Daijiworld Media Network - Tehran
Tehran, Feb 9: Iran’s security apparatus has intensified its crackdown on reformist leaders with the arrest of Azar Mansouri, head of the Reformists Front that played a key role in the election of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Mansouri was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a move widely seen as deepening tensions over the handling of recent street protests.
Mansouri, who is also the secretary general of the Islamic Iran People Party, had publicly expressed grief over the deaths of protesters, stating that nothing could justify such a tragedy. She had not called for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In what appears to be a wider sweep against reformist voices outside government, authorities also arrested Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, head of the Reformists Front’s political committee, and Mohsen Aminzadeh, a former deputy foreign minister under ex-president Mohammad Khatami. At least two other prominent reformist figures have been ordered to report to police stations this week.
The arrests are seen as an effort to stifle criticism of the security forces’ response to protests that have rocked the country. While the official death toll stands at 3,000, independent estimates suggest the figure could be much higher.
Tehran’s prosecutors accused those detained of attempting to “justify the actions of terrorists” and alleged links with the United States and Israel. They were also charged with undermining national unity, opposing the constitution and creating what authorities described as “subversive mechanisms”.
Justifying the crackdown, judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said individuals criticising the Islamic Republic from within were acting in alignment with “the Zionist regime and America”, warning they would “suffer losses”.
In a statement issued last week, Mansouri vowed that the deaths of protesters would not be forgotten, calling the violence a “great catastrophe” that no justification or passage of time could erase. She has consistently opposed foreign intervention in Iran.
Her arrest follows the detention of several human rights activists who signed a statement backed by 17 prominent figures demanding a “free, transparent referendum” to establish a new democratic government. Among those arrested were Vida Rabbani, Abdollah Momeni, Mehdi Mahmoudian and Dr Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad, a senior adviser to reformist leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
Separately, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been handed an additional seven-year prison sentence. She was briefly allowed to speak to her lawyer for the first time since her arrest and revealed she had been returned to jail before completing hospital treatment.
President Pezeshkian has ordered an inquiry into the protests, but analysts say it is unlikely to scrutinise the IRGC. The arrests of his former supporters have highlighted the limited influence he wields over Iran’s key power centres.
Pezeshkian won the presidency in June 2024 with 16.4 million votes on a turnout of 49.7 per cent, but has since struggled to translate his mandate into political leverage as internal and external pressures on Iran continue to mount.