Crackdown in Iran: Eyewitness Accounts Reveal New Details
Originally published at Alhurra by Delshad Hussein
Jamshid, an Iranian citizen from Tehran, never expected that a short trip to the market with his daughter would end with her arrest.
He told Alhurra: “I was returning with my daughter from the market... They stopped the car, searched us, inspected our phones, and then suddenly arrested my daughter.”
Jamshid tried to understand the reason but to no avail.
“They refused [to explain]... and took her away in a vehicle already packed with other arrested youths,” he said.
Despite repeated efforts, Jamshid couldn’t find out where his daughter was. He later learned she was transferred to the headquarters of Ettela'at (Iranian intelligence) along with others, accused of collaborating with Israel.
Jamshid’s daughter is no older than 18. She is far from the only person arrested by Tehran in recent days.
Statistics obtained by Alhurra from the Hana Human Rights Organization, a Kurdish-Iranian group, show that Iranian authorities arrested more than 1,000 people across the country in the last two weeks of June.
The organization collected this information from its field teams inside Iran and local activists.
The wave of arrests began with the outbreak of war with Israel and continued even after the ceasefire.
The most common charges: “aiding the enemy” or “spying for Israel.”
Hana also reports that Iranian authorities executed three Kurdish prisoners in Urmia Central Prison on June 24 on the same charge.
The executions, according to the group, were carried out without notifying the families, under mysterious circumstances, and without fair trials.
“Security Guardians Maneuvers”
For many Iranians, the days following the ceasefire with Israel have been just as brutal as the war itself.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s general intelligence services, and the Basij paramilitary forces have continued raiding homes and arresting citizens on charges of espionage and collaboration with Israel.
The crackdown has affected all major cities but focused especially on Tehran, Kurdish regions, Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz, and Sistan and Baluchestan.
Amid this tightening security grip, Alhurra attempted to contact several Iranians inside the country to shed light on this ongoing campaign of arrests, which the regime has labeled the “Security Guardians Maneuvers.”
From Kermanshah Province in Iranian Kurdistan, a woman calling herself Arezoo (a pseudonym) shared her story with Alhurra.
A force from the IRGC raided her home and arrested both her husband and son.
“We were afraid of the bombing that was targeting IRGC bases in the city, but suddenly a group of guards stormed the house and took away my husband and son,” she said.
They also confiscated the family’s mobile phones and computers.
“Since that day, despite all our inquiries, we’ve received no information about their fate,” Arezoo added.
At the police station, Arezoo met other women whose husbands or sons had been detained.
Everyone kept mentioning the same charge: “communication with Israel.” But Arezoo denies it completely, saying her husband works in a food canning factory and her son is a middle school student with no political involvement whatsoever.
According to Hana, the arrests have so far affected various Kurdish cities, including Kermanshah (where Arezoo lives), Mahabad, Bukan, Oshnavieh, Saqqez, Piranshahr, and Urmia, among others.
The organization’s director, Hamid Bahrami, told Alhurra: “There are checkpoints in the cities where young people are stopped, their phones searched for anything linking them to foreign entities—and they are arrested on the spot.”
Bahrami added that families of anti-regime political activists and families with relatives abroad have been receiving threats from Iranian intelligence in recent days.
“All families have been instructed not to contact their relatives abroad.”
In reality, Iran has long enforced severe restrictions and surveillance on internet use. Iranians often rely on VPNs and special applications to circumvent censorship.
Tehran’s Eye on Iranian Jews
In Tehran and Shiraz, intelligence forces raided the homes of several Iranian Jews.
According to human rights organizations, at least 35 Iranian Jews were accused of communicating with Israel—most of whom were later released.
Alhurra was unable to contact any of the Iranian Jews inside the country but spoke with George Harounian, president of the U.S.-based No to Antisemitism Foundation and an Iranian-American Jew.
“Since mid-war, security forces began arresting people and searching their phones and computers to verify any connections with Israel,” Harounian said.
“According to the information I’ve received, 35 Iranian Jews were arrested, the majority of whom have since been released. Only five remain in custody.”
Harounian emphasized: “Iranian Jews are generally afraid of the regime, which has long used them for propaganda purposes. As a result, they avoid public visibility and feel forced to comply with government demands for fear of repression.”
Harsh New Punitive Laws
On June 30, the Iranian parliament passed a new law increasing punishments for those who “collaborate” with Israel, the United States, or any so-called “hostile state.”
The law categorizes any intelligence, technological, or financial cooperation with these countries as “corruption on earth”—a crime punishable by death.
It also criminalizes sending videos or photos deemed to “weaken morale,” punishable by imprisonment and dismissal from public service.
Alongside this new legislation, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei called for the “swift” prosecution of detainees accused of collaborating with Israel, stating they must be “punished in accordance with wartime conditions.”
The Supreme National Security Council, one of Iran’s highest decision-making bodies, echoed this stance, saying that “any act in favor of Israel will face a decisive response and the harshest punishment”—including the death penalty—on charges of moharebeh (waging war against God) and “corruption on earth.”
“Accusing citizens of collaborating with foreign powers is a common tactic used by the regime to justify repression and crush dissent,” said Andrew Ghalili, an analyst at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, in a prior interview with Alhurra.
Executions to Spread Fear
On June 20, Amnesty International published a report calling on Tehran to halt executions and protect detainees from “enforced disappearance and torture.”
Hussein Bayoumi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty, stated: “Iranian authorities are using the death penalty as a weapon to assert control and instill fear in the Iranian people.”
He demanded that “Iran stop all plans for arbitrary executions and protect those accused of spying for Israel from enforced disappearance and torture.”
The Shadow War
After 12 days of fighting, the military confrontation between Iran and Israel came to a halt.
A striking feature of the conflict was the decisive role of Israeli Mossad operations conducted deep inside Iranian territory.
According to Kurdish-Iranian opposition activist Kiarash Shasavari, Tehran believes that the intelligence war will continue even after the ceasefire. The regime fears this could escalate into economic warfare and mass protests. Hence, it is taking preemptive measures to prevent any potential uprising.
Shasavari said the IRGC and Basij forces carried out widespread repression during and after the war, arresting more than 1,000 people—including 300 Kurds—on charges of espionage for Israel.
He noted the regime is targeting ethnic and religious minorities, accusing them of ties with hostile actors.
Mossad’s infiltration of Iran is nothing new, said the Europe-based Kurdish activist. It has intensified since 2018 with the theft of Iran’s nuclear archive and the assassination of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020—an operation Tehran blames on Israel.
During the latest war, Israel struck Iranian military installations and assassinated over 30 senior security officials and nuclear experts.
Iran’s response to this “shadow war” has been a sweeping crackdown on dissidents, journalists, and minorities—executing detainees without trial under the pretext of collaboration with Israel.