Security Crisis in Iran; Knife Attacks in Tehran, Armed Robberies in Delfan, Police Fighting Against Women

Images released of knife attacks in a hospital in Delfan and armed robberies with Kalashnikovs from homes in Tehran coincided with a violent police crackdown against women in the streets on Tuesday, May 15. While social media users compared the police's harsh treatment of women in Iranian cities to an 'enemy invasion' and likened it to the behavior of ISIS, domestic media published images of individuals wielding knives threatening another person in the emergency room of Ibn Sina Hospital in Delfan County, Lorestan. These media claimed that the attackers were arrested hours later. Just hours earlier, images were posted on the Instagram page of a media activist inside Iran, explaining that 'in the Sardar Jangal neighborhood in western Tehran, armed groups attack people's homes with Kalashnikovs and handguns every few nights, entering homes in front of neighbors without concern for being captured on surveillance cameras, threatening women and children, and robbing them at gunpoint.' One social media user criticized these actions and the lack of security in society, calling it a 'terrifying situation' and wrote: 'So simply and horrifically! Without concern! Without stress! In a fixed neighborhood! In fixed clothes! This means these beasts feel so secure in committing their crimes that they seem to have no fear of being identified.' Meanwhile, on the one-month anniversary of a plan that the leaders of the Islamic Republic call 'light' and social media users refer to as 'force,' images of the beating of women and girls by police and government agents outraged the public. Yashar Soltani, a critical journalist, reposted these on his account on X, writing: 'If ISIS entered Iran, they would treat our women and girls like this.' Another user compared the armed attacks of thugs and robbers on people with images of the police's harsh treatment of women, writing: 'Radan is busy with the light plan and arresting women and children.' Ahmad Reza Radan, the commander of the Islamic Republic's police, who issued orders to confront women under the pretext of enforcing mandatory dress codes after a request from Ali Khamenei on April 14, recently defended his actions by likening hijab to a 'bunker' and said that if the 'enemy' passes through the 'hijab,' it will pass through everything. Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in a speech on the Eid al-Fitr prayer on April 11, issued a new command to the 'commanders of virtue,' whom he previously described as 'fire at will,' asking them to 'confront religious violations.'