Iran Says Executions May Proceed, Warns Any Attack on Leader Signals ‘All-Out War’

The number of confirmed deaths since protests began late last month has now surpassed 3,900, with nearly 4,400 more still under investigation.

Iranian demonstrators gather in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency's value, in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 8, 2026. Stringer/West Asia News Agency via Reuters

The Iranian regime warned on Jan. 18 that “any aggression” against its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would amount to waging “all-out war” against Iran, and indicated it may proceed with executing hundreds of citizens detained during protests that have swept the country over the last three weeks.

Faced with a worsening economy and skyrocketing inflation, Iranian citizens have amassed in the largest wave of protests to hit the nation since its 1979 Islamic revolution, taking to the streets on Dec. 28, 2025, to call for an end to the Islamist regime’s theocratic clerical rule.