According to a report by Sky News on April 26, Iran’s regime has intensified its repressive policies against opponents.
In recent weeks, the policies of Iran’s regime toward opposition figures living abroad have seen a noticeable escalation; policies that have not been limited to direct political prosecution but have expanded to include legal, administrative, and financial pressure tools, the imposition of restrictions that prevent them from managing their assets, and also targeting their relatives inside the country. Opponents and observers have described these actions as transnational repression.
Since the start of the war, legal and media reports have documented numerous cases in which repressive authorities of Iran’s regime have detained or summoned family members of opposition figures and activists living abroad; an action viewed as a direct pressure tool to silence dissenting voices.
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At the same time, officials have moved to tighten restrictions on consular services provided to Iranians abroad, particularly through the electronic services system affiliated with the foreign ministry of Iran’s regime. Mohammad Kazem Movahedi, the regime’s Prosecutor General, announced that the foreign ministry had received an official assignment based on a judicial order indicating the suspension of the ability to prepare and register powers of attorney related to property transfers through this system.
This system is one of the main tools relied upon by Iranians living abroad to carry out their official affairs, including issuing and renewing passports, preparing legal powers of attorney, and following up on various administrative and consular matters.
Confiscation of assets of media figures and opponents
A few days ago, Tehran, by order of the judiciary of Iran’s regime, decided to confiscate registered assets and private property of more than 400 dissidents, claiming that this action was carried out within the framework of what it calls the law on intensifying punishment for espionage and cooperation with hostile countries against national security and interests.
Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), published a list it said was issued by the judiciary, including names of individuals whose financial assets have been frozen or confiscated based on accusations related to supporting the enemy. This list includes a number of journalists and media figures living abroad, along with other public figures.
Some families of Iranian opposition figures in exile say that Iran’s regime detains their relatives and threatens to confiscate their property, as part of a new repression campaign targeting dissenting voices after the start of the war, according to what several of them told the Associated Press.
With the escalation of the war, Iranian officials increased their threats against anyone communicating with foreign media or activists, before this pressure expanded to intimidate activists living in exile as well.
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The British newspaper The Guardian reported, citing journalists working at media outlets critical of Tehran, that they are facing increasing intimidation and threats that may escalate to physical violence, amid accusations against Iran’s regime of attempting to silence Persian-language media.
Transnational repression as part of Iran’s regime policies
Nezam Mir Mohammadi, a legal writer and expert on Iran affairs, said that the increase in Iran’s regime’s pursuit of opponents abroad is no longer a series of isolated security incidents, but rather a consistent official policy driven by a transnational repression mindset, based on threats, espionage, incitement to violence, and attempts at assassination and abduction.
Mohammadi, in remarks to the Sky News Arabic website, explained that a regime unable to break the will of its people الداخل tries to shift the battlefield abroad through organized terrorism targeting voices that expose its crimes and offer a democratic alternative. He added that this pursuit is not a defense of national security, but a defense of a power built on repression and exporting crises.
He believes that the measures taken against opposition figures abroad cover a wide range, including espionage operations and intelligence gathering on activists and diaspora communities, attempts to infiltrate ranks through agents and cover identities, direct and indirect threats, pressure on families inside Iran as a tool of coercion, and smear and incitement campaigns that pave the way for physical attacks or assassination attempts.
He emphasized that the most dangerous aspect of the issue is the use of some diplomatic missions of Iran’s regime as operational centers; a matter that makes the protection of opposition figures the responsibility of host countries, rather than a political dispute that can be overlooked.
