{"id":345219,"date":"2026-05-20T11:11:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=345219"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:11:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:11:57","slug":"besieged-by-war-tehran-fixates-on-mek-resistance-units-as-uprising-threat-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/besieged-by-war-tehran-fixates-on-mek-resistance-units-as-uprising-threat-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"Besieged by War, Tehran Fixates on MEK Resistance Units as Uprising Threat Grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_342932\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-342932\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-342932 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units.jpg\" alt=\"MEK motorcyclist Resistance Units paraded in Tehran on 20 Feb with a banner reading: \u201cWe can and we must\u201d\" width=\"1000\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units-742x420.jpg 742w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units-150x85.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MEK-Resistance-Units-696x394.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-342932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Female MEK motorcyclist Resistance Units paraded in Tehran on 20 Feb with a banner reading: \u201cWe can and we must\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even as the terrorist regime in Iran fights a direct conflict with the United States and Israel, its security apparatus is intensifying a domestic crackdown that singles out one group above all others: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/iran-regime-s-fake-news-against-pmoi-mek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization<\/a> of Iran (PMOI\/MEK). On 17 May 2026, the regime\u2019s commander of the State Security Forces (SSF), Ahmad Reza Radan, announced that more than 6,500 \u201cspies and nation-sellers\u201d had been arrested since the war began.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFrom the beginning of the war until now, more than 6,500 nation-sellers and spies have been arrested,\u201d he told state media, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asriran.com\/fa\/news\/1163747\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to Asriran.com<\/a>. Of those, 567 were flagged as \u201cspecial cases\u201d linked to <em>Monafeqin<\/em> \u2014 the regime\u2019s official term for the MEK\u2014 along with \u201cthugs\u201d and anti-revolutionary elements. Arrests connected to January unrest, he added, \u201ccontinue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The same day, authorities in Lorestan province reported the arrest of an MEK \u201coperational element\u201d in the town of Azna. The suspect was accused of sabotage in multiple provinces, sharing intelligence with contacts abroad, and cooperating with the \u201cterrorist MEK group,\u201d according to an ILNA report <a href=\"https:\/\/feraghnews.ir\/news\/category\/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1\/page\/39\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">carried by Feragh News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;What truly keeps Tehran awake at night is an organized movement that can seize every <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IranProtest?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IranProtest<\/a>, every grievance, every crack in the facade\u2014and forge it, with discipline and direction, into a force for ultimate change,&quot; writes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/khansari_m?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@khansari_m<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TvzWUinhOv\">https:\/\/t.co\/TvzWUinhOv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/2036548597676712048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Regime Insiders Admit PMOI\u2019s Enduring Threat<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eight days earlier, on 8 May 2026, a former intelligence minister and current Friday prayer leader in Arak made an unusually frank admission. Ghorbanali <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/asVgprNI1wY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dorri Najafabadi told<\/a> worshippers: \u201cThe hypocrites still do not let go\u2026 Today, in all incidents and events, the cursed hypocrites are role-players.\u201d He referenced the group\u2019s long history of opposition, from the Iran-Iraq war era to its role in fierce fighting against the regime\u2019s military forces.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PMOI continues to occupy the regime\u2019s foreign-policy calculations. In a mid-May 2026 segment on state television, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.khabaronline.ir\/news\/2217434\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">regime-affiliated analyst proposed<\/a> using control of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in bilateral negotiations with every country whose ships use the waterway.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe point of the negotiations is that we must start bilateral negotiations with all the countries that use the strait,\u201d he said. Officials should quickly compile, through the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Intelligence and security agencies, \u201ca list of our claims or issues we have with each side or country.\u201d He gave the MEK as the very first example: \u201cFor example, with the French, we have the <em>Monafeqin<\/em> organization. We should message the French that if you want your ship to pass through the strait, resolve the issue of the <em>Monafeqin<\/em> organization.\u201d The same demand was made for Albania: \u201cWe should give the same message to Albania, where they have a base. We say you must dismantle it, otherwise your ship will not pass.\u201d The analyst concluded that this tactic of extracting concessions country-by-country was \u201cbetter than negotiating with America.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Khamenei\u2019s Friday Leaders Reveal Deepening Fear of the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mojahedineng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Mojahedineng<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AbATaTeBED\">https:\/\/t.co\/AbATaTeBED<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1947018713359655359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Military Drills and Civilian Weapons Training Signal Panic<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On 13 May 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran province wrapped up a five-day urban-combat exercise. Brigadier General Hassan Hassan-Zadeh said commando units and Basij militiamen had rehearsed \u201call pre-planned scenarios, team and individual tactics and techniques against the enemy in any terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The drill, code-named after a \u201cmartyr leader\u201d and carried out under the slogan of loyalty to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was intended to showcase readiness against \u201cany American-Zionist enemy moves,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/aftabnews.ir\/fa\/news\/1048692\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to state media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the same time, Iranian state television and local mosques have launched public training sessions teaching regime supporters \u2014 including women, teenagers and children \u2014 how to handle firearms and \u201cdefensive preparedness.