A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
There is a crackdown underway in Iran. Authorities there are detaining people suspected of helping Israel in its war against Iran last month. As NPR's Arezou Rezvani reports, some groups are under more scrutiny than others.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: With the ceasefire between Israel and Iran still holding, many people who fled Iran's big cities have returned home. Businesses have reopened. Life has, for the most part, resumed. But there's more than meets the eye, says 43-year-old Mehroz (ph), a former journalist who gives only his nickname for fear of government retribution.
MEHROZ: (Through interpreter) Life in Iran right now, compared to two weeks ago, has become much more difficult. And I think most Iranians feel they're really suffocating. The situation here is getting really scary.
REZVANI: Iran's government says it's on the hunt for suspected infiltrators and spies who helped Israel gather intelligence used to take out key military installations and kill top generals and nuclear scientists. Security forces have sent citizens text messages urging them to report anything suspicious, like an unfamiliar car in the neighborhood or new neighbors. Iran's parliament approved a bill toughening and expanding espionage rules, which includes a ban on Elon Musk's Starlink internet service. Sending photos and videos to foreign media is also prohibited. More checkpoints are set up across the country, and Mehroz says activists and minority groups are under more scrutiny than others.
MEHROZ: (Through interpreter) They've been detaining religious minorities, like Baha'is and Jews, forcing them to confess they're Israeli spies on television. And among women, many of those who had in recent years stopped wearing the hijab in protest have started covering up again, afraid that they could be quickly and harshly swept up in this crackdown.
REZVANI: Hundreds have been arrested since Israel's war against Iran broke out. Several have been executed, according to multiple human rights groups. During this time, Iran passed a law fast-tracking trials that were rushed even before this postwar crackdown began.
HADI GHAEMI: Already, trials that led to executions on politically motivated charges would last two to five minutes. They were foregone conclusions. There really was no trial.
REZVANI: That's Hadi Ghaemi, director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. He says all of this - the detentions, the new laws - all of it is about one thing.
GHAEMI: The regime wants to survive. And I think what is driving the repression is their basic instinct to survive at any cost.
REZVANI: To that end, Ghaemi and other experts say if the government is really serious about rooting out collaborators, it may be looking in the wrong places.
GHAEMI: No ordinary Iranian would know who even many of the revolutionary commanders are, let alone their location and precise information. No ordinary person would know where a military installation is or what is happening there to pass that information to Israel. Now it's become clear that Israel has penetrated the highest levels of this government and military.
REZVANI: To acknowledge the possibility of such a security breach would be a humiliation for Iran's government as it seeks to project strength, unity and control in this moment. But ignoring it could be detrimental to its fight to survive.
Arezou Rezvani, NPR News.
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