An ophthalmologist in Tehran has documented more than 400 eye injuries from gunshots in a single hospital, as overwhelmed medical staff struggle to cope with the toll of a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests by Iranian authorities. Three doctors, in messages forwarded to the Guardian on Monday, described overwhelmed hospitals and emergency wings overflowing with protesters who had been shot. Medical staff said the gunshot wounds were mostly concentrated on protesters’ eyes and heads – a tactic that rights groups said authorities used against demonstrators in the country’s 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
Donald Trump told Iranians to keep protesting and said help was on the way on Tuesday, in the clearest sign yet that the president may be preparing for military action against Tehran. “Iranian Patriots, keep protesting – take over your institutions!!! … help is on its way,” he posted on Truth Social. Trump later told CBS News: “When they start killing thousands of people – and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them.”
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the protests – more than 90% of whom were demonstrators – and more than 16,700 people have been arrested, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said.
