Iran launches crackdown on leftist intellectuals with arrests, summonses
Iranian security agents detained four and summoned two leftist intellectuals critical of state policies including two economists on Monday, according to local media reports.
Iranian security agents detained four and summoned two leftist intellectuals critical of state policies including two economists on Monday, according to local media reports.
Those targeted include economists Parviz Sadeghat and Mohammad Maljoo, sociologist Mahsa Asadollahnejad, writers and translators Shirin Karimi and Heyman Rahimi, and researcher Rasoul Ghanbari.
Tehran's reformist leaning Shargh daily reported that security forces arrested Sedaghat early on Monday morning after searching his home and seizing books and electronic devices, while fellow economist Maljoo was summoned for questioning.
“We still don’t know why this happened. Up to this moment my father has not contacted us,” Shargh quoted Sedaghat's daughter Mahtab as saying.
Shargh also said that Maljoo had been scheduled to appear before security authorities for questioning. According to his family, after his belongings were confiscated he went to the location specified by the security agencies.
The report added that there is currently no information about Maljoo’s status and the reason for Sedaghat’s arrest remains unclear.
In a July article, Sedaghat had written that despite the ceasefire with Israel, “we continue to live within the same rhetoric, the same confrontational tone.” He warned that Iran’s economy “has been caught in structural blockage” and that without political reform, it is “pushing the country toward systemic collapse.”
In a separate report, Shargh said Mahsa Asadollahnejad, a PhD graduate in political sociology, was detained on Monday morning while at her parents’ home after agents seized her electronic devices.
Her whereabouts remain unknown and she has not yet contacted her family, it added.
Radio Zamaneh reported the arrest of Shirin Karimi, a writer, translator and researcher, after security forces raided her home in the morning searched the premises and confiscated her books and electronic devices before taking her to an undisclosed location.
Her family has received no information about the reason for her detention, according to the reports.
In another report, Shargh said security agents confiscated the electronic devices and books of writer and translator Heyman Rahimi on Monday morning.
Rahimi has been ordered to appear at a designated location on Tuesday for questioning, according to the report. No further details have been released about the reason for the summons.
Activists say Monday’s arrests targeted left-leaning intellectuals.
“The arrests of Parviz Sedaghat, Rasoul Ghanbari, Mahsa Asadollahnejad, Shirin Karimi and Mohammad Maljoo — all prominent leftist figures — show that the government is more concerned about the growing influence of independent leftist movements than about criticism from within the system (reformist or conservative),” Iranian Kurdish activist and journalist Kaveh Ghoreishi said on X.
According to the report, local officials in Golestan Province said years of neglect and slow implementation of restoration projects have pushed the gulf -- once a vital ecosystem for fisheries and wetlands -- close to collapse.
Abdollah Aghaalikhani, director-general of the provincial inspection organization, told Tasnim that several measures approved by Iran’s National Wetlands Restoration Committee “have not been implemented.”
He added, “Some agencies at the national level are behind the scheduled timelines for the interventions, and negligence has been observed.”
Aghaalikhani warned that research indicates “there are only three to five years left” to save the Gorgan Gulf, calling for a chain of coordinated actions to stabilize the ecosystem.
He added that the oversight body is “seriously and continuously monitoring implementation of executive commitments, including dredging, water pumping, and completion of coastal wastewater treatment plants.”
Abdoljalal Eiri, a lawmaker representing coastal constituencies in Golestan, told Tasnim that parliament has allocated 10 trillion rials (about $9 million) for the gulf’s restoration in next year’s budget, but said the Environment Department must first conduct a comprehensive study to use the funds effectively.
“Legal obligations exist to rescue Gorgan Gulf, and any agency that has failed to act will be held accountable,” Eiri said.
He added that he has filed complaints against the Environment Department and the Plan and Budget Organization under Article 234 of Parliament’s internal rules “for negligence in implementing legal duties.”
Tasnim added that the Gulf, once a thriving link between the Caspian Sea and Miankaleh Wetland, has been shrinking due to declining Caspian water levels, sedimentation, and rising temperatures.
Dredging of a key canal linking the gulf to the sea began under former President Ebrahim Raisi in 2022, but locals say renewed sedimentation has rendered navigation nearly impossible.
Environmental experts have warned that failure to restore water flow could turn parts of northern Iran into new dust storm zones, threatening local fisheries and livelihoods.
Tasnim wrote that the Gorgan Gulf, once known as “the jewel of northern Iran,” may vanish within a few years unless dredging, pumping, and wastewater control projects are implemented “without further delay.”
Videos received by Iran International show large crowds attending Sarlak’s burial in Lorestan province, chanting “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator.”
Others cried, “We will kill whoever killed my brother,” and “This flower that has withered is a gift to the homeland.”
Several mourners recited verses from the Shahnameh -- the Persian national epic written by the 10th-century poet Ferdowsi, which celebrates heroism and resistance to tyranny -- comparing Sarlak’s courage to that of ancient Persian heroes.
Sarlak’s father appeared in a widely shared video at the site where his son’s body was found, saying, “They killed my champion here.” Another man in the clip can be heard saying Sarlak was “surrounded and shot.”
The funeral followed comments from Ali Asadollahi, the police commander of Aligoudarz, who said on Sunday that the body of a young man had been discovered inside a car near Arsalan Goodarzi Stadium, adding that he “took his own life with a handgun.”
Authorities did not identify the victim, but social media users soon named him as Sarlak and accused officials of pressuring the family to endorse the suicide narrative.
A final act of defiance
Before his death, Sarlak had posted videos on Instagram showing a burning photo of Khamenei with an archival recording of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s voice playing over it.
