. Any tears about “protestors” coming from Loomer, Ackman, and Levin are nothing more than crocodile tears meant to disguise true malice, and no information coming from them about casualty numbers should be trusted.]

The US, Israel, and the West are involved in a large scale clandestine assault against Iran. Former CIA director Mike Pompeo claimed that there were Mossad agents “walking besides” the protestors. Iranian assets of these foreign forces were caught smuggling guns, ammunition, explosives, and Starlink devices into Iran. US-aligned Kurdish separatists admitted to activating and targeting Iranian security forces during the protests. The output of “Human Rights Activists in Iran” and “International Center for Human Rights” seems in alignment with the forceful clandestine targeting of Iran and not like objective human rights work.

The Wikipedia page for the “2025–2026 Iranian protests” now lists several of the unverified numbers including >30,000 deaths and 350,000 total casualties, citing the Time article, the ICHR, and the HRAI, among others. These numbers may mislead readers of the Wikipedia page, who treat it as an authoritative source.

It must be remembered that agents of the US and Israeli security state are doing everything they can to promote war. In the early 2000s, war in Iraq was promoted on outrageously false bases including fictitious “weapons of mass destruction” and the manufacture of anthrax, among other things. The situation is remarkably similar to today, and we must remain vigilant to prevent an atrocity similar to the Iraq war from occurring.