On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, marking the 40th day since the mass killings carried out during the January 2026 crackdown, shopkeepers in Abdanan, a city in Ilam Province in Iran’s Kurdistan region, voluntarily shut down all shops and commercial centers in a general strike.
This spontaneous strike was described as a direct response to the Islamic Republic’s actions in January, when large numbers of young protesters were reportedly killed during nationwide demonstrations.
Previously, on January 7, 2026, following a call by Kurdish political parties to protest the killings of Kurdish citizens in Malekshahi and Kuhdasht, businesses in the area had also joined a strike.
On Sunday, January 25, 2026, Time magazine reported—citing two senior officials from Iran’s Ministry of Health—that during January 8–9, 2026, when the crackdown reportedly reached its peak, “possibly up to 30,000 people” were killed in the streets of various cities. The magazine did not name the officials, and due to strict censorship and ongoing internet disruptions inside the country, independent verification of the claim has not been possible.
The report further noted that even in cities such as Aleppo in Syria and Fallujah in Iraq, casualty figures of such magnitude occurred over extended periods and as a result of heavy bombardment and large-scale explosions, rather than direct street shootings.
