Why Iran's Regime Is Now Arresting Its Own Critics

Killing thousands of protesters apparently wasn't enough. Iran's Islamic Republic has now turned its sights on internal critics—even those who once worked within the system. The recent wave of arrests reveals something deeper than routine repression: a regime consumed by existential fear.

From Reformers to Revolutionaries

On January 31, three prominent domestic opposition figures—Abdollah Momeni, Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Vida Rabbani—were swept up in coordinated arrests. Transported far from their Tehran homes to prisons in northern Iran, they were released on bail February 17 after international pressure mounted.

Mahmoudian's case drew particular attention as the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Jafar Panahi's2025 film "It Was Just an Accident." All three figures share a common trajectory: former allies of the regime's incremental reform movement who have since abandoned that approach to advocate for wholesale system change.

Last month, these activists joined two imprisoned allies—former Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh and Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi—in calling for democratic transition and free elections for a constituent assembly. In a BBC Persian interview, Mahmoudian directly called on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to resign.

Hassan Asadi Zeydabadi, the lawyer representing Rabbani and Momeni, told reporters his clients were "most likely arrested because they advocated for Khamenei's dismissal and because the regime wants to prevent the formation of a national opposition inside the country."

Even the Loyal Opposition Isn't Safe

More striking still, the regime has targeted figures from its own "loyal opposition"—reformists who traditionally operate within the system's boundaries. Between February 8-9, Azar Mansouri, leader of the Iranian Reformist Front, was arrested alongside colleagues Javad Emam and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh. They were released on bail February 13-14.

Mansouri had served as an intermediary during the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests, meeting with regime leaders to supposedly address public demands. This time, authorities accused her of "undermining national unity" and "coordinating with enemy propaganda."

Anahita Hosseini-Lewis, an Iran expert at Birkbeck, University of London, diagnoses the system as suffering from "acute existential anxiety." The imperative to replace the Islamic Republic has become near-consensus across Iran's opposition spectrum—and regime operatives know it.

The Exile vs. Homegrown Divide

The regime's successful suppression of domestic movements has driven many Iranians to look abroad, particularly to former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who hasn't set foot in Iran since 1978. The royalist movement has surged around the exiled shah's son, but some inside Iran harbor doubts about both its inclusivity and Pahlavi's lack of in-country experience.

Mohammad Karim Asayesh, an urban activist in Tehran, knows the three arrested figures personally and prefers them to exiled leaders like Pahlavi, whom he considers "inept and undemocratic."

"Unlike Pahlavi, these three have a history of activism inside the country and they've paid a price for it," he explained. "They've harbored an ethical and responsible politics, have remained patriotic. And the fact that they are living in Iran means that they are more attuned to the realities of the Iranian people."

All three arrested figures are in their 40s, making them significantly younger than most Iranian political eminences and more connected to the country's youth. Filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who knew Mahmoudian during their time together in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, praised the screenwriter as "a rare ethical witness" who showed remarkable responsibility toward fellow prisoners.

The Coalition That Could Change Everything

Yet Hosseini-Lewis cautions that these three former reformists "don't currently function as a viable anti-regime leadership, either individually or collectively." A Tehran activist, speaking anonymously for safety, acknowledged their courage while noting that "the regime has created mistrust toward everybody, and their reformist pasts limit their prospects."

Iran's opposition spans a vast spectrum—reformist, republican, monarchist; domestic and international. Amir Hossein Ganjbakhsh, a US-based political activist, advocates bringing together Pahlavi supporters with those of Mirhossein Mousavi, the former prime minister who became the Green Movement's symbolic leader and has languished under house arrest since 2011.

"These two men matter symbolically, as two ends of a spectrum, the two sides of the 1979 revolution," Ganjbakhsh explained. "But the coalition can also include everybody in between. Without losing our historical identities, we can join up together."

Even figures like Mansouri and her Iranian Reformist Front colleagues could potentially be included, given their sympathy for protesters and the price they've paid for it.

Timing Is Everything

The arrests coincided with sensitive diplomatic talks between Iran and the United States. Hard-liners may have worried that any deal would shift the balance of factional forces within the regime, prompting them to shore up their position by eliminating rivals. Reformist former Parliament member Mahmoud Sadeghi went so far as to call the arrests a "pseudo-coup" on social media.

The regime's sensitivity suggests that uniting Iran's diverse opposition remains the movement's best strategic move—if only activists would take it.