\u201d Images of young people in military-style clothing at pro-regime night rallies have triggered widespread backlash. Some outlets such as Sazandegi and Asr-e Iran denounced the \u201cmilitarization of the national media,\u201d calling it propaganda that risks turning society into a garrison state.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iranian?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iranian<\/a> Regime\u2019s Fear of the Uprising and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mojahedineng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Mojahedineng<\/a> Signals Its Imminent Downfall<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qvvUKqH5p0\">https:\/\/t.co\/qvvUKqH5p0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1946223599578223078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Leaked Files Expose Deep Official Anxiety<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Classified minutes and audio transcripts from the Tehran and Alborz Provincial Security Councils, spanning 2020 to 2025 and later <a href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/article\/leaked-confidential-documents-expose-tehrans-fear-of-mek-resistance-units\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">leaked by opposition sources<\/a>, reveal a very different picture from the regime\u2019s public confidence. In November 2020, officials called the MEK the \u201cprimary issue at the top of the agenda\u201d for provincial intelligence, noting roughly 144 cases tied to its Resistance Units over the previous two years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By September 2022, at the height of nationwide protests, the head of Alborz Intelligence warned that PMOI directives included the order \u201cthe fire must never leave the streets\u201d and discussed plans to disarm police stations. In December 2023, Tehran Intelligence chief Rastegar conceded that after repeated arrests, \u201cthe operational teams had been reconstructed\u201d and their numbers had increased again. \u201cWe have never seen this before,\u201d he said of a 2024 scheme to strike six points at the Supreme Leader\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Leaked confidential documents expose Tehran\u2019s fear of MEK Resistance Units <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xM7KBdRx47\">https:\/\/t.co\/xM7KBdRx47<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; People&#39;s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mojahedineng\/status\/2056828739812524160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Resistance Units Rebuild Faster Than Repression Can Break Them<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meetings in 2024 and 2025 repeatedly documented the rapid reformation of PMOI cells. In March 2025, IRGC intelligence reported more than 1,050 instances of anti-regime graffiti in Tehran in a single month, rising 50 percent to 1,560 the next. Between 17 January and 9 February 2025 alone, Tehran saw 25 explosive disruptive actions and 23 publicity operations attributed to the group \u2014 twice the national average. Officials also noted NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi\u2019s \u201cThird Way\u201d strategy of internal uprising, distinct from reliance on foreign intervention or appeasement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The regime has answered with executions of eight named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/argentinian-outlet-seul-the-song-of-ghezel-hesar-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resistance Unit members<\/a> \u2014 Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani Amerian, Abolhassan Montazer, Hamed Validi, and Mohammad (Nima) Massoum Shahi \u2014 intended to intimidate the population. Yet the internal records show officials privately acknowledge that such measures have not dismantled the network.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">IRGC-run Fars News Calls for Repeat of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/1988Massacre?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#1988Massacre<\/a> Amid Crumbling Authority and Fear of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mojahedineng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Mojahedineng<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YyGpEExjrn\">https:\/\/t.co\/YyGpEExjrn<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eEcGg8a1KW\">pic.twitter.com\/eEcGg8a1KW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy\/status\/1942620979311616364?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Why the PMOI Terrifies a Besieged Regime<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The regime knows from bitter experience that it can survive foreign air strikes and even million-strong spontaneous, leaderless uprisings, as it has repeatedly demonstrated in recent years. What it truly fears is the agency of an organized movement with six decades of experience \u2014 one that played a major role in the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah, refuses to let go after nearly half a century of resistance, and possesses the discipline to mobilize raw social rage and turn it into a coherent campaign for regime change.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Leaked documents and public statements alike confirm that the clerical leadership views the MEK\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/pmoi-resistance-units\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">decentralized Resistance Units<\/a> not as a relic but as a persistent, adaptive strategic threat capable of giving direction, continuity and staying power to public discontent. For a system now fighting on two fronts \u2014 external war and an explosive society at home \u2014 the greatest danger is not the enemy at the gates, but the organized resistance within.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three-minute read Even as the terrorist regime in Iran fights a direct conflict with the United States and Israel, its security apparatus is intensifying a domestic crackdown that singles out [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":342932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[197,2470],"class_list":{"0":"post-345219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran-resistance","8":"tag-mek-iran","9":"tag-iran-resistance-units"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Besieged by War, Tehran Fixates on MEK Resistance Units as Uprising Threat Grows - 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