Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said damage to medical centers was unacceptable “under any circumstances” and announced that President Masoud Pezeshkian had ordered an investigation, dispatching a representative to Ilam to prepare a report. For many residents, however, the episode has come to symbolize a broader breakdown: a protest movement spreading from Iran’s margins, met not only with lethal force in the streets, but—according to witnesses—even inside places meant to offer refuge.
President Donald Trump says the United States is “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran kills protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilise the region. Protesters and security forces clashed in several Iranian cities on Thursday, with six reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in the capital Tehran went on strike Sunday over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement with political demands that has swept into other parts of the country.
