Iranian government turns to internal crackdown with arrests, executions

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 5:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Iranian authorities are pivoting from a ceasefire with Israel to intensify an interior information crackdown crossed the state with wide arrests, executions and subject deployments, peculiarly successful the restive Kurdish region, officials and activists say.

Within days of Israel's airstrikes opening connected June 13, Iranian information forces started a run of wide arrests accompanied by an intensified thoroughfare beingness based astir checkpoints, sources person told CBC and Reuters.

One antheral successful Tehran, who responded to a CBC News callout via WhatsApp but did not supply his name, said Wednesday that information officers are stopping radical astatine pop-up checkpoints astir the metropolis and asking them to amusement their phones and unfastened their messaging apps. 

"It volition instrumentality you lone 1 tweet oregon 1 societal web station to beryllium arrested if the contented is believed delicate by the state," helium said.

Another antheral told CBC helium feels "a heavy consciousness of fear" that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his authorities whitethorn person secured their endurance and volition crook their choler inward arsenic they did successful the 1980s, with crackdowns connected their ain radical and wide executions.

Some successful Israel and exiled absorption groups had hoped the subject campaign, which targeted Revolutionary Guards and interior information forces arsenic good arsenic atomic sites, would spark a wide uprising and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

But Alam Saleh, speaking with CBC from Tehran Wednesday, said helium knows galore Iranians who were captious of the authorities and person changed code successful caller days, now rallying astir the emblem successful the look of what they spot arsenic an unprovoked and unjustified war. 

"What was the point, what Israel and United States has achieved, successful bombing Iran for 12 days?" Saleh said. 

"The lone happening that they astir apt achieved is to marque Iran never, ne'er again spot these 2 countries."

WATCH | Canadian-Iranian talks astir the war:

There has been nary motion yet of immoderate important protests against the authorities.

However, 1 elder Iranian information authoritative and 2 different elder officials briefed connected interior information issues said the authorities were focused connected the menace of imaginable interior unrest, peculiarly successful Kurdish areas.

Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary units were enactment connected alert and interior information was present the superior focus, said the elder information official.

The authoritative said authorities were disquieted astir Israeli agents, taste separatists and the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, an exiled absorption radical that has antecedently staged attacks wrong Iran.

Activists wrong the state are lying low.

"We are being highly cautious close present due to the fact that there's a existent interest the authorities mightiness usage this concern arsenic a pretext," a rights activistic successful Tehran, who was jailed during wide protests successful 2022, told Reuters.

The activistic said helium knew dozens of radical who had been summoned by authorities and either arrested oregon warned against immoderate expressions of dissent.

Kurdish groups accidental they're being targeted

Iranian rights radical HRNA said connected Monday it had recorded arrests of 705 radical connected governmental oregon information charges since the commencement of the war.

Many of those arrested person been accused of spying for Israel, HRNA said.

Iranian authorities media reported 3 were executed connected Tuesday successful Urmia, adjacent the Turkish border, and the Iranian-Kurdish rights radical Hengaw said they were each Kurdish.

Iran's Foreign and Interior Ministries did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

WATCH | Israelis, Iranians sermon ceasefire:

One of the officials briefed connected information said troops had been deployed to the borders of Pakistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan to halt infiltration by what the authoritative called terrorists.

The different authoritative briefed connected information acknowledged that hundreds had been arrested.

Iran's mostly Sunni Muslim Kurdish and Baluch minorities person agelong been a root of absorption to the Islamic Republic, chafing against regularisation from the Persian-speaking, Shia authorities successful Tehran.

The 3 main Iranian Kurdish separatist factions based successful Iraqi Kurdistan said immoderate of their activists and fighters had been arrested and described wide subject and information movements by Iranian authorities.

Ribaz Khalili from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) said Revolutionary Guards units had deployed successful schools successful Iran's Kurdish provinces wrong 3 days of Israel's strikes opening and gone house-to-house for suspects and arms.

The Guards had taken protective measures too, evacuating an concern portion adjacent their barracks and closing large roads for their ain usage successful bringing reinforcements to Kermanshah and Sanandaj, 2 large cities successful the Kurdish region.

A cadre from the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), who gave her nom de guerre of Fatma Ahmed, said the enactment had counted much than 500 absorption members being detained successful Kurdish provinces since the airstrikes began.

Ahmed and an authoritative from the Kurdish Komala party, who spoke connected information of anonymity, some described checkpoints being acceptable up crossed Kurdish areas with carnal searches of radical arsenic good arsenic checks of their phones and documents.