Iran’s New Tactics to Suppress Nationwide Protests
Iran has deployed new techniques to swiftly and decisively crush nationwide protests, signaling a tactical shift by a regime that now views domestic dissent as an extension of the summer war with Israel. What began as the regime’s age-old riot-control methods quickly escalated into advanced techniques to suppress protests, combining cutting-edge military technology with sophisticated psychological operations, according to experts.
A Tactical Shift in Riot-Control Methods
Low-flying surveillance drones, signal jammers, a rapid-response propaganda apparatus, and the violent deployment of force were unleashed simultaneously by a regime keen to learn from each wave of unrest. Iran’s latest playbook to crush dissent reflects lessons adopted after deep Israeli infiltration of the country shocked and embarrassed the regime due to its role in Israel’s success in the 12-day war in June.
Advanced Techniques and Surveillance
The increasingly paranoid government now frames the latest wave of domestic unrest as the “thirteenth day of war” with Israel, painting protesters as foreign agents that need to be “dealt with.” Protesters were heavily surveilled with CCTV cameras on the streets, but even those who chose to protest from their homes by shouting anti-regime slogans from their windows were being watched.
“We got information that someone in your building was chanting and it was coming from your apartment,” a member of the security forces tells a man in the blurred video posted by Iranian media outlets on social media.
The post citing Iran’s national police read, “Everything is under surveillance.”
Communication Blackout and Internet Control
Another tactic involved a communications blackout at an unprecedented scale. For days, Iran became nearly impossible to reach from the outside world. Even SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet terminals, used by Iranians to circumvent the restrictions, were jammed using what experts describe as military-grade technology.
“I haven’t seen anything like that at all. It was not regular jamming, they have some sort of military equipment,” Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity expert and director at New York City-based Miaan group, a digital advocacy group, said.
The country’s decades-long push to nationalize its internet infrastructure – accelerated by intensifying international sanctions – has given the state far greater capacity to censor, throttle, and control online activity. Iran completely shut down the internet during the 2019 fuel-price protests and the 2022 women’s rights demonstrations. But the scale and sophistication of the recent blackout demonstrate significant advancements in the government’s ability to manage dissent.
