A wave of mass arrests has swept cities across Iran. The widespread protests last month were met with an unprecedented security response. Following violent street crackdowns, reports indicate the start of a nationwide arrest campaign, which according to multiple sources is aimed at preventing any resurgence of protests.
The start of protests and the spread of unrest
The protests initially began on a limited scale in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Economic pressure and accumulated social grievances created the conditions for their rapid expansion. The movement quickly spread to other areas and became the most serious challenge to clerical rule in nearly five decades. Protesters’ slogans called for clerics to step down from power, a demand that heightened security sensitivity.
Authorities restricted internet access and deployed security forces extensively across the streets. The crackdowns resulted in the killing of thousands. At the same time, a wave of arrests began as the second phase of suppressing the protests.
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The mass arrest wave and undisclosed detention centers
Reports from inside Iran indicate extensive activity by plainclothes forces. According to these accounts, security forces arrested thousands of people over several days. Checkpoints increased and streets came under heavy control.
Many detainees have been transferred to secret prisons. There is no information about their whereabouts, and the main objective is to instill public fear. These accounts align with statements from lawyers, doctors, eyewitnesses, and even officials of Iran’s regime. According to these sources, the arrest wave is a tool to prevent any renewal of protests.
Arrest of former activists and family members
Security forces of Iran’s regime have not limited arrests to recent protesters. Individuals detained during protests in previous years have been re-arrested, even if they played no role in the latest unrest. In some cases, family members have also been detained. This approach has expanded the scope of arrests in an unprecedented manner.
International reactions and United Nations concern
The UN Human Rights Office said it is aware of the high number of arrests. The body warned that detainees face the risk of torture and unfair trials. The UN special rapporteur on Iran also said that among the thousands detained are doctors and healthcare workers.
Two officials from Iran’s regime have also unofficially confirmed that thousands are being held in unofficial detention centers, such as warehouses and temporary facilities. However, official authorities have refused to disclose exact figures or detention locations.
Disappearance of youth and social fear
More than 60% of Iran’s 92 million population is under 30 years old. The disappearance of young people has terrified families. Lawyers report that dozens of families have sought information about their detained children; some of them are under 18.
The use of unofficial detention centers and prolonged denial of access to lawyers is a constant feature of arrest waves during periods of unrest.
Pressure on medical staff
Doctors told Reuters that security forces removed injured protesters from hospitals. Dozens of physicians have been summoned or arrested, and some have been barred from treating protesters. The World Health Organization has also confirmed damage to medical facilities and injuries to paramedics. This situation reveals new dimensions of the arrest wave.
What is unfolding in Iran today is not merely a series of isolated arrests. The arrest wave has become the ruling system’s main instrument for maintaining powerful —an instrument that keeps society suffocated through fear, enforced disappearances, and threats. The experience of the past four decades shows that widespread repression not only fails to resolve crises but deepens the divide between the people and the ruling authorities and lays the groundwork for future social explosions. It should be recalled that due to organized crimes and the brutal suppression of nationwide uprisings, the European Union placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terrorist organizations.
