TEHRAN — Iranian security and intelligence agencies announced a series of decisive operations on Tuesday, successfully dismantling multiple organized terror networks and “ISIS-style” cells across several provinces.

The coordinated sweep, involving the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Intelligence, and police forces, has led to the arrest of hundreds of ringleaders linked to U.S. and Israeli handlers.

The protests broke out on December 28, 2025, when early economic demonstrations in Tehran’s Great Bazaar were quickly overtaken by what Iranian officials characterize as “armed terrorist elements.”

Authorities say these foreign-linked cells transformed peaceful gatherings into violent riots, attacking mosques and damaging critical public infrastructure.

The clashes left a few thousand people dead, with January 8–10 becoming the bloodiest stretch of the turmoil.

Neutralizing armed cells

In Kerman, the IRGC announced the “destruction” of a network of “Baha’i elements directly managed by agents in the U.S. and the Zionist regime.”

According to their statement, these operatives organized virtual groups to deploy “operational teams armed with cold and hot weapons” the moment unrest began.

This follows a revelation on January 19 that 12 other espionage and terrorist networks were neutralized in the same province, with authorities noting that several members had direct ties to Israel.

Simultaneously, the IRGC in Khorasan-Razavi said it struck a major blow against a “U.S.-Zionist terrorist network.”

Officials announced the arrest of a three-member armed monarchist team and a five-member cell linked to the MEK terrorist organization. In their hideouts, security forces seized firearms and explosives.

The IRGC stated that these groups were responsible for torching energy and transportation infrastructure, while also identifying those who killed security forces in “ISIS-style” attacks.

Confronting foreign-backed ‘field commanders’

The scale of the foreign-orchestrated conspiracy was further highlighted in Lorestan and Zanjan.

The IRGC in Lorestan detained 134 “field leaders” who orchestrated assaults on mosques, banks, and service vehicles, echoing the MEK’s brutal tactics of the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Zanjan’s public security police arrested 150 “sellout” agitators. Per the police report, these individuals were involved in “shedding innocent blood” and attempting to storm military installations.

In Isfahan, the local intelligence department detailed the capture of five terrorists “directly involved in the martyrdom of security forces,” along with 45 field rioters.

Authorities emphasized that these mercenaries targeted “defenseless women and children” and religious sites to incite fear.

Similar operations were reported in Khuzestan, where the IRGC neutralized agents tasked by foreign services with “kill-and-blame” missions, infrastructure sabotage, and the desecration of mosques.

Coercion and blackmail: The tactics of sedition

In a series of startling admissions, detainees in Fars Province exposed the coercive methods used by handlers to fuel the violence.

A detained student admitted to being manipulated by virtual groups claiming “the government is falling,” only to be abandoned by his handlers after he torched a religious site.

Another suspect detailed a more sinister tactic: “moral blackmail.” He confessed that handlers used “videos obtained through sexual assault and exploitation” to coerce teenagers into attacking banks under the threat of public exposure.

Iranian security forces have reaffirmed that while legitimate protests are a right, foreign-funded terror is a red line.

“Agents of the U.S. and the Zionist regime committed heinous crimes in this sedition. They murdered a few thousand people,” asserted Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Saturday.

Authorities maintain that the current operations, bolstered by “over 400,000 public tips,” will continue until the “back of the sedition is completely broken.”