Clandestine opposition groups in Iran that initially used Molotov cocktails against security facilities say they have recently begun using assault rifles and grenades to target members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia.
Interviews conducted by MBN with six activists suggest that small armed groups may be increasing their activity in several parts of Iran, including major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad. According to their accounts, the attacks are not directed by a single, unified movement but are carried out by separate groups with different histories, organizational structures and objectives.
Three of the activists belong to newly formed independent youth groups, while two are affiliated with the armed wings of Kurdish opposition parties. The sixth is a member of the armed wing of an Ahwazi political party.
MBN spoke with the activists through local intermediaries after repeated attempts to establish contact. It could not independently verify all their accounts or the scale of the operations their groups claimed to carry out.
From Molotov Cocktails to Firearms
The independent activists said they had turned to armed resistance in response to what they described as killings, arrests and torture carried out by members of the Basij and the IRGC against anti-government protesters.
According to their accounts, their campaign began with Molotov cocktail attacks on Basij bases, police stations, checkpoints and patrols in major cities such as Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan.
The escalation became more pronounced in late May, according to the activists, when some groups moved from attacking facilities to targeting individuals they accused of involvement in the arrest, torture or killing of protesters.
Armed activity is not new in Iran’s Kurdish, Ahwazi and Baluch regions, where opposition organizations have operated for decades from areas near the border and the mountains.
If confirmed, the emergence of small armed groups operating in major cities would mark a departure from Iran’s traditional pattern of insurgent violence, which has largely been concentrated in peripheral regions.
No Evidence of a Coordinated Insurgency
Amjad Hossein Panahi, a senior official in the Kurdish opposition party Komala, said the Iranian government’s continued crackdown on protestors had pushed some Iranians, particularly the youth, to abandon hopes of peaceful political change.
He said conditions in Iran’s Kurdish region differ from those in major cities because armed operations there are carried out by long-established political organizations operating under their own command structures and strategies.
Panahi described the recent attacks as the beginning of an “armed uprising” against the government.
It is a characterization that reflects the position of an opposition party which maintains an armed organization inside Iran. There is, however, no independent evidence that the scattered attacks have evolved into a coordinated or large-scale insurgency.
On June 28, Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, reported that two Guards were killed in the city of Paveh in Kermanshah province after gunmen opened fire and fled the scene.
A senior military official in a Kurdish opposition party said that because of security restrictions and the difficulty of maintaining communications, internal organizations and military wings sometimes decide to carry out attacks without consulting senior leaders based outside Iran.
He added that several operations in Kurdish areas over the past two months were launched in response to Iranian missile strikes against the headquarters and positions of Kurdish opposition parties.
The Kurdish and Ahwazi activists interviewed by MBN said their operations are carried out under plans overseen by internal party structures.
They also said that their attacks had prompted some IRGC personnel to reduce their movements, while others had abandoned their posts.
Different Tactics Across Regions
MBN’s review of attacks reported by Iranian media or claimed by opposition groups indicates that tactics vary by region.
In urban areas, operations have been focused on checkpoints, patrols and smaller or isolated security facilities before attackers withdraw to avoid capture.
In Kurdish, Ahwazi and Baluch regions, some organizations have used mortar rounds, improvised explosive devices and modified commercial drones, in addition to ambushes in desert and mountainous terrain.
Armed Kurdish parties operate primarily in rugged mountains and forests that provide cover before and after attacks.
In Ahwaz, in southwestern Iran, Arab opposition factions remain active, while Baluch organizations operate in the desert and mountainous regions of the country’s southeast.
Independent youth groups, some of which refer to themselves as “Resistance Units,” say they are active inside cities including Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan and Shiraz.
Hamid Motasher, head of the Ahwazi Liberal Party, said that the violence echoes long-accumulated anger among what he described as Iran’s “non-Persian peoples,” whom he said have faced decades of repression and efforts to erase their identity.
That description reflects the political position of some ethnic opposition parties, which are often labeled as separatist or terrorist groups by Iranian authorities.
Kurdish and Ahwazi parties say more than 40 members of the IRGC, the Basij and Iran’s intelligence services have been killed so far in their attacks since May, with dozens more wounded.
MBN could not independently verify those figures, and Iranian authorities do not publish a comprehensive tally of casualties suffered by their security forces in such incidents.
The scale of the phenomenon, and whether it can be sustained, are questions difficult to assess. The groups that spoke to MBN said they operate independently, and there are no clear indications that they share a common leadership or unified strategy.
Still, the apparent spread of some armed activity into major cities, away from the border regions where Iran’s insurgent violence has historically been situated, could presents Iranian authorities with a new security challenge.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
