By Our Correspondent, TEHRAN Iran
As protests in Iran continue and Iranian authorities issued coordinated warnings to protesters, a doctor and medic at two hospitals told our correspondent their facilities were overwhelmed with injuries.
One doctor said a Tehran eye hospital had gone into crisis mode, while our correspondent also obtained a message from a medic in another hospital saying it did not have enough surgeons to cope with the influx of patients.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said Iran was in "big trouble" and warned "you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too".
Iran in a letter to the UN Security Council blamed the US for turning the protests into what it called "violent subversive acts and widespread vandalism".
Meanwhile, international leaders called for the right to peaceful protest to be protected.
Anti-government protests have taken place in dozens of cities, with two human rights groups reporting at least 50 protesters have been killed.
Most international news organisations are barred from reporting inside Iran, and the country has been under a near-total internet blackout since Thursday evening, making obtaining and verifying information difficult.
A doctor from Iran, who contacted our reporter on Friday night, said Farabi Hospital, Tehran's main eye specialist centre, had gone into crisis mode, with emergency services overwhelmed.
Non-urgent admissions and surgeries were said to have been suspended, and staff called in to deal with emergency cases.
A video and audio message obtained from a medic in a hospital in the south-west city of Shiraz on Thursday.
The medic said large numbers of injured people were being brought in, and the hospital did not have enough surgeons to cope with the influx. He claimed many of the wounded had gunshot injuries to the head and eyes.
Since protests began on 28 December, at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, according to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). More than 2,311 individuals have also been arrested, the group reported.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, had been killed.
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