Large-scale protests across Iran have largely vanished not because the unrest has been resolved, but because heavily armed security forces have effectively confined residents to their homes, according to accounts shared with The New York Post.

After weeks of demonstrations against the regime that reportedly left thousands dead, an overwhelming security deployment has brought public dissent to a halt, with many Iranians now too frightened to leave their homes.

“There were tanks out — there’s tanks everywhere,” one source told The Post after speaking with relatives in Tehran about conditions on the ground.

“There’s trucks that are covered, with 10 people inside with machine guns just aiming them at everyone on the street.”

Another Tehran resident described a city paralyzed by fear, as police and security forces flood major roads, set up checkpoints, and stop vehicles at will.

The source said the relative quiet seen in Tehran on Thursday followed widespread killings of demonstrators, estimating that more than 2,600 people have died since the protests erupted, citing figures from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

“There are no protests anymore because of massive killings. With 12,000 dead, people are terrified,” the local said, referring to higher casualty estimates cited by activist groups.

The source urged President Trump to intervene immediately, despite Trump’s statement Wednesday that “the other side” had suggested Iran had stopped killing protesters.

“We are waiting for Trump’s action, he promised to support Iranian protesters if the regime killed them! It is the time to attack this brutal regime!” the local said.

Trump had previously warned that military action was possible if the Iranian government continued to massacre demonstrators.

Photographs from Tehran on Thursday showed residents cautiously moving through the city, attempting to resume daily routines amid burned-out vehicles and other wreckage left behind by the unrest.

Some people were seen traveling to hospitals and morgues in an effort to retrieve the bodies of relatives killed during the protests. One source told The Post that authorities had threatened to dispose of unclaimed bodies in a mass grave if families failed to collect them quickly.

Iranian security forces have been accused of carrying out one of the most severe crackdowns on dissent in the history of the Islamic Republic, with nearly 17,000 arrests reported by HRANA.

Video footage circulating online has shown mass shootings of civilians, as well as a violent assault on the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, where armed forces reportedly injured patients and medical staff.

According to witnesses cited by DW, security personnel opened fire inside the hospital and deployed tear gas while searching for individuals wounded during earlier protests, with approximately 11 patients taken away by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“We knew the security agents were coming to arrest the wounded or record their identities,” a nurse, who did not reveal her real name, told the outlet.

“People gathered at the entrance to stop them,” she added. “At the same time, we were desperately short of blood, so calls for donors went out on social media.

“But the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and special units prevented donors from reaching us.”

Human rights organizations reported that the siege of the hospital lasted more than a day, leaving patients, doctors, nurses, and even children injured in the violence.

“Security forces allegedly raided the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, deploying tear gas and beating patients and medical personnel,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in its latest Fact-Finding Mission report.

The true scale of the crackdown remains unclear, as a nationwide communications blackout has prevented independent verification of events across Iran.

The violence and suppression of protesters were addressed during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.

Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad warned UN members that the Islamic Republic must not be treated as a normal state, comparing its actions to those of the Islamic State terrorist organization.

She argued that Iran’s leadership must be “treated like” ISIS to prevent further bloodshed.

“Millions of innocent, unarmed Iranians have been silenced through bullets, mass arrests, imprisonment and a total communications blackout — no internet, no mobile phones and no landlines,” she said in an emotional speech. “Iran is in total darkness.”

Alinejad, who lives in exile and is known for urging Iranian women to defy mandatory hijab laws, was the target of a regime-directed assassination attempt at her Brooklyn home in July 2022.

That plot failed due to multiple mistakes by the Russian gang members involved, who were later sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in October.

{Matzav.com}