From inside Iran, a defiant voice has bravely broken through the internet blackout to detail the horrors she has witnessed and to tell the president of the United States "the people are waiting for America to intervene".
Iranian protester Sarah says Iran's regime wants to break her will and fears they could kill her.
But like many other young Iranians, she's willing to risk her life for a better Iran.
After days of no communication with the outside world, this savvy, educated woman from Tehran, whose real name we are concealing for safety reasons, makes contact with the ABC.
She uses a Starlink connection that continually drops out — the use of which she knows could get her killed by the Islamic Republic's security forces — but she wants to get her message out to the West and calculates it is worth the heavy risk.
"We barely have access to Iran International or BBC or journalists like you. It's all cut off," she told ABC News in Farsi.
"Our request is that world leaders don't abandon us. Support us and help us against this repressive regime.
"These are war crimes. They [Iran's regime] already killed 12,000 people and if we don't get the support of the West, they will execute another 10,000 people."
Protests across Iran broke out on December 28 over worsening economic conditions, but quickly turned towards the clerical rulers.
The regime has cracked down on the protesters and human rights groups are now reporting the death toll is in the thousands.
US-based human rights monitor HRANA says 2,500 protesters have been killed, while Iran International, a group of journalists opposed to the regime that is based in London, claims the death toll is as high as 12,000.
Videos showing hundreds of body bags outside a forensic medical facility, with family members wailing over their deceased loved ones, have been leaked in moments of connectivity.
They have helped the world understand the scale of the massacre occurring in Iran.
After days of a total internet blackout, this conversation is Sarah's first contact with the outside world.
"The telephones until last night (Monday local time) were cut off — we couldn't call anyone. Text messages were completely cut off we could not text each other," she said.
The regime's aim, she said, was to disconnect protesters from the world, and in the cloak of darkness, it had been committing atrocities.
"When families go to collect dead bodies, they have to sign an [official] paper that says these people have died from natural causes, that they haven't been killed," she said.
"They have so many dead bodies piled up in containers … and when families go to get the body, they open the container and say, 'Find it. Go and find your child'. There were 600 to 800 dead bodies.
"They have to find their child among dead bodies whose faces have been bloodied and disfigured."
And that's even if families are able to access the bodies of their loved ones at all.
"If they [the regime] give it back, they charge lots of money and cause lots of stress," she said.
"During the burial of the bodies in Behesht-e Zahra, they attacked people during the burial of their children," she recalled, referring to the largest cemetery in Iran in Tehran.
Iranians call for a sign from Trump
Sarah said she believed millions of Iranians were protesting on Thursday, January 8, which human rights monitors have identified as the day the communication shutdown began.
She told the ABC she witnessed the violence and said on Thursday night she saw regime militia forces using tear gas and shot guns, and that "they shot people in the face".
"But the second night, they started using semiautomatic rifles," she said.
By the weekend, "they opened fire on civilians with machine guns", Sarah said.
"From a very short distance, they killed one of my friends. They shot her in the face. It's not important to them who they are, they just shoot."
Iran International called the massacre the "largest killing in Iran's contemporary history".
The ABC could not independently verify the claims.
As the Islamic Republic unleashes its brutal crackdown, Iranians like Sarah are desperate for a clear sign Mr Trump will step in to assist.
"They were expecting some movement from countries abroad — especially the president [Trump]," she said.
"Unfortunately, they didn't see any moment [of action] yet. Everybody is sitting and waiting and thinking maybe today or tonight there will be some news.
"Will the president fulfil his promise or not? Everyone is waiting for some action to happen so they can once again draw energy [to take to the streets]."
Sarah said if there "was not help from outside" and if "the president doesn't keep his word", she did not believe "people will have the motivation to continue [protesting]".
She said that on Thursday night she saw young, old, religious and secular Iranians marching to demand a regime change.
In 2009, protests in Iran were sparked over election fraud. In 2022, the Mahsa Amini protests "were mostly related to women not wanting to wear hijab", Sarah said.
"This time it's not about election fraud. This time is not about the hijab. This time it's about the regime. They don't want it anymore," she said.
"This time is different. Everyone is in the streets. People with hijab. Young, old people together calling for Pahlavi to return.
"One of the chants is, 'This is the final battle. Pahlavi will return,'" she said, referring to the son of the last shah of Iran, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States.
Yesterday, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, saying: "Iranian patriots, keep protesting ... help is on the way."
Sarah said: "If we want regime change, he is the only one who can help us."
"We just need your help to overthrow this regime," she said, as if trying to get a message to Mr Trump herself.
Militia forces in hospitals: protester
This uprising is now in its 18th day and concerns about food supplies and overrun hospitals are starting to emerge.
"Everything is closed. The price of food has become so expensive. So, so expensive. It costs six, seven times more and it's becoming scarce," Sarah said.
"People were for a few days going to the shops and gathering food, as much as they can afford, but now the problem is the shortage of food. We're worried people will starve."
Hospitals are overrun and doctors are being told by authorities not to treat the injured, leading to more deaths, she said.
Sarah knows someone who works at senior level in a hospital who has reported "that the number of people killed is very high".
"Something that makes us so sad is that the Basij didn't let [hospital staff] treat them. They would say, 'Let them die'," she said.
The Basij are the Iranian regime's militia forces — the enforcers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Sarah said she believed the regime had brought militants from Arab countries to Iran to act as Basij parliamentary forces because she heard them speaking in Arabic rather than Farsi.
There have been unconfirmed reports of Shiite militia from Iraq entering Iran to help the regime suppress protests.
In the past, the Basij have been accused of grave human rights violations, including torture, rape and sexual violence.
Sarah said Basij were now on every street corner and people were afraid to leave their homes.
"For every ordinary person that you see on the street, there's multiple Basij forces with guns and motorcycles and they are waiting for people to come out of their homes to shoot them," she said.
She said many of those shot protesters might have survived had they received treatment. But some were too scared to go to hospital, fearing the Basij would catch them and arrest them.
"One of my friends, who had 26 pellet rounds fired in her leg, she couldn't go to the hospital because she knew Basij would come after her. Now her leg is infected," she said.
She says the Basij is now seizing security camera footage from hospitals and retailers.
"They've taken to the streets collecting the footage to identify and target people. Many people are deleting the vision so the Basij can't get it," she said.
'Death to the dictator'
Sarah says that, after the crown prince first issued the call to protest, millions poured out into the streets.
"Even people who weren't in the streets were shouting and protesting from their windows," she said.
"People were shouting, 'Death to the dictator, Khamenei's government is invalid. Pahlavi will return'. Everyone was joined with voice."
Asked about the view held by some in the West that the US shouldn't get involved, Sarah said: "Be sure that people are waiting for America to intervene."
"We don't care if a war starts. We have seen this many people killed … we want the US to come rescue us from this situation."
Asked if she fears for her life and will contribute to protest, Sarah pauses and breaks down crying.
"Of course, I am scared [to protest]. But our goals are bigger than this. So many young lives were lost, not for us to be afraid. We are not afraid anymore. We want the West to hear us … we want regime change. We all want it," she said.
"I don't care about what happens to me personally. But I hope the next generation in Iran will have a better life.
"A lot of mothers have lost their children. They've lost their young. The blood of the youth must not be wasted."
