The domestic armed threat facing Iran
External support for ethnic armed groups poses an escalating security threat to Iran, experts and state officials warn.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly publicised arrests and clashes with small armed cells inside the country, or skirmishes with armed groups along land borders, particularly in the lead-up to and during the war with Israel and the United States.
They have endeavoured to frame the war as a national security struggle while sending a message of control and deterrence to audiences inside the country and abroad.
In one of the latest instances, state media said on Sunday that members of an eight-member network allegedly affiliated with “anti-revolutionary” and “pro-monarchy” groups were arrested.
Iran’s military forces have attacked bases operated by these groups in Iraq in recent years, while also pursuing security deals with the Iraqi government to contain them.