In another story tagged “Death to Khamenei,” he wrote: “How long should we endure humiliation, poverty, and being ridden over? This is the moment to show yourself, young people. These clerics are nothing but a stream for Iran’s youth to cross.”
Activists described Sarlak as a patriotic youth and said he was “killed under torture by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry” hours after sharing the video.
Another user wrote he had been “arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Organization and his bruised, tortured body was later returned to his family.”
Iran International cannot independently verify those remarks. Judicial and security authorities have not provided clarification on the circumstances of his death, and the lack of transparency has intensified public skepticism.
In recent years, officials have repeatedly attributed suspicious deaths to suicide -- a statement widely doubted by the public, who often use the phrase “he was suicided” to express disbelief.
One such case was that of former political prisoner Sara Tabrizi, found dead at her parents’ home last year after pressure from security forces.
“I believe the enemy today neither has the power nor the conditions to begin a war,” Ali-Mohammad Naeini said in an interview with the podcast Story of the War on Sunday.
“They entered with maximal goals from the start. Now the question is, with what new motive or objective could they act again? When we speak of war, we mean the full-scale conflict that aimed to overthrow and divide the country.”
The problem for Iran’s adversaries, Naeini said, was not just weapons shortages but technological weakness. “Their real problem is the lack of advanced technology, inadequate air-defense systems, and limited technical knowledge,” he added.
“Even with what technology they possessed, they could not mount an effective defense, and there is still no sign of new strategic readiness that could improve deterrence or serve fresh objectives.”
Iran’s military readiness, he said, remains constant. “Preparations go on around the clock,” Naeini added. “From the youth of the Aerospace Force to ground units, the Basij, and senior commanders, everyone is in the field studying threats and developments.”
Response to Haniyeh assassination
Security officials, Naeini said, acted within hours of the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, in a July 2024 Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran. “The National Security Council met immediately,” he said. “The conclusion was clear: a response was necessary.”
He said an investigation confirmed the strike was not internal sabotage. “A shoulder-launched missile entered through the window and struck while he was on a phone call,” Naeini said. “The attackers used his phone signal to locate and hit him.”
The follow-up operation, codenamed True Promise 2, he added, served both as retaliation and deterrence.
“That strike was not only a response to the assassination but also a boost to the regional deterrence posture and to the morale of our allies.”
Operations and missile strikes
The Guards, according to Naeini, conducted 22 waves of operations during the 12-day war. “We designed the campaign so the Israelis would continually experience going to their shelters,” he said.
“From the fifth to the eighth day, the battlefield superiority was absolute for us, and on the final day we enjoyed complete victory.”
Iranian forces downed at least 80 advanced drones and recorded 334 wrecks, he said. “These drones employed some of the world’s most advanced technologies,” Naeini added.
“Through cyber measures and short-range systems we neutralized those threats and restored relative air security.”
On June 23, 2025, the IRGC launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
“Fourteen missiles were launched; six hit the target,” Naeini said, adding that “about $111 million was spent by the US to counter them.”
Iran’s aim was deterrence, not escalation, Naeini maintained. “When we can force the enemy to its knees with our operational units, there is no need to widen the war.”
The 12-day conflict ended June 24 under a US-brokered ceasefire, but concern deepened as 400 kilograms of Iran’s highly enriched uranium remained unaccounted for.
Iran’s missile and drone power across all branches of the Guards “remains fully ready,” though “not all capabilities have been engaged, nor was there any need,” Naeini said.
The police commander of Sarlak's hometown Aligoudarz in Lorestan province announced on Sunday that the body of a young man had been found inside a vehicle near Araslan Goodarzi Stadium, without mentioning his identity.
Ali Asadollahi said the man had “taken his own life with a handgun,” adding that the case was under forensic police investigation to determine motive and exact cause.
Several social media users identified the young man as Omid Sarlak, saying that authorities had refused to hand over his body to his family and were pressuring them to confirm the official suicide narrative.
Users shared screenshots of Sarlak’s final Instagram stories. In one, he posted a video of Khamenei’s photo being set on fire, overlaid with audio of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
In another story, accompanied by the hashtag “Death to Khamenei,” Sarlak wrote:
“How long should we endure humiliation, poverty, and being ridden over? This is the moment to show yourself, young people. These clerics are nothing but a stream for Iran’s youth to cross.”
He added: “Instead of posting stories about imaginary enemies, show yourself now. This is the same moment you used to say, ‘If God is with us, no enemy matters.’ Here’s the field—prove yourselves. Doesn’t every city have four brave young people? I’ll be the first to come out.”
Shahram Sadidi, a poet and political activist from Sabzevar, posted photos of Sarlak on X and wrote: “He posted these stories and went to the streets. A few hours later, his bullet-riddled body was found in a car. The family still hasn’t received the body and is being forced to say it was suicide.”
Another user called him a “patriotic Bakhtiari youth” and claimed he was killed “under torture by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry” nine hours after posting
A different user wrote that Sarlak was arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Organization and “his bruised, tortured body was later returned to his family.”
Iran International cannot immediately verify the allegations.
Judicial and security officials have not yet issued any new clarification on the circumstances of Sarlak’s death, and the lack of transparency has fueled further questions.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly attributed suspicious deaths to suicide in recent years—an explanation widely rejected by the public, who often respond sarcastically with the phrase “he was suicided.”
One example was the case of former political prisoner Sara Tabrizi, whose body was found at her parents’ home in Tehran last year, after weeks of heavy pressure and interrogation by security agents.