February 18, 2026, 10:50February 18, 2026, 10:50
Small white dots light up. Sometimes just a few, sometimes a few next to each other. They are located in the hips, the legs, the face, even the eyes and the brain. These are x-rays.
Each of the small white dots represents a metal ball measuring two to five millimeters. They were fired from shotguns. The bullets, when fired from a distance, lose some of the metal known as “bird shot.” This drills into the body.
The x-rays, the “The Guardian” are from a young Iranian woman. The woman is in her early 20s and took part in the protests in a major Iranian city in January. The scans of her body are evidence of the violence the protesters have experienced. They show the violence that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards used against the demonstrators.
In January, protesters demonstrated against the regime in cities across Iran. The protests were brutally suppressed on behalf of the government.
The Iranian armed forces in Tehran.Image: keystone
As “The Guardian” describes, the scans show how targeted the Revolutionary Guard was. They show patterns of gunshot wounds in the intimate area and on the face.
Further scans from hospitals in major Iranian cities show injuries that are usually fatal. A scan shows a bullet entering a young man’s neck. This caused the trachea to become displaced and blood to collect next to it.
“People believe that shotgun pellets are less lethal than live ammunition. That’s not true.”
One of the protesters tells “The Guardian”.
At the Guardian’s request, trauma experts and former doctors viewed the scans. As they write, these images are reminiscent of those of a mass accident. Most of those affected by accidents and injuries of this type would not even make it to an X-ray. It is therefore a miracle that these patients are still alive. What is much more worrying, however, is that these are probably the less serious injuries.
Iran is one of the few countries whose armed forces use metal shot.
“When you fire such weapons at people, you are trying to kill them.”
The trauma experts after looking at the scans.
When you are shot at from a short distance, the individual bullets behave like hundreds of small ones and are distributed throughout the tissues and body.
The scans show protesters, some of whom were seriously injured. It is not known whether they died as a result of their injuries. But the scans clearly show the brutality with which the Iranian regime has cracked down on the protesters. (nib)