An Iranian activist says the regime is using the killings to spread fear and terror
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Iran has increased its killings and arrests across the country as the United States continues its strikes in the Middle East. Mooné Rahimi, a student and activist who was previously arrested by the moral police, said that the regime is using fear tactics to control the nation.
Rahimi said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” that Iranian citizens view the ongoing war as a “rescue operation” from a government that uses arrests and executions to maintain its power.
“This situation that is happening in Iran, they call it that [a] rescue work, especially for people inside Iran,” said Rahimi, who left Iran a few years ago and is now studying in the United States.
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Women mourn as thousands gather in Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026, after Iranian state media confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following US and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
“This brutal, cruel regime treats women in a very harsh way. If there is a protester, a protesting woman, in the street of Iran, they will arrest them, and they will put them in prison and, in the end, they will hang them as they do like the killings that are happening,” he added.
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This week, 19-year-old attacker Saleh Mohammadi and at least two other men were hanged in Iran, sparking fears of a further wave of killings. The three were arrested during protests in January and sentenced after authorities said they killed two police officers during the protest.
Iranian wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi, left, was reportedly killed for his participation in a protest in January. Right, a billboard in Tehran showing Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and newly appointed Mojtaba Khamenei, shown on March 10. (Foreign Desk/AFP via Getty Images)
Amnesty International said the convictions were unfair and confessions were extracted using torture, according to the Associated Press. Rahimi said he believes there may have been too many sentences and the state is using them to “spread fear” to stop the protests.
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He also added that the Iranian people, inside the country and abroad, were trying to warn the whole world that the regime is holding the nation in brutal “captivity”. Rahimi was also arrested several times by the moral police before he decided to leave.
A truck carries the coffins of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij, during a funeral in Tehran on March 18. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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“They really don’t care how much you cover yourself, if you have your bangs, your little hair coming out of your hijab, [going to] tie you up,” he said.
His account comes as the US and Israel continue to pressure Iran under Operation Epic Fury following the Feb. 28 that led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Three additional warships and about 2,500 Marines are currently deployed by the US in the Middle East.
