Iran’s police chief says anti-government protesters will be treated as ‘enemies’

Iranian protesters will be treated as enemies if they support Tehran’s foes, the country’s top police officer warned on Tuesday, as the war sparked fears in the regime that mass anti-government rallies could reignite.

“If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester, we will see them as an enemy,” said national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan in comments aired by state broadcaster IRIB.

“And we will do to them what we do to an enemy. We will deal with them in the same way we deal with enemies,” he added. “All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution.”

The government in January brutally cracked down on anti-government protests over economic grievances in the sanctions-hit country. The authorities deemed the protests to be “riots” and Radan at one point issued an ultimatum to protesters to turn themselves in or face the full force of the law.

Iranian authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths in the unrest, including members of the security forces and bystanders, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fueled by Iran’s enemies.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though the toll may be far higher. More than 50,000 have been arrested, it says.

Protesters march along a street during a demonstration to support mass protests in Iran against the regime there, in Paris on January 11, 2026. (Kiran RIDLEY / AFP)

US President Donald Trump initially cheered on the protesters, threatening to intervene on their behalf as authorities launched their deadly crackdown, but his threats soon shifted to Iran’s nuclear program.

Washington launched strikes with Israel on Iran on February 28, sparking retaliatory strikes by Tehran against Israel and US bases across the Gulf region.

PM to Iranians: We’re setting stage for you to topple regime

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, writing in English on X Tuesday, told the Iranian people that Israel would in the coming days “create the conditions for you to grasp your destiny.”

“People of Iran,” he wrote on the Prime Minister of Israel account. “We are waging a historic war for liberty. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to remove the Ayatollah regime and gain your freedom.”

“Together with the United States, we are hitting the Tyrants of Teheran harder than ever,” wrote Netanyahu, promising that “we will continue to hit with growing force the tyrants who terrorized you for decades.”

“When the time is right, and that time is fast approaching, we will pass the torch to you,” he wrote.

But despite the rhetoric of revolution, the Kan public broadcaster reported Tuesday that Israeli government ministers, following a security briefing, believe the fall of Iran’s regime could take up to a year, even as the ongoing US-Israeli campaign against Iran is expected to end sooner.

“After [the campaign ends], the work will be up to the Iranian people,” ministers told the network, while Israeli security officials added that “there is real fog regarding the duration of the attack in Iran,” since it is “difficult to decipher” Trump’s intentions.

The officials added that conditions are not yet ripe for the Iranian public to take to the streets, and that Israeli and US airstrikes are expected to continue in the coming week.

Israeli officials: No certainty Iran’s regime will fall

Israeli officials also acknowledged to Channel 13 — apparently after the same briefing — that there is no certainty Iran’s regime will fall at all, and that no signal has been received from Trump indicating when the fighting will end.

The officials said that for now, Israel’s strategy is to maintain sustained military pressure until the Iranian people can overthrow their rulers.

“Our role is to continue striking the oppressors,” one official told Channel 13, “until the public rises up.”

A man walks past a motorist on a motorcycle near a banner displayed at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on March 10, 2026, depicting Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) watching as his successor the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C) hands over a national flag to his son and new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei (R). (AFP)

A New York Times report noted that Iran appears to have adapted its strategy for fighting the US and Israel, noting American vulnerabilities in the region and saving up projectiles to launch at them.

While Iran gave warnings in the past before striking American military facilities in the Middle East– apparently striking in order to save face, rather than to exert real damage — it has given no such warnings this time around, as it’s fired missiles and drones at US bases and other targets on the soil of its Arab neighbors.

Despite the damage done to Iran’s regime so far, including the assassination of its former supreme leader and many of its top commanders, the fighting “has not totally crippled its ability to fight,” the Times said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-police-chief-says-anti-government-protesters-will-be-treated-as-enemies/