Following the successive and large demonstrations and gatherings of Iranians supporting the resistance abroad, such as the demonstration on February 7 in Paris, March 7 in Washington, June 20 in Berlin and Stockholm, September 6 in Brussels, September 23 and 24 in New York, and the gathering of youth supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) on October 25, as well as the support from thousands of parliamentarians and prominent international figures for the resistance, the mullahs’ regime’s Ministry of Intelligence has intensified its threats and intimidation against asylum seekers and PMOI supporters abroad and their families in Iran. It has also increased the efforts of its cyber thugs to gather intelligence and spy on PMOI supporters. Examples of these desperate efforts are as follows:
- In September 2025, the Ministry of Intelligence, by sending a message through various means including Telegram to many PMOI supporters, especially in the United States and Canada, tried to deter them from demonstrating in front of the United Nations in protest of the presence of the regime’s president. The message stated: ‘Warning: You have been identified as a member of the Monafeqin terrorist organization. In case of any participation in the September 24 gathering, you will be subject to international prosecution on charges of (encouraging and inciting terrorism). This crime is subject to the penalties stipulated in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, Article 5 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, paragraph of UN Security Council Resolution 1373, Articles 3, 5, and 14 of Iran’s Law on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, Article 4 of the Law on Combating Transnational Organized Crimes, and Articles 500, 510, and 512 of the Penal Code (Ta’zirat). These penalties include Grade 3 Ta’ziri imprisonment (more than 10 years) as well as the freezing and confiscation of the offender’s assets. If this message was sent to you by mistake or if you regret your past, please inform the ID @counterterrorism_info. Otherwise, the legal responsibility for the above will rest with you personally. International Counter-Terrorism Headquarters.’
2. In August 2025, the Ministry of Intelligence’s cyber unit created a fake account under the name ‘Issa,’ with the aim of espionage and intelligence gathering, and sent messages to some supporters, which read: ‘I must remind my dear Ashraf-affiliated friends. I do not have any user accounts on WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., with my own picture, and usually, the accounts of the organization’s responsible brothers do not have pictures. Despite the warnings given in person and otherwise, unfortunately, some friends do not pay attention to the demarcations and reminders and are deceived, so I have to repeat. Please report any suspicious matter or misuse of my name (Issa) immediately. Finally, please inform me here that you have received this message and warning. Thank you to each and every one of you dear ones.’
3. In September, the regime’s cyber unit sent a similar message in another WhatsApp account under the name ‘Issa’ to a group of supporters: ‘Greetings to all my friends and kudos to all of you. I feel it is necessary to once again remind my dear Ashraf-affiliated friends. I do not have any user accounts on WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., with my own picture, and usually, the accounts of the organization’s responsible brothers do not have pictures. Despite the warnings given in person and otherwise, unfortunately, some friends do not pay attention to the demarcations and reminders and are deceived, so I have to repeat. Please report any suspicious matter or misuse of my name (Issa) immediately. Finally, please inform me here that you have received this message and warning. Thank you to each and every one of you dear ones. Issa.’
4. In another account under the name of Issa, the regime’s cyber unit writes in a fabricated dialogue: ‘Hello, dear and respected friend, I hope you are well. If you have a chance, I would like to know your opinion on the quantitative and qualitative status of the monarchists in the recent revolution and uprising. How do you see their weight inside and outside the country in general, especially their gatherings in America and Europe, and their cohesion, etc.?’
The other party replies: ‘What opinion should I write? I was a supporter of the PMOI from the age of twenty-one, and then Kurdistan and the region, now Denmark. God damn the Shah and the Sheikh. I see their gatherings the same way you do, and I have no opinion. It is clear that their enemy is the PMOI, not the mullahs.’
- Following the youth gathering on October 25, the regime’s cyber unit sent a series of messages with fake accounts under the names and photos of some PMOI officials to supporters. The goal is to establish a relationship and gain trust to gather information from them in subsequent steps. One example is sending a message from a fake account with a photo of Mr. Mehdi Abrishamchi to some PMOI supporters who participated in this gathering.
One of these messages reads: ‘Greetings and salutations to you, my dear son Soroush. Seeing and hearing your words among the PMOI youth filled my heart with joy and brought tears to my eyes. How grateful I am to God that from the pure generation of Hanif, a generation has emerged that is the standard-bearer of freedom. I bow my head in respect to you and offer you the best regards of the old generation of the PMOI. Despite being 78 years old, in your vanguard, the pioneering and young generation, I declare with pride and honor: Ready, ready, ready!’
- Following the youth gathering on October 25, 2025, the Ministry of Intelligence sent threatening messages to some participants and speakers. For example, it wrote to one of the young participants: ‘Isn’t it a pity for this face to be ruined? It seems you are very foolish, are you looking for partisans? Especially among the Monafeqin who all become expendable. Be very careful when you leave the house, danger is near.’
7. In numerous cases, interrogators and torturers from the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran and other cities have approached the families of supporters in various countries. In a foolish bluff and to create an atmosphere of fear and terror, they threaten them, saying: ‘We know your son’s or daughter’s address abroad, and if they do not cooperate with us, or at least stop supporting and working for the PMOI or participating in their events, we will teach them a lesson they will always remember. We have people everywhere; wherever they go, we are right behind them, and we can do whatever we want to them.’
