Paranoia within Iran's regime? Azar Mansouri. the head of Iran's Reformist Front, the umbrella organization that played a central role in securing President Pezeshkian's election, has been arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a move likely to further inflame tensions over the regime's handling of recent street protests.
Mansouri, the secretary general of Iran's Islamic Iran Participation Front, expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of protesters, saying that nothing could justify such a disaster. She did not publicly call for the resignation of Supreme Leader Khamenei. It is important to note that members of the Reformist Front are not opponents of the regime but part of it, seeking internal change within the Islamic Republic.
In what appears to be a decisive move against key reformist figures outside the government, authorities also arrested Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, head of the front's political committee, and Mohsen Aminzadeh, a former deputy foreign minister under ex-president Mohammad Khatami.
At least two other prominent figures in the Reformist Front, an umbrella group comprising up to 27 reformist factions, were ordered to report to police stations this week. The steps appear aimed at preventing the spread of criticism over how security forces handled the demonstrations. The government's official death toll stands at 3,000, but other estimates place the figure significantly higher.
The Tehran prosecutor's office claimed the detainees had made every effort to "justify the actions of the terrorists' infantry forces," alleging they were acting in cooperation with the US and Israel. They were also accused of "undermining national unity, taking a stand against the constitution, promoting surrender, distorting political groupings and creating clandestine subversive mechanisms."
Justifying the unprecedented crackdown, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, head of Iran's judiciary, said: "Those who issue statements against the Islamic Republic from within are aligning themselves with the Zionist regime and with America." He described those who published the statement as "wretched and miserable" and warned that they would "suffer losses."
In a statement released last week, Mansouri said: "We will not allow the blood of our loved ones to be forgotten or the truth to be lost in the dust. Pursuing your rights and striving to clarify the truth is our human duty. With our entire being, we declare our revulsion and anger toward those who, with cruelty and recklessness, dragged the youth of this country into earth and blood. No power, no justification and no passage of time will be able to cleanse this great catastrophe." Mansouri did not endorse foreign intervention.
Her stance follows the arrest of four additional Iranian human rights defenders who signed a statement, backed by 17 prominent activists, calling for a "free and transparent referendum" to establish a new democratic government in Iran. Three of the signatories were initially detained: Vida Rabbani, Abdollah Momeni and Mehdi Mahmoudian. A fourth signatory, Dr. Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad, a senior adviser to Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the reformist former prime minister, also appears to have been arrested.
