Ben Rhodes

The protests, though, they quickly snowballed into these countrywide anti-government protests in all of Iran's 31 provinces.

And what makes these protests so powerful and such a threat to the regime is that they are broad based.

It is not just women and people in cities like 2022.

It is people in every part of the country, including like working class, traditionally conservative Iranians.

They are all just pissed off.

They're pissed off about the economy.

Now, I do think we should note.

It's really hard to know what's actually going on inside of Iran right now.

There has been an internet blackout since last Thursday.

Tons of people are pushing different narratives on social media.

There's definitely some bots out there moving stuff around, interested parties pushing a different narrative.

So I kind of just think that anyone outside the country doesn't have anything close to a complete picture.

But a number of human rights groups say there has been a massive crackdown

by Iranian security forces in recent days in a massacre of protesters.

On Tuesday, CBS News reported that one source told them that at least 12,000 people have been killed and possibly as many as 20,000 are dead.

That number is way higher than other estimates I've seen.

Other groups put it between 500 and 6000 sort of confirmed cases.

I mean, either way, it's horrible.

Tens of thousands of people are being arrested and we'll never know that number.

So also, you know, sources in Iran have told news outlets like The Times or the BBC that basically security forces are firing birdshot like pellet guns at protesters to blind them.