'Iranian Holocaust': Haunting image of abandoned shoes sparks global alarm online

The German Holocaust remains one of the darkest periods of human history to date. However, if the images of Iranian protests against the theocratic regime are to go by, many believe something similar is going on in the Middle Eastern country. Recently, Arash Sigarchi, an award-winning journalist, former political prisoner and managing editor of Voice of America's Persian Division, took to X to share a shocking image of the ongoing aftermath of the protests, sending netizens into a frenzy and worry. The picture, taken in Rasht, a city of northwest Iran, showed an image captured on January 8th, 2026 when regime henchman set fire to a popular marketplace, trapping demonstrators inside and shooting those who tried to escape, as per eyewitness accounts and human rights organisations."At the Holocaust Museum in Washington, there is a room filled with shoes—silent witnesses to lives taken before burning them. Now look at this photo. Shoes left behind after the Islamic Republic’s Nazi-like forces opened fire on unarmed Iranians whose only demand was freedom. In my city, Rasht, they were trapped in the bazaar, gunned down, then burned. If this is not a crime against humanity, what is?” said Sigarchi while sharing the image in an X post. He compared the image of victims' shoes to a similar display at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and branded the country's theocracy as "Nazi-like." Suren Edgar, vice president of the Australian-Iranian Community Alliance, also took to the social media app to comment: “These shoes in Rasht are not art. They belonged to people trapped after regime forces set the historic bazaar on fire and shot those trying to escape. The imagery is unmistakable — an Iranian Holocaust unfolding in real time.”"We will never forget. Not the shoes. Not the blood. Not Rasht. They trapped people, shot them for demanding freedom, then burned the evidence. This is a crime against humanity, plain and simple," added another. "After Iran is freed there needs to be a museum of Islamic terror to warn future generations. Never again," shared one. Other footage shared by the rights organisation shows the aftermath of the incident, with burned-out, smouldering remains of the bazaar. In an attempt to cut off the protestors' connections with the outside world, the Iranian regime cut off internet access to the outside world. “The mass killings started right after the internet blackout,” IHR’s founder, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, told British newspaper The Observer.Protests erupted in Tehran on December 28, 2025 and have now spread to more than 280 locations across the country, killing dozens and pushing the Islamic Republic into its most serious crisis in years.