8. In October, Ministry of Intelligence agents in Tehran visited the parental home of an Iranian asylum seeker in Germany and told his family members, ‘Tell your son to cooperate with us (the Ministry) and give us information about the PMOI, or at least step aside and not work with them. Otherwise, whatever you see, you will have brought upon yourselves.’
9. In October, the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran summoned the sister of an Iranian asylum seeker in Germany and warned her, ‘Your brother works with the PMOI, and if he continues this relationship, there will be dire consequences for you. You and your family will not be hired anywhere. We don’t want your brother to return to Iran, but he must not work with the PMOI.’
10. This summer, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Nejat Association pressured the family of an Iranian asylum seeker in Belgium, asking them to get their son on the line to speak with a Ministry agent by phone. The asylum seeker refused to speak with the Ministry agents, saying, ‘I have nothing to say to the Ministry of Intelligence and the mullahs’ regime.’
11. In August, Ministry of Intelligence agents in Kerman visited the home of the family of an Iranian asylum seeker and told them, ‘Deliver this message to your daughter: she must stop cooperating with the PMOI.’ They replied, ‘Our daughter is independent, she doesn’t listen to anyone, and we cannot dissuade her from her path.’
12. Intelligence agents contacted an Iranian asylum seeker in Germany via WhatsApp and told him, ‘We know you got acquainted with the PMOI in the refugee camp and go to their events. Cooperate with us, go to their events, but inform us about who is there, how many people there are, and what they are doing.’
13. After the Brussels demonstration in September 2025, Ministry of Intelligence agents in Fars province went to the family of one of the supporters. Showing his photos in the demonstration, they demanded that the family prevent him from continuing his activities with the PMOI, but they were met with a firm and negative response from the family.
14. In August 2025, the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran visited the family of a supporter living in Belgium and threatened them, saying, ‘If your son and his wife continue their activities in favor of the PMOI, we will hold you responsible, and there will be unpleasant consequences for you.’
15. This spring, the Ministry of Intelligence approached the sister of a PMOI supporter who is a refugee in Belgium and asked her to tell her brother not to participate in PMOI events.
16. This spring, the Ministry of Intelligence contacted a PMOI supporter in Germany via WhatsApp and tried to force him to cooperate through threats and pressure, asking him to continue his relationship with the PMOI and secretly pass his information about them to the Ministry. The Ministry was met with a firm and decisive response from the supporter.
17. In May, agents of the Ministry of Intelligence summoned the daughter of an Iranian refugee and told her that her father, who works with the PMOI, is sentenced to death unless he abandons the PMOI or gives us their information. Otherwise, we are aware of his address and movements, and we will strike him.
18. This past May, the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahvaz arrested and interrogated the son of a supporter family in Germany, asking him to bring his mother back to Iran. In return, they would provide them with financial and job opportunities. But if he did not cooperate, they would ‘settle the score’ with him and his parents in Germany.
19. In Tehran, the Ministry of Intelligence arrested three family members of a supporter shortly after he participated in the February 7 demonstration in Paris. They demanded that the family force their brother to cooperate with the Ministry. The interrogators threatened, ‘We have information on all of your brother’s movements, and you will suddenly see that he has been killed horribly in an accident.’
20. The Ministry of Intelligence has tried to send a number of its own mercenaries abroad under the guise of asylum seekers to spy on refugees and asylum seekers. In parallel, the Ministry of Intelligence tries to recruit some translators and lawyers for immigration and asylum affairs and, through them, obtain information about asylum seekers and falsely tell them that participating in political activities against the regime and in favor of the PMOI endangers their asylum status. Some of these individuals have been identified and reported to the police and responsible authorities in the respective countries.
The German newspaper Tagesspiegel, on November 5, 2025, quoted the NCRI representation, writing, ‘Members of the exiled opposition in Germany receive threatening phone calls or text messages… Relatives of opposition members living in Germany are summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran and interrogated there.’ In this regard, ‘the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) told Tagesspiegel: “The number of reports received has increased in recent years and is at a high level. The fight against opposition groups and individuals inside and outside the country is the main focus of Iran’s intelligence activities. For the Iranian regime, such groups are considered a threat to the continuation of their rule.”‘ The office adds that ‘it should be expected that the regime, through its agents, will ‘continue to use all means – including the use of violence and even murder – against its opponents in Germany.”
The Security and Counterterrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance calls on all asylum seekers and Iranians living abroad to be vigilant against the plots of the Ministry of Intelligence and emphasizes that the only way to reduce the pressure on families inside Iran is a decisive response from the asylum seekers and the exposure of these pressures through social media or any other means. When the regime realizes that its pressures have no effect on the asylum seekers, it will inevitably leave the families alone as well.
The Security and Counterterrorism Committee calls on all Iranian refugees and asylum seekers to expose the spies and mercenaries of the Ministry of Intelligence abroad who are involved in threatening and intimidating our compatriots, and to inform the police and local authorities and, if necessary, file complaints against them.
The Security and Counterterrorism Committee calls on the relevant governments, especially European governments, to arrest, prosecute, and expel the spies and mercenaries of the Ministry of Intelligence, the Quds terrorist Force, and other official and unofficial organs of the ruling religious dictatorship in Iran.
National Council of Resistance of Iran
Security and Counterterrorism Committee
10 November 2025