A security body linked to Iran's Interior Ministry has put the death toll related to the recent unrest in Iran at 3,117 people, state media reported on Wednesday.
While Iranian officials had acknowledged "thousands of deaths" during the protests, they had fallen short of giving an exact toll.
At least 2,427 people, including innocent civilians and security personnel, were killed in a "full-scale atrocity orchestrated by the US and Israeli regime", according to a statement by Iran's Supreme National Security Council carried by state news channel Press TV.
The statement said 690 "other individuals" were killed during the protests, bringing the total death toll to 3,117.
According to the report, the "height of the violence" occurred on January 8 and 9. The council accused "terrorist elements" of committing "Daesh-style crimes," referring to ISIS, including "beheadings, stabbings, and burning individuals alive".
Activists and doctors say the death toll is probably much higher than official counts.
On Saturday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said thousands had been killed in the unrest, which he blamed on "terrorists and rioters" linked to the US and Israel.
"We consider the US President criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Mr Khamenei said in his speech.
Hrana, a US-based rights group that relies on activists inside and outside Iran, estimates that at least 4,900 people have been killed in the protests. An additional 9,387 deaths remain under investigation, Hrana said in its latest report on Wednesday.
An internet blackout imposed by authorities since January 8 has made it difficult to obtain and verify information from inside Iran, despite reports of intermittent connectivity this week.
The Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said on Wednesday that the timing of the internet’s return is undecided, contradicting earlier official statements about connectivity being gradually restored.
Demonstrations that spread across all 31 of Iran’s provinces appear to have been largely quelled, with Tehran saying it is “just getting started” on punishing the “foreign-backed rioters” arrested.
Iranian security forces arrested more than 470 "key figures behind the recent wave of violent unrest and terrorist activities" in the country, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday. Iranian authorities on Monday said they intend to "severely punish" those responsible for "terrorist incidents" in the country, while offering leniency to people who were “deceived” by foreign powers into protesting.
The widespread protests across Iran marked one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule in the country in more than a decade. The unrest evolved from complaints about the country's dire economic situation to calls for regime change.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he hoped there would not be further US military action in Iran, but said his country would act if Tehran resumed its nuclear programme.
"They can't do the nuclear," Mr Trump told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "If they do it, it's going to happen again," he said, referring to US air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities during its 12-day war with Israel last year.
The US president has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran. Mr Trump had reportedly been considering military action against Tehran, but held back after being told that protest killings were easing and that large-scale executions in Iran were halted. However, fears of military escalation linger as Iranian officials and Mr Trump continue to trade threats.
Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces, warned on Tuesday that any hostile action against the country's supreme leader would trigger devastating retaliation after Mr Trump told Politico, “it’s time to look for new leadership in Iran”.
“Trump knows that if a hand of aggression is extended towards our leader, we will not only sever that hand − and this is not a mere slogan – but we will set their world on fire and leave them no safe haven in the region," Gen Shekarchi was quoted by state media as saying.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also warned the US that Tehran will be “firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack”.
