Iranian regime launches crackdown on internal regime critics, arrests several ‘reformist’ leaders

After killing tens of thousands of civilians in the streets to crack down on mass protests, the Iranian regime has launched a wave of arrests against several leaders of the reformist movement, which has been critical of the regime’s actions over the past few weeks.

Before the protests, reformists generally sought changes within the framework of the Islamic Republic but did not call for the abolition of the ruling ayatollah establishment.

The most prominent reformist figure in recent years has been Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic, who won 2024’s run-off elections against hardliner Saeed Jalili.

However, some reformist leaders have escalated their rhetoric against the leadership in the wake of the bloody crackdown, leading to arrests of Azar Mansouri, the head of the political alliance “Reformists Front,” as well as the group’s spokesman, Javad Emam, and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, head of the group’s political committee.

"Their statements became more extreme since the last wave of protests," confirmed Dr. Raz Zimmt, Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS )think tank.

"Among some of them, there is a significant pivot from statements that said, 'we must play according to the rules of the Islamic Republic, there must be reforms but changes need to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary'... toward statements saying that 'the republic in its current state can't heal itself from the inside anymore,'" said Zimmt, noting that some are even calling for the removal of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Also arrested were Mohsen Aminzadeh, a deputy foreign minister under former president Mohammad Khatami, Ali Shakouri-Rad, a senior reformist politician and former lawmaker, and Hossein Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi, a former reformist presidential candidate who has been under house arrest for years.

The regime’s prosecutors’ office said the detainees had made every effort to “justify the actions of the terrorists’ infantry,” coordinated their actions with the U.S. and Israel, and were accused of “targeting national unity, taking a stance against the constitution, promoting surrender, perverting political groups and creating secret subversive mechanisms.”

Iranian Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said, “Those who issue statements against the Islamic Republic from within are in agreement with the Zionist regime and America.”

Mansouri had expressed her disillusionment with the possibility of reforming the regime from within, writing in an Instagram post that she regretted Pezeshkian’s candidacy and called on him to resign.

In the Islamic Republic’s system, the president doesn’t have much authority on matters of regime stability or foreign policy, and Pezeshkian has struck a notably softer tone on the protests than regime hardliners.

In another statement criticizing the crackdown, Mansouri said, “We will not allow the blood of these dear ones to be consigned to oblivion or the truth to be lost in the dust. Pursuing your rights and striving to clarify the truth is the human duty of us all. And with all our being, we declare our disgust and anger toward those who, ruthlessly and recklessly, dragged the youth of this land into earth and blood."

Shakouri-Rad claimed in a leaked audio recording that security forces carried out false flag sabotage operations to justify the bloody crackdown, and questioned regime officials’ claims that foreign agents were responsible for the mass killings.

Separately, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi received a new, seven-year prison sentence on Sunday, after seventeen Iranian activists, lawyers, and cultural figures published a joint statement against the regime on her Instagram page.

The activists, four of whom have been arrested so far, had demanded a “free, transparent referendum” to establish a democratic government, and decried “The mass killing of justice seekers who courageously protested this illegitimate system was an organized state crime against humanity.”

“The principal responsibility for this horrific situation lies with the Leader of the Islamic Republic himself and the repressive structure of the ruling system,” the statement said.

The new sentence for Mohammadi, who has long campaigned against the regime’s use of capital punishment and mandatory dress code for women, drew sharp criticism from France and Germany.

The French Foreign Ministry said, “Through this conviction, the Iranian regime is once again choosing repression and intimidation, in contempt of the fundamental rights of the Iranian people, of which Narges Mohammadi is the tireless defender.”

“The regime in Tehran sentenced her to another long prison term. We strongly condemn this attempt to silence her and all the other human rights defenders. It will not succeed,” stated Tobias Tunkel, the Director of the German Foreign Ministry's Middle East and North Africa Department.