Iranian security forces have launched a sweeping crackdown against the country’s leading reformist figures, arresting the top leadership of the Reformist Front coalition in what appears to be a complete shutdown of the country's already shrinking political space. The arrests come in the aftermath of the violent suppression of nationwide protests and amid heightened regional tensions involving the United States and Israel, signalling that Tehran is opting for outright repression rather than any sort of political reform.
Among those detained are Azar Mansouri, head of the Reformist Front, former diplomat Mohsen Aminzadeh and former parliamentarian Ebrahim Asgharzadeh. The arrests were carried out by intelligence units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and judicial authorities, targeting an umbrella organisation that represents nearly 30 reformist factions operating within the framework of the Islamic Republic.
Mansouri was taken from her home shortly after issuing a statement expressing “disgust and anger” over what she described as the “mass killing” of protesters, vowing that the truth of the violence would not be “lost in the dust”.
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As a student, Asgharzadeh played a key role in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy, but he later turned out to be a vocal critic of the regime. Aminzadeh served as deputy foreign minister under former president Mohammad Khatami, the most prominent reformist leader of the post-revolutionary era. Family members of dissidents were not spared either, including Hossein Karroubi, son of long-detained opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi.
Judicial authorities have accused the detainees of acting against national unity, promoting “surrender” and coordinating with “enemy propaganda”. Prosecutors alleged that the reformists were seeking to disrupt social order while working in league with the US and Israel, accusations routinely deployed by the state to delegitimise dissent. Protesters themselves have been described by the authorities as “terrorists”, a label used to justify the scale of the violence unleashed earlier this year.
The arrests are clearly linked to the recent protests, which began as demonstrations against economic hardship but rapidly escalated into calls for the end of the Islamic Republic. The state’s response was lethal. The scale of the bloodshed appears to have shattered the reformists’ remaining faith in gradual change from within.
In the weeks before the crackdown, the Reformist Front has been drafting a statement calling on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign, arguing that the 1979 revolution had failed. A leaked audio has been doing the rounds in which reformist leader Ali Shakourirad argues that a major transition of power away from the Islamic revolutionary leadership is inevitable. It was clearly a red line, prompting the regime to brand the reformists as an existential threat.
President Masoud Pezeshkian finds himself in an uncomfortable position following the crackdown. It was the Reformist Front led by Mansouri that mobilised voters for him in the June 2024 presidential election. Pezeshkian managed to beat his hardline rival Saeed Jalili by a convincing margin of 1.64 crore votes primarily because of this support base. But when these reformists are facing a brutal crackdown, Pezeshkian appears unable or unwilling to do anything, clearly demonstrating the limits of presidential authority in Iran’s power structure.
Moreover, the crackdown exposes how little influence Pezeshkian holds over the real centres of power, like the judiciary and the IRGC. Although he sought to strike a conciliatory tone after the protests and announced an inquiry into the unrest, he has been sidelined by hardliners who control the coercive apparatus of the state. His silence following the arrest of his closest allies has only reinforced perceptions that he is unable to confront the security establishment.
One of the most provocative triggers for the arrests appears to have been a proposal floated by reformist leaders to transfer real authority to Pezeshkian. In the leaked audio, Shakourirad suggested persuading Khamenei to relinquish his powers to the president, allowing Pezeshkian to address Iran’s domestic and foreign crises. For the ruling establishment, such a proposal likely crossed from dissent into sedition, accelerating the decision to crush the reformist camp.
The crackdown has come at a time Iran is facing an existential threat from the United States and Israel. The US, under President Donald Trump, has beefed up its military presence in the Middle East and has threatened to attack Iran if both countries fail to reach a nuclear agreement. At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressed Washington to expand any deal to include Iran’s missile programme and regional influence. Against this backdrop, the regime’s iron-fist approach appears designed to project strength both at home and abroad.
While Pezeshkian has spoken of diplomacy and described recent talks in Oman as “a step forward”, the arrests send a very different message. They signal to the international community that even as the president gestures towards dialogue, the system is closing ranks, prioritising survival over legitimacy and tolerating no meaningful dissent.