Verified death tolls from Iran protest crackdown now exceed 6,000. Credible estimates range up to 30,000. The Iranian government itself acknowledges over 3,000. An internet blackout continues to make documentation nearly impossible.

Security forces have arrested another 6,000 people this week alone in an attempt to prevent renewed demonstrations.

What stands out is not the violence itself — authoritarian crackdowns follow recognizable patterns. What stands out is the scale relative to the international response. Tens of thousands potentially dead, an ongoing communications blackout, mass arrests — and the diplomatic machinery moves at its usual pace.

The explanation is structural. Iran sits at the center of several active geopolitical negotiations — nuclear talks, regional influence, energy markets. Governments that need something from Tehran or from its adversaries have incentives to modulate their responses. The human cost becomes a variable in a larger equation. This is not cynicism. It is how multilateral systems process competing priorities. The result is that the scale of the crackdown receives less sustained attention than its geopolitical implications.