Iran Expands Crackdown, Targeting Reformist Voices Amid Widespread Protests

DUBAI – Iranian authorities have intensified their efforts to detain key figures within the country’s reformist movement, according to reports on Monday, in a broadening clampdown on dissent following the suppression of nationwide protests.

This escalation in arrests follows earlier unrest that resulted in the deaths of thousands and the detention of tens of thousands more. The government’s actions appear to be aimed at quashing opposition voices amid the ongoing political turmoil.

Among those impacted is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who has been handed an additional prison sentence exceeding seven years. This move is seen as part of a concerted strategy to stifle dissent against Iran’s leadership, particularly as the country engages in renewed nuclear negotiations with the United States. Former President Donald Trump had previously warned of possible military action against Iran should diplomatic efforts fail.

Reports have cited reformist officials who confirmed the arrests of at least four prominent members of their movement. Among those detained is Azar Mansouri, leader of the Reformist Front, an umbrella group representing various reformist factions, and Mohsen Aminzadeh, a former diplomat who served under reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Also arrested was Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, a notable figure who led the 1979 student takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which triggered a prolonged hostage crisis lasting 444 days.

Their arrests likely stem from a reformist statement in January that called for Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign from his position and have a transitional governing council oversee the country.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted a statement from prosecutors in Tehran, the country’s capital, saying four people had been arrested and others summoned to meet authorities. It accused those allegedly involved of “organizing and leading … activities aimed at disrupting the political and social situation in the country amid military threats from the United States and the Zionist regime.”

“Having bludgeoned the streets into silence with exemplary cruelty, the regime has shifted its attention inward, fixing its stare on its loyal opposition,” wrote Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group.

“The reformists, sensing the ground move beneath them, had begun to drift — and power, ever paranoid, is now determined to cauterize dissent before it learns to walk.”

However, it remains unclear just how much political support reformists have within Iran. The anger on the streets of Iran during the demonstrations, heard in people shouting “Death to Khamenei!” and in support of the country’s exiled crown prince, appeared to lump reformists in with all other politicians now working in the Islamic Republic.

Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to travel to Washington this week, with Iran expected to be the major subject of discussion, his office said.

The U.S. has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

Meanwhile, Iran issued a warning to pilots that it planned “rocket launches” Monday into Tuesday in an area over the country’s Semnan province, home to the Imam Khomeini Spaceport. Such launches have corresponded in the past with Iran marking the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.