The Ansar Hezbollah organization, a hardline Iranian paramilitary group, has reemerged on the streets of Iran after years of limited public activity, underscoring deepening divisions in the country over how to handle the ongoing conflict with the United States.
Iranian activists say members of Ansar Hezbollah, which first emerged prominently in the 1980s through attacks on universities, newspapers and demonstrations, are taking part in security operations and preparing for actions aimed at pressuring President Masoud Pezeshkian and his government. Within the group, which the U.S. has placed under sanctions for human rights abuses, calls are growing to oust the Islamic Republic and replace it with an “Islamic government” with reduced elected institutions.
Four activists inside Iran told MBN that the group’s return began after the United States and Israel launched attacks in late February. They said its members have since been operating alongside Basij forces in cities as divisions within the ruling establishment deepen between a faction seeking an agreement with the United States and another rejecting any settlement and calling for a tighter grip by hard-liners on power.
“The conflict is no longer between the main leaders of the Iranian regime,” Jamil Ahmadi, a Kurdish opposition political activist based in Europe, told MBN. “It has reached the lower ranks of regime supporters, who are now openly fighting each other and accusing one another of betrayal, selling out the country and making concessions.”
On Aug. 5, Iranian media published a video of hardline cleric Mohammad Bagher Khorramzi, secretary-general of Ansar Hezbollah in Iran, calling on his supporters to gather in Tehran, surround government ministries and work to bring down the Pezeshkian government, which he accused of weakness and betrayal.
Khorramzi, who is related by marriage to the family of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said the Islamic Republic was no longer sufficient and that his group had prepared a plan to transition to what he called an “Islamic government.” He attacked Pezeshkian, government officials, members of the supreme leader’s family and their representatives.
His statements prompted the judiciary to announce that measures had been taken against him. But Iranian opposition figures told MBN that Khorramzi did not appear in court after interventions by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the supreme leader’s office halted the proceedings against him.
Iranian activists place the group’s return and increasingly confrontational rhetoric within the context of a widening power struggle since the outbreak of the war, pitting a faction seeking an agreement with Washington against hard-liners who view any settlement as a retreat that could threaten the regime’s survival.
Ansar Hezbollah is an offshoot of the Iranian Hezbollah movement, a paramilitary group that has been associated with hard-liners and state institutions since the early years of the revolution. After emerging in the 1980s, the group played a role in suppressing activists and students in the 1990s and took part in confronting the large-scale protests in 2009 before largely withdrawing from public view.
According to the four activists, Ansar Hezbollah’s return has extended beyond political activity and slogan-chanting. They said members have begun appearing in residential neighborhoods, operating alongside Basij forces and participating in security and intelligence operations since the war began.
The group has recently raised slogans rejecting any agreement with the United States and accused Pezeshkian and his government of “betrayal and weakness,” the activists said. Members of Ansar Hezbollah have also clashed in recent months with supporters of the Bahar faction associated with former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran and other cities, using sticks and knives, they said, adding that the group has also confronted supporters of the reformist movement.
According to the activists, the group also helped prevent attempts to organize antigovernment protests during the war. Its members are now preparing to organize larger gatherings with support from hardline figures within the IRGC to pressure Pezeshkian and his government.
Mehdi Reza, an expert on Iran and the Middle East, said the intensity of the internal struggle over how to respond to the war reflects the regime’s shrinking options.
He said the authorities face a difficult choice: Continued escalation could mean more strikes, isolation and economic pressure, while any settlement could require concessions on issues the regime considers essential to its survival, including its nuclear and missile programs and its network of regional allies.
“One group believes that retreating and negotiating could give the authorities an opportunity to catch their breath, while another fears that any retreat would undermine the regime’s prestige, weaken its institutions and open the door to an eruption in the streets,” he said.
Despite their differences, the factions share concerns about the return of widespread protests amid deteriorating economic conditions, rising arrests and executions, and an expanded security presence.
Experts say those concerns also help explain the return of groups such as Ansar Hezbollah, which has historically played a role in confronting political opponents and protests alongside official security institutions.
The first core of Iranian Hezbollah emerged in the years following the 1979 revolution and was associated with conservative factions, circles close to the supreme leader and the IRGC. Groups affiliated with the movement became known in the 1980s for attacking universities, newspaper offices and political gatherings whose participants were accused of opposing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini or taking part in a “counterrevolution.”
After the Iran-Iraq war ended, Ansar Hezbollah took part in attacks on student gatherings and reformist activities during the 1990s and resurfaced during the 2009 protests before its public presence declined in subsequent years.
The current call to replace the Islamic Republic with an “Islamic government” goes beyond a dispute over the name of the system.
The Islamic Republic, in its current form, combines elected institutions such as the presidency and Parliament with the authority of the supreme leader and religious and security institutions. The model advocated by hard-liners under the banner of an “Islamic government” would reduce the political weight of elected institutions while expanding the authority of religious leadership and regime institutions.
Mousa al-Sharifi, an Iran affairs specialist, said the developments reflect the growing influence of the IRGC over political, security and foreign-policy decisions.
The confrontation with the United States, he said, has given hard-liners an additional argument for further concentrating power and reducing the role of civilian and elected institutions.
In this context, activists and opposition figures view Ansar Hezbollah’s return as part of a broader effort to reshape the balance of power within the regime as external pressure and internal divisions intensify.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
