As a fragile US-brokered ceasefire takes hold following nearly two weeks of Israeli and American airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites, Tehran’s leadership has turned inward, launching what former officials and observers describe as its most aggressive domestic security crackdown in years.
Since mid-June, authorities have detained at least two dozen people in Tehran alone, accused of spying for Mossad or assisting Israeli strikes, while claiming to have disrupted deep espionage networks.
In response, the state has mobilised the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Basij, and police for sweeping house raids and vehicle checks, and state-linked media like Fars News are urging citizens to report anyone behaving suspiciously, including those wearing “masks, hats, or sunglasses”.
Iran’s judiciary chief has ordered expedited trials and executions for alleged collaborators, invoking sweeping charges such as “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth”. At least six executions have already taken place, following what Amnesty International described as “a grossly unfair trial,” with more feared in the coming days.
According to observers, the campaign is a reflection of the deepening alarm in Tehran over what it calls “deep Israeli intelligence penetrations”.
In the capital and across Iran, eyewitnesses describe frequent raids, mass arrests, and a visible spike in police and Revolutionary Guard patrols that have stirred both domestic unrest and international concern about the future of civil liberties in the Islamic Republic.
Unlike past crackdowns that often targeted specific demographic groups, these new measures appear to apply broadly, affecting Iranians, residents, and foreign visitors alike.
In Qom, a conservative, religious city with symbolic weight in Iranian political and theological life, journalist Naeem Afdal Zadeh has reported a similarly dramatic transformation.
“The presence of checkpoints is unprecedented,” he told The New Arab. “Dozens of people, mostly Afghans and non-Iranians, have been detained. Iranian officials have accused them of collaborating with Israel either during the recent war or in prior incidents,” he added.
"People are visibly unsettled. The atmosphere of constant surveillance and interrogation has intruded into daily life, generating tension and frustration."
The journalist voiced concern over the fate of the detainees, noting that the “lack of transparency,” marked by the absence of public evidence, open trials, or official accountability, has further eroded trust in government institutions.
Israeli spies penetrate deep
A senior official from President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, who requested anonymity for security concerns, confirmed the magnitude of the Israeli penetration.
Speaking to The New Arab, he said that the situation is not “trivial”. Israeli infiltration has reached the uppermost levels of Iran’s military and intelligence apparatus, including “the Ministry of Defence and circles close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”.
The official disclosed that Moscow recently alerted Tehran to the case of a senior Defence Ministry figure suspected of collaborating with Mossad. The man was swiftly arrested and executed, triggering panic among Iran’s security elite.
“Israeli operatives allegedly tapped into the private communications of Revolutionary Guard and army commanders, enabling precision tracking of their movements,” he explained, adding that family members have also become surveillance targets, serving as inadvertent conduits of sensitive information.
The penetration reportedly extends to the heart of Iran’s nuclear program. Within Iran’s intelligence community, the source said that Israeli intelligence is said to have obtained detailed information on the identities and movements of nuclear scientists, information used in a string of high-profile assassinations that Iran has struggled to prevent.
Perhaps most alarmingly, the official alleged that even figures in Supreme Leader Khamenei’s inner circle have been compromised. One such breach, he suggested, contributed to the recent targeting of Ali Shamkhani, the Supreme Leader’s longtime security advisor.
“The government has initiated a structural overhaul of Iran’s security apparatus,” he said. “The reforms include bolstering cybersecurity measures, vetting leadership circles, and enforcing strict scrutiny of the family and social ties of security and military officials.”
As the crackdown intensifies, a prominent Iranian lawyer with ties to the hardline political camp defended the government’s sweeping actions. He argued that Israel’s infiltration of Iran’s security institutions “was not rumour, but a painful reality that cost the nation dearly in both lives and military assets”.
According to the lawyer, Israeli-aligned operatives played a central role in leaking sensitive intelligence about the movements of top Revolutionary Guard and army commanders, directly contributing to deadly attacks during the recent war.
