Rights groups warned on Wednesday that Iran could launch a fresh brutal crackdown on dissidents even as the Islamic Republic faces its most significant existential threat, after the national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan recently branded protesters as “enemies,” signaling that authorities will shoot anyone who challenges the regime.
This warning follows the unprecedented January protests where security forces reportedly killed thousands of citizens and arrested tens of thousands. The current conflict erupted shortly after those demonstrations, triggered by an air strike that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Despite the loss of top officials, the Revolutionary Guards and regular police maintain powerful levers of internal state repression.
“If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester,” Radan stated on state television. “We will do to them what we do to an enemy. All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger.”
Human Rights Alerts
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) reports that security forces continue to arrest civil society activists despite the ongoing war. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi condemned the police chief’s rhetoric in a recent post on the Telegram messaging app.
“This is the bitter reality: Even in the midst of a crisis, it seizes the opportunity for repression,” Ebadi wrote. She added that the police chief is “ready to kill citizens instead of protecting people’s lives.”
The US-based HRANA recorded over 7,000 deaths during the January crackdown, though activists believe the actual death toll remains higher. Authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people, while the judiciary vows to use capital punishment against those currently in custody.
The Survival of the Regime
While Israeli bombardments continue, videos show some Iranians chanting against Mojtaba Khamenei, the son and successor of the late leader. However, the regime’s internal security apparatus remains focused on domestic dissent rather than focusing solely on foreign missiles or bombs.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of IHR, explained that officials view the Iranian people as the primary threat to their continued survival. “The authorities know that their real existential threat is not American or Israeli bombs, but the Iranian people,” he told AFP.
Iran remains the world’s most prolific executioner after China, having executed more than 1,500 people during the last calendar year. If the Islamic Republic survives this war, activists fear a wave of mass executions and even harsher repression than before.
