TehranIran’s police chief announced 6,500 espionage arrests.
General Ahmad-Reza Radan said identification operations are continuing and none of those detained in January’s unrest have been released.
Radan said police operations have “not stopped” and gave no end date or suspect threshold.
Sources: Mehr News Agency
THE PARALLEL STATE
Iran has two armed forces. The regular military (Artesh) defends borders; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) defends the revolution. Domestic security runs through a third layer — the police (FARAJA) under the Interior Ministry, the Basij paramilitary under the IRGC, and the Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) competing with IRGC Intelligence Organization.
THE ESPIONAGE CHARGE
Under Iran's penal code, espionage (jasusi) and 'corruption on earth' (mofsed-fil-arz) are capital offenses tried in Revolutionary Courts — a parallel judiciary created in 1979, outside the regular criminal system. Evidence standards are lower, defense access is restricted, and verdicts are rarely overturned.
THE 1980s PRECEDENT
During the Iran-Iraq war, the regime executed thousands accused of spying for Iraq, the MEK, or foreign powers — culminating in the 1988 prison massacres where 2,800-5,000 political prisoners were killed in weeks. Wartime mobilization has historically been when Iran's security state casts its widest net.
THE DUAL-NATIONAL PATTERN
Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. Iranian-Americans, Iranian-Europeans, and Iranian-Israelis arrested on Iranian soil are treated solely as Iranian nationals — and are often the most visible espionage detainees because their foreign governments protest. The dual-national becomes a diplomatic bargaining chip.
THE ECONOMIC LEVER
Mass detention compounds Iran's economic squeeze. Sanctions already isolated the rial; security crackdowns deter the remaining foreign investment and accelerate brain drain among professionals who can leave.
THE ISRAELI INFILTRATION ANXIETY
Mossad's documented operations inside Iran — the 2018 nuclear archive heist from a Tehran warehouse, the 2020 assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh by remote-controlled gun, the 2024 killing of Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh in an IRGC guesthouse — have humiliated Iran's security services. Mass arrests are partly a response to a real penetration problem, partly a way to demonstrate vigilance.