Iranian security institutions have come under growing internal pressure and suspicion since Israel’s June attacks, with accounts describing heightened oversight inside the Revolutionary Guard, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, unnamed Iranian officials and security sources said this week that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other agencies have become increasingly distrustful of one another after what the newspaper described as “extensive Israeli infiltration” during the 12-day war in June.
The report said officials inside Iran spoke of security personnel seeking to demonstrate their loyalty as investigations widen.
One senior Iranian official told The Telegraph that “many officials, including within the Sepah [IRGC], are doing everything they can to convince the system that they haven’t done anything wrong,” adding that “the Israelis have massively infiltrated several agencies.”
Another official said, “what’s becoming an even greater concern is the growing number of people who are, in one way or another, betraying the system,” according to the paper.
According to analysts cited in the report, the atmosphere of suspicion could complicate Iran’s crisis-management capabilities. “The paranoia within the IRGC risks weakening Iran’s most powerful military force and the regime’s ability to respond coherently to future crises."
Hundreds of people have been arrested on espionage charges since June and several Iranians have been executed, actions that officials speaking to the outlet described as intended to show that “the system is still functioning.”
The Telegraph also cited officials describing confusion over the status of Tehran’s regional allied forces and unease about the country’s longer-term direction.
A poll by the Iranian Student Polling Agency reported public dissatisfaction at 92%, attributing the figure to Iran’s economic troubles and renewed UN sanctions after the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal.
President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a similar note of concern in remarks to parliament last week, warning that Iran could “turn on itself” if the Supreme Leader were harmed during a crisis.
He said the country’s cohesion rests on Ali Khamenei’s leadership and cautioned that an attack on him during the June war might have triggered internal clashes “without the need for Israel to intervene.” He urged officials to avoid factionalism and to reinforce cooperation across state institutions.
Earlier in the month, the arrest of two men displaying the pre-1979 Iranian flag at a Tehran metro station sparked debate about discontent within parts of the security forces.
Despite the reported pressures, the Telegraph said experts believe the Iranian state remains structurally stable, pointing to what it called “rally-around-the-flag” dynamics during and after the June conflict with Israel.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
