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Recent events in Iran reveal a regime engaged in a coordinated, multi-front war against its own citizens as it still reels in the aftermath of the 12-day conflict. This is not a series of isolated incidents but a deliberate strategy of total repression, combining brutal physical violence, medieval ideological threats, and a desperate campaign to sever the public’s access to information. The regime’s actions, from the streets of Hamedan to the cells of Ghezel Hesar prison, expose a government that has come to rule by terror alone.
Brutality in Prisons and on the Streets
The regime’s use of physical violence as a tool of state policy is both systemic and increasingly brazen. On June 30, 2025, special guards at Ghezel Hesar Prison launched a savage attack on political prisoners in Hall 3 of Ward 1. Inmates were beaten with batons and tasers, with a particular focus on three defendants from the high-profile Ekbatan case: Navid Najjaran, Alireza Barmarzpournak, and Amirmohammad Khosh-Eqbal. Reports indicate the attack was so severe that Alireza Barmarzpournak’s head was fractured. This assault is consistent with the regime’s policy of intentionally housing political prisoners alongside violent criminals, a clear violation of international law designed to break their spirit.
This state-sanctioned violence extends beyond prison walls. On July 1, 2025, in the Tarik Darreh area of Hamedan, state security forces shot and killed two young men, Omid Rasouli and Behrouz Fathi, during a car chase. A third individual was wounded. These extrajudicial killings demonstrate that lethal force is a standard procedure for enforcing control and instilling fear in the general population.
Baluch #Women Stand Tall Against Regime Brutality in Southeastern Gunich Villagehttps://t.co/Lcu6IELti7
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 2, 2025
Silencing Thought and Information
This physical war is waged alongside an ideological one aimed at criminalizing dissent. On July 1, 2025, Mojtaba Fazel, a cleric with close ties to the regime, publicly declared the punishment for those who insult the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He stated the sentence is “death, crucifixion, and the amputation of hands and feet.” Such a barbaric threat is not merely rhetoric; it is a clear message that free expression will be met with the most extreme forms of violence.
As the regime seeks to control what citizens think, it is also intensifying efforts to control what they see and say. Following the announcement of a ban on the Starlink satellite internet service, prices for the hardware on Iran’s black market have soared to between $700 and $2,000. In a striking admission, the state-run Eghtesad 24 news site noted the futility of this strategy, citing the regime’s past failures to suppress technology. The outlet recalled the failed ban on VCRs in the 1980s, the unenforced ban on satellite dishes in the 1990s, and the ongoing, largely ineffective filtering of the internet, which Iranians bypass with VPNs. “All these experiences show that technology cannot be seized,” the state media outlet concluded.
#Iran’s Regime Responds to Military Losses with Repression and Belligerencehttps://t.co/xZNoIoYUWi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 25, 2025
A Strategy of Weakness
Viewed together, the brutal beatings in Ghezel Hesar, the lethal shootings in Hamadan, the medieval threats from the clergy, and the futile war on technology are not the actions of a secure government. They are components of a deliberate strategy waged by a weak and illegitimate regime that fears its own people. This multi-front assault reveals a government that has abandoned any pretense of popular consent and now relies solely on terror to maintain its grip on power.