He characterised the government’s response as “a historic and necessary cleansing” to protect national security, warning that the operation has only just begun.
"The spy networks are far more extensive than most realise," the lawyer said, “Many suspected operatives are non-Iranians with forged identities or illegal entry into Iran.”
Dismantling these networks, he said, would require not only internal reform but also regional and international intelligence cooperation, as well as new immigration policies tailored to sensitive areas.
“Unless there is a determined and lasting will to purge the structural flaws in the administrative and security systems, we are bound to see even more catastrophic breaches,” he said.
Rights groups sound alarm
As of the end of June, official reports indicate that over 700 individuals have been detained on suspicion of espionage or collaboration with foreign intelligence agencies. Among those arrested are government employees, civil society activists, and foreign or dual nationals.
Iran’s judiciary has already carried out six executions following closed-door trials in the country’s Revolutionary Courts, tribunals known for lacking due process and appeals mechanisms, sparking widespread condemnation.
Human rights groups, including the Istanbul-based Justice for Iran, have expressed deep concern over the crackdown, arguing that the war has emboldened the state’s repressive apparatus.
While acknowledging that real breaches had occurred, a spokesperson for the organisation, who wished to remain anonymous for the safety of his family members in Iran, condemned what he called the “extreme secrecy and media blackout” surrounding the investigations.
“The lack of transparency discredits the entire process,” he said. “There is no independent oversight. No one knows who’s been arrested, where they’re held, or what legal rights, if any, they’ve been granted.”
The spokesperson warned that the regime appears to be conflating actual spies with political dissidents. Justice for Iran also reported ongoing harassment of detainees’ families, some of whom have been threatened or temporarily detained for attempting to obtain information about their loved ones.
The group documented numerous cases of people arrested merely for being near Israeli bombing sites or due to vague suspicions, often without evidence or legal recourse.
“War does not justify the abandonment of legal norms,” the spokesperson said. “This sweeping crackdown is dragging Iran back into an era of fear and opacity, a course that threatens internal explosion more than national security.”
Public frustration growing
In the capital, University of Tehran student Ali Khorshidi described life as increasingly stifling.
“Since the war ended, it’s become almost impossible to move around the city without encountering checkpoints or being stopped for inspections,” he said. “The atmosphere is suffocating. We’ve never seen this level of security presence before.”
Several of his friends, fellow students, and journalists have been detained without explanation.
“At the university, people whisper but no longer speak,” he told The New Arab. “There are sudden disappearances. Families are terrified of false espionage charges.”
According to Khorshidi, what once felt like patriotic solidarity at the start of the war has given way to fear of the state itself. The charge of “spying for Israel,” he said, has become a tool for silencing dissent and settling political scores.
“There is no transparency. No independent media. No judiciary we can trust. And that accusation; it’s a social death sentence.”
'National survival'
In stark contrast to these voices of concern, conservative political figures are defending the sweeping security measures as essential for national survival.
Mohammad Kazem Anbarlouei, a senior member of Iran’s Islamic Coalition Party and a leading figure in the country’s hardline political current, said the nation is still in a state of “open war”, and the government must respond accordingly.
“Iran is at war, and that war has not ended,” Anbarlouei said. “The state will not tolerate anyone who collaborates with the enemy, especially Mossad. This is a matter of national existence and security.”
Anbarlouei insisted that Iran’s security agencies possess “sufficient evidence” to track and dismantle espionage networks operating in major cities. These measures, he said, are justified in what he called “a time of emergency,” warning that leniency could lead to even greater disasters.
He added that the hardline political camp sees this as a clear message to both the government and the public.
“Heightened security measures must continue, even if civil liberties are compromised in the process,” he said.
His comments come as human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), report a sharp rise in arrests tied to espionage allegations since early June.
The government has not released detailed charges or evidence against most detainees, and families have been left in the dark about the status of their loved ones. HRANA and other rights groups warn that such tactics erode the rule of law and risk turning Iran’s internal security strategy into a blanket mechanism for political repression.
This article is published in collaboration with Egab