A horrific new video has emerged showing an Iranian regime truck speeding into a crowd and running over protestors, allegedly killing one woman.
The footage, filmed at Yahyavi Square in the northwestern city of Ardabil, shows civilians frantically trying to escape the vehicle as it raced down the street.
Terrified screams could be heard in the background as a further three people were injured, according to independent TV network Iran International.
At least 50,834 people have been arrested in connection with the Iranian government’s crackdown on protests that broke out in late December, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The crackdown on the demonstrations has also killed at least 6,876 people, the group said, but other human rights organisations have tallied many more, and medical professionals have estimated that 30,000 could have been killed.
The footage of the car ramming was filmed earlier in the year on January 8 – when suppression intensified and ‘the authorities carried out massacres of protesters’, according to Amnesty International.
Iran is recovering from what rights groups have described as an unprecedented mass killing in the crackdown, under the cover of a weeks-long internet blackout.
In a sign of the febrile atmosphere, Tehran municipality issued a statement Wednesday saying loud sounds in the city centre were due to a religious holiday and not any other cause.
Meanwhile, a new billboard appeared in the capital showing American planes crashed into a hillside with civilians flying the flag of the Islamic republic above.
It comes as US and Iranian officials are due this week to hold their first talks since the regime launched its deadly clampdown on civilians, in a meeting likely to be crucial in determining if Washington carries out renewed military action against the Islamic republic.
A horrific new video has emerged showing an Iranian regime truck speeding into a crowd and running over protestors
A woman was allegedly killed during the incident on January 8
The footage, filmed at Yahyavi Square in the northwestern city of Ardabil, shows civilians frantically trying to escape the vehicle as it raced down the street
The talks will be held Friday in Muscat, the capital of Oman, Iranian media reported as tensions remained high with the White House.
Oman has hosted multiple rounds of earlier nuclear talks between Iran and the US in the past.
The US has not acknowledged the talks would take place in Oman, though the White House said it anticipated the negotiations would occur even after the US shot down an Iranian drone Tuesday and Iran attempted to stop a US-flagged ship.
On Tuesday, Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had instructed the country’s foreign minister to ‘pursue fair and equitable negotiations’ with the US in what was the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate.
The announcement came as a US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier early on Tuesday morning.
Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident.
The incidents strained but apparently did not totally derail hopes for talks between Iran and the White House.
Protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire in Tehran on January 9
Iranian demonstrators gather in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value, in Tehran on January 8
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said US special envoy Steve Witkoff has been planning to hold talks with Iranian officials in Turkey later this week.
President Donald Trump ‘is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango,’ Leavitt said.
‘You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy and that’s something that special envoy Witkoff is intent on exploring and discussing.’
The shift toward negotiations marked a major turn for Iran, and it also signals that the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state.
The 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed any negotiations.
Trump has not ruled out new military action against Iran should the talks fail, to follow the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s June war against the Islamic republic.
‘Right now we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we can work something out that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen,’ Trump said Tuesday.
The US has sent a battlegroup led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region while Iran has threatened retaliation against US bases and vessels if it is attacked.
But it remains unclear what form any American military intervention would take, ranging from targeted strikes against military infrastructure to a bid to uproot the clerical system under Khamenei that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Motorists drive past a large banner marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, February 3
Carrying pictures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, people attend a state-organised rally in Tehran, February 4
Trump’s initial calls on Tehran last month were focused on telling the leadership to ‘stop killing’ protesters and warning the authorities not to execute any protesters.
But his focus has shifted to agreeing a new deal on the Iranian nuclear programme which the US and its allies believe is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Washington also wants to curtail Iran’s support for proxy forces in the region and cut its vast arsenal of ballistic missiles.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that any talks should focus solely on the nuclear issue and not its missile program or defence capabilities.
