What is HRANA, the US-based group behind Iran’s death toll figures?

What is HRANA, the US-based group behind Iran’s death toll figures? Amid recent mass protests and an internet blackout, there have been conflicting death toll reports from Iran. Protests in Iran, which began in late December 2025 over the country’s worsening economic conditions, have escalated into a broader challenge to its clerical leadership, which has been in power since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Tensions with the United States have mounted since US President Donald Trump suggested that Washington could militarily intervene in Iran if there was a crackdown on protesters. Critics of the Iranian government, primarily in the West, claim that thousands of people have died in the protests. In particular, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) put the death toll at 2,615 on Wednesday. However, the Iranian government said these numbers have been exaggerated, and Iranian state TV reports put the figure at about 300. On Wednesday night, Trump’s tone softened when he said he had received assurances from Iran that the killings of protesters in Iran had stopped and that executions of detained demonstrators would not go ahead. But his earlier threats to attack Iran prompted Tehran to warn of retaliation and, on Wednesday, Qatar ‌confirmed some personnel ‍had been removed from the Al Udeid air‌base, which hosts US armed forces, saying it was ‌in ⁠response ‌to “current ‍regional ‌tensions” . There have been some clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Iran, resulting in deaths. An ongoing internet blackout - which entered its eighth day on Thursday - has made it particularly difficult to track the actual number of deaths, according to watchdog NetBlocks. What do we know about the death toll in Iran? Iran has not released an official death toll, but authorities stated this week that more than 100 members of the security forces have been killed in clashes with protesters. Opposition activists said the toll is much higher and includes more than 1,000 protesters. HRANA said the number of people killed had climbed to at least 2,615 on Wednesday. Norway-based organisation Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported on Wednesday that at least 3,428 protesters had been killed in a crackdown on demonstrations. But the same day, Iranian state TV said mass funerals were taking place in Tehran that would include 300 bodies of security force members and civilians. In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Iranian ‍Foreign ‍Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Tehran had plans to execute protesters. During this interview, Araghchi downplayed the death toll that is being reported. “I certainly deny the numbers and figures they have said. It is an exaggeration, it is a misinformation campaign, only to find excuses, only to do another aggression against Iran,” Araghchi said, adding that the number was being exaggerated to involve Trump in the conflict. Al Jazeera cannot independently verify any of the figures that have been reported. Among all of these figures, HRANA’s numbers are the ones that are most cited by news organisations worldwide. What is HRANA? According to its...

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