Mike Baker

As of this week, at least one protester has been confirmed to have died from torture while in detention.

That's according to the Hengal Organization for Human Rights.

The victim was identified as a 40-year-old Kurdish man arrested on the 7th of January.

The organization said his body was, quote, "...barely recognizable due to the extent of injuries caused by repeated blows."

The network also warned that at least 20 children and teenagers remain detained in Kurdish provinces, alleging they too are being subjected to abuse by the regime's forces.

But as the detentions mount, the regime's posture has shifted visibly and deliberately more violent.

There are new reports that gunfire echoed across parts of Tehran as heavily armed units were deployed to secure government buildings, state media facilities, and major intersections.

Video footage reviewed by journalists shows convoys of pickup trucks mounted with Russian-made .50 caliber machine guns.

A senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran told Fox News that those heavily armed units include regime proxy fighters linked to Hezbollah and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, operating under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the infamous IRGC.

The official said at least 5,000 foreign proxy fighters have been called into Tehran to help silence protesters.

The Human Rights Activist News Agency reports more than 4,500 confirmed deaths, with another 9,000 deaths still under investigation.

But those figures are likely not the full story.

As I have previously discussed here on the PDB, with Iran under an Internet blackout, verification has become increasingly difficult.

U.S.

officials warn that death tolls initially placed in the low thousands likely understate the scale of the violence.

Citing assessments from international organizations,

That suggests the true number of protesters killed could potentially be around 18,000.

And yet the protests haven't stopped.

Anti-regime-linked sources say nighttime street clashes continue in parts of Tehran and other cities with battles between protesters and security units as the regime attempts to suppress unrest through violence.

Of course, all of this is unfolding as international pressure on Iran continues to build, not necessarily effectively, but it continues to build.