WASHINGTON (US Department of State press service) — Washington alleged that Iranian security forces “could have murdered over 1,000 Iranian citizens” since the protests began in November. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook gave a statement at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Thursday.

Hook noted that “many thousands of Iranians have been wounded, and at least 7,000 protesters have been detained in Iran’s prisons.” Nationwide protests erupted in Iran on November 15 over fuel price hikes. According to Amnesty International, at least 208 people lost their lives in the protests. Authorities have refuted the figure but provided no official death toll.

The US envoy also said that a US Navy “interdicted a significant hoard of weapons and missile parts, evidently of Iranian origin” on November 25, which he said was “yet more proof of Iran’s efforts to inflame conflicts in the region.”