Iranian hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed as anti-government demonstrations intensify, leading to numerous injuries, including gunshot wounds. According to a recent report, medical staff are struggling to cope with the influx of patients amid the ongoing unrest.

A doctor from Tehran’s Farabi Hospital, known for its eye care expertise, informed the BBC on Friday that the hospital has entered crisis mode. Emergency services are inundated, and non-urgent admissions have been postponed to manage the situation more effectively.

Similarly, a healthcare worker from a hospital in Shiraz described the challenging conditions to the network. Despite a shortage of surgeons, the hospital is receiving a significant number of injured individuals, many suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and eyes, as reported by the BBC.

By Saturday, the protests had resulted in at least 72 fatalities, with over 2,300 individuals detained, as reported by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

An image depicts a vehicle set ablaze during protests in Tehran, Iran, on January 8, 2026. (Khosh Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The protests began late last month with shopkeepers and bazaar merchants demonstrating against accelerating inflation and the collapse of the rial, which lost about half its value against the dollar last year. Inflation topped 40% in December. The unrest soon spread to universities and provincial cities, with young men clashing with security forces. 

At a news conference in Washington, D.C., Friday, President Donald Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure.  

“Iran’s in big trouble,” Trump said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

Trump warned that the United States would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to violence. 

“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.” 

Protesters gather as vehicles burn amid evolving anti-government unrest in Tehran, Iran, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video released Jan. 9, 2026.  (Social Media/via Reuters)

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown despite U.S. warnings, according to The Associated Press. 

Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement said. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.” 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support for the protesters.

Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Kermanshah, Iran, Jan. 8, 2026.  (Kamran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio wrote Saturday on X.