As grieving families wailed and tempers flared, elders cited a litany of recent cases where men, women and children were abducted from their homes and workplaces.
The world is lurching toward a new era of mass warfare in which ever more advanced technology is deployed in the service of increasingly primitive ideologies.
Last week Ali Larijani appeared in public at Iran's Quds Day march in a calculated provocation to Washington and Tel Aviv. Yesterday morning, they finally got him.
Ms Mahmood announced a new set of immigration policies and pleased no one. The key element of her plan was that failed asylum-seeker families will be offered up to £40,000 to return home voluntarily.
Twenty bodyguards, a clutch of servants and an unlimited credit line from Tehran accompanied Mojtaba Khamenei - the son and heir of Ali Khamenei and now Iran 's new Supreme Leader.
On state TV, a bearded IRGC commander (pictured) openly threatens Iranian children, warning that 'anyone who speaks today in a way that echoes the enemy' risks being shot.
DAVID PATRIKARAKOS: Iran. Through the haze I can just make out its mountainous coastline, a mere 20-odd miles away. An undulating dark line on the horizon, but a vast presence in my mind
They lie where they fell. Young men and women. Faces split by batons, skulls crushed by rifle butts, shirts soaked dark with blood already drying in the winter air.