Statements

Repression in Iran. Statement by SWIW after the Iran-Israel War – 11 June 2025

Following the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, the Islamic Republic has initiated a new wave of widespread repression. Under the guise of “national security” and “espionage,” the regime has intensified arrests, executions, and militarisation of public life. These actions not only continue but also escalate systemic violence used to suppress social and political dissent, especially targeting workers, women, and those seeking freedom in Iran.

The death penalty, widely used in Iran during both the Shah’s reign and under the Islamic Republic, has once again become a tool of fear. Whether applied in cases of political opposition, espionage, or common criminal charges like drug offences or murder, it remains a method of state violence that fails to address the root causes of crime, which are mainly socioeconomic. These executions, often carried out without a fair trial and under medieval judicial codes, must be condemned unequivocally.

The regime is exploiting the aftermath of the war not only to distract from its internal crises but also to reassert authoritarian control. It weaponised fear of foreign invasion, poverty, joblessness, and insecurity to suppress the growing freedom movement. The Islamic Republic’s propaganda machine wraps this repression in nationalistic and militaristic rhetoric, attempting to co-opt public sentiment under the guise of “patriotism” while launching brutal attacks on political and labour activists, women, and especially Afghan refugees.

Systematic Racist Violence Against Afghan Refugees

One of the most horrific outcomes of this war has been the brutal campaign against Afghan migrants and refugees in Iran, many of whom come from the poorest sections of society. Mass deportations, racist provocation, and the criminalisation of Afghan lives have escalated to new levels of brutality.

As of 6 July 2025, the Iranian government has issued a mass deportation order for all undocumented Afghan refugees. This decision endangers up to 4 million people, a quarter of whom are children, with the risk of arrest or forced expulsion. Many are being deported without food, shelter, or financial resources into a devastated Afghanistan.

These actions reflect the worst fascist and racist tactics historically used by regimes to blame minorities and migrant workers. Similar to xenophobic attacks on African or Middle Eastern migrants in Europe, or Latino workers in the U.S., this campaign in Iran unjustly scapegoats Afghan refugees for poverty, unemployment, and insecurity, shifting blame away from the ruling class responsible for these issues.

An Attack on the Entire Freedom Movement

The Islamic Republic’s campaign is not just an attack on Afghan refugees; it is also an assault on the entire working class and the freedom movement in Iran. The same regime that silences women, executes dissidents, impoverishes workers, and imprisons unionists now aims to divide the people by spreading racial hatred.

But our message is clear: the enemy is not the Afghan worker, the refugee, the migrant, or the oppressed. The enemy is the Islamic Republic and its class war against the people.

We Demand:

  1. An immediate halt to all executions, particularly those justified by allegations of espionage and political dissent. The use of the death penalty must be abolished.
  2. The immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Iran.
  3. Hold the Iranian regime accountable for using war as a means of internal repression and seek reparations for all victims of Israeli bombings and regime violence.
  4. Call for a halt to all deportations of Afghan refugees. Deportation is a form of collective punishment, racism, and a crime against humanity.
  5. An end to nationalist, racist propaganda used to justify repression, militarism, and economic violence.

Call to Action

We call on workers, teachers, students, feminists, human rights activists, and anti-racist organisations around the world to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and Afghan refugees. Build networks of support and resistance. Expose the Islamic Republic’s propaganda. Defend political freedoms, workers’ rights, and the dignity of every human being, regardless of nationality, race, or religion.

This is not just a struggle in Iran—it is part of the global fight for justice and freedom.

In solidarity

Solidarity with the Iranian Workers’ Movement Committee (SWIW)

This statement was first published on the website of the Solidarity with the Iranian Workers’ Movement Committee.

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