Exclusive | Disturbing reason Iran appears to have stopped killing protesters

The ruthless slaughter of anti-government protesters in Iran appears to have stopped — but only because residents are being held hostage in their homes by machine gun-wielding security forces that have flooded the streets, sources told The Post Thursday.

After weeks of anti-regime protests across Iran left thousands dead, the mass mobilization of security forces has suppressed the demonstrations, with many too afraid to step foot outside now.

“There were tanks out — there’s tanks everywhere,” the source told The Post after speaking to family in Tehran about the current situation.

“There’s trucks that are covered, with 10 people inside with machine guns just aiming them at everyone on the street.”

Another person in Tehran said fear has gripped the capital as police and security forces patrol the roads and conduct stops.

The local confirmed that the only reason calm returned to Tehran on Thursday was because of the mass killing of protesters, with more than 2,600 people killed since the demonstrations began, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. 

“There are no protests anymore because of massive killings. With 12,000 dead, people are terrified,” the local said, referencing the higher estimated death toll from activist groups.

The source called on President Trump to intervene — now — despite his claims Wednesday that “the other side” indicated that Iran has stopped the killing of protesters.

“We are waiting for Trump’s action, he promised to support Iranian protesters if the regime killed them! It is the time to attack this brutal regime!” the local said.

Trump had threatened to take military action against Iran if it continued to kill the protesters.

Images out of Tehran on Thursday show residents out and about, trying to carry on with their day as normal as possible while surrounded by vehicles destroyed during the protests.

Some were headed to the hospitals and morgues to recover the bodies of their loved ones killed in the demonstrations, with officials allegedly threatening to dump the bodies in a mass grave if relatives don’t claim the corpses soon, one of the sources told The Post.

Iran’s security forces have been accused of enacting one of its most brutal attacks on dissent in the history of the Islamic Republic, with nearly 17,000 people arrested, according to the HRANA.

Shocking video has since emerged of mass shootings against civilians, along with a brutal raid at the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, where armed forces wounded patients and medical staffers.

Witnesses confirmed that the security forces began firing inside the hospital and deploying tear gas as they searched for people wounded in an earlier protest, with about 11 patients hauled away by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, DW reported.

The full extent of the crackdown against the protesters has yet to be independently verified following a nationwide communications outage in Iran.

The protests and killing of demonstrators will be discussed at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday.