Iran Terror Regime Launches Sweeping Crackdown: Hundreds Detained, Executions Underway

ure terror in the streets.

Just horrible.

Iran Launches Sweeping Crackdown: Hundreds Detained, Executions Underway

U.S. Must Confront Iran Over Human Rights Abuses in Upcoming Talks

By: Iran Human Rights, June 26, 2025:

June 26, 2025—Hundreds of ordinary citizens, members of religious and ethnic minorities, activists, and others are being rounded up and arrested in Iran as the Islamic Republic, facing its most serious challenge to date, moves to stamp out any trace of dissent and reassert its control.

Key Developments:

Over 700 individuals have been arrested across Iran in the past 12 days, with many hundreds more detained in Tehran. Checkpoints are set up in many cities to aid in arrests.

Six executions on espionage charges have been carried out just since the war began, with additional death sentences expected.

Detainees are being subjected to fast-tracked trials in kangaroo courts without lawyers or due process.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the Trump administration to forcefully raise these grave human rights violations in the upcoming negotiations with Iran and warn the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the domestic crackdown on its people.

“Like a wounded animal, the Islamic Republic is going after every perceived threat in the country with deadly force,” said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.

“And true to form, the Iranian authorities are locking people up incommunicado without cause or access to a lawyer, and sending them to the gallows on ‘national security’ charges in order to terrorize the public and reestablish control,” Ghaemi said.

In just 12 days of war between Iran and Israel, at least 700 people in cities across Iran have been arrested for alleged collaboration with Israel, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency (126 in Kermanshah, 76 in Isfahan, 62 in Khuzestan, 53 in Fars, and 49 in Lorestan)—while CHRI has received credible reports of additional hundreds—if not more than a thousand—being rounded up and arrested inside Tehran, the capital.

Executions have already begun. Since the war’s outbreak, six individuals have been hanged on espionage charges—three in just the past few days. Two others were executed on the same charges shortly before the conflict began. More are expected to swiftly follow.

CHRI calls on the U.S. and leaders worldwide to demand that the Iranian authorities immediately:

End the arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions

Halt all executions

Uphold due process rights and legal representation for all detainees

Ensure unrestricted internet access

Interviews CHRI conducted on June 25, 2025, with lawyers, activists, and other citizens inside Iran depict the tense, highly securitized atmosphere in the country right now:

Lawyer in Iran: “Checkpoints Have Led to Many Arrests”

A human rights lawyer based in Iran spoke to CHRI on June 25, 2025, about the mass arrests and checkpoints that have been set up to facilitate them:

“The main issue has been the extreme difficulty in communication and accessing information. …But these checkpoints have led to many arrests, as I personally have witnessed them. Many of those detained at the checkpoints were not involved in political or security activities. Some were simply filming out of curiosity and were arrested for that alone.”

This Tehran-based lawyer also commented on the Israeli strike on Evin Prison and the destruction of its administrative buildings, telling CHRI:

“Right now, the doors to the Evin Courthouse have been shut, and no one is providing any answers. This has created major problems. You have to understand that this building inside Evin is where lawyers and families go to follow up on prisoners’ cases. With things the way they are, even the minimal ability for lawyers to advocate for detainees has been taken away.”

Kurdish Protester: “People Are Now in Hiding”

An activist in one of Iran’s Kurdish cities described the intensifying security atmosphere in Kurdish-majority areas:

“In many Kurdish cities—especially the smaller ones—the situation is very tense. A lot of citizens have a history of political or civic activism, or they participated in the [Woman, Life, Freedom] protests. Since the war started, pressure and threats against civil and political activists—and even people who were only previously arrested during protests—have drastically increased. I know several people in my own town who are now living in hiding.”

IRGC Checkpoints Set Up at Entrances and Exits of Many Kurdish Cities

The Kurdish activist added:

“Basij and IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] forces have set up checkpoints at the entrances and exits of many Kurdish cities in Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces. They were searching civilian vehicles and arresting individuals. I know of one family whose two sons were arrested at a checkpoint three days after the war began, and they still have no information about their fate.”

IRGC: “We will show no mercy. Anything could happen to you.”