The Israeli military has been pursuing a new war tactic in targeting checkpoints set up in the Iranian capital by the paramilitary Basij force as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the United States launch more attacks.
The heavily armed checkpoints, roadblocks and patrols have been ramping up in Tehran and across the country in the aftermath of thousands being killed during January’s nationwide protests, and particularly since the start of the ongoing war over two weeks ago.
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IRGC-affiliated media confirmed that drone strikes have been hitting the heavily armed checkpoints since Wednesday night, killing and wounding a number of Basij members.
A funeral was held on Friday in the province of Semnan for Morteza Darbari, who was described by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency as the commander of a local Basij force based in a mosque in Tehran. He was killed while commanding an armed checkpoint in southeastern District 15.
Footage from the funeral of another killed member, Mohammad-Hossein Kouchaki, was aired by state media on Saturday, showing his family members, surrounded by his fellow Basij fighters armed with assault rifles, promising revenge.
“Both those [dissidents] inside and outside the country, their fate is clear, we will slay them all,” said Kouchaki’s mother at the event. “We will give martyrs on our path but will not bow down. No compromise, no surrender, battle until victory, sacrifice for Mojtaba Khamenei”.
Kouchaki was reported to have been killed in a drone strike in northeastern Tehran, for which the Israeli army confirmed responsibility by releasing footage. The site of the attack was close to where a major fuel depot was bombed days earlier amid wider Israeli attacks hitting Iranian oil reserves.
The state-run Fars news agency said checkpoints have also been similarly targeted in multiple other districts of the sprawling city, and that state forces are responding through “new and creative plans” to adapt to the strikes, and by increasing their patrols.
Intelligence ‘from Iranians’
According to unnamed sources cited by multiple Western news outlets, Israeli commanders have partly acted based on intelligence sent to them by Iranians who have been filming the roadblocks and sending messages through social media.
Videos coming out of Iran continue to be circulated on social media, despite a near-total internet shutdown now being imposed by the theocratic establishment for a 16th day, which has created a black market for the few proxy connections to the outside world that still work.
The state had also imposed a 20-day total internet blackout in response to the protests in January, meaning that more than 90 million Iranians have now spent more than a third of 2026 without access to the global internet. Satellite television dishes found in most homes are the only other alternatives to state media, but those have been disrupted with jamming signals by the authorities, as well.
Through state media, the political, military and judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic have been issuing threats of reprisal against any form of dissent, which could be construed as functioning in line with the interests of the US and Israel.
The police chief, an IRGC commander and state television hosts have all emphasised over the past week that people who take to the streets against the establishment will be treated as an “enemy”.
The judiciary announced on Saturday that any “rioters” who are arrested while acting against the establishment will have their assets confiscated in order to “compensate a part of the damages suffered during the war” with the US and Israel. Multiple people have already been arrested for trying to film missile impact sites and roadblocks, with authorities continuing to promise strict punishments.
This comes days after the judiciary said Iranians living outside the country will also have their assets confiscated if they engage in anti-establishment activities like participating in rallies calling for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s US-backed shah, who was overthrown in a 1979 Islamic revolution.
War could drag on for weeks
Pahlavi released a video message on Saturday to say that he has a team in place for a “transition period” away from the Islamic Republic.
In lockstep with US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has called on Iranians to remain vigilant in their homes until a suitable time arrives to take to the streets.
The Israeli military has also characterised its strikes on the roadblocks in Tehran, as well as numerous Basij, IRGC and police bases across the country, as an attempt to weaken Iranian authorities’ domestic security apparatus.
“These forces led the regime’s primary efforts to suppress internal protests, particularly in recent months, employing severe violence, mass arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators,” the military said last week.
Speaking on Fox News Radio on Friday, Trump said the establishment in Iran will eventually fall, but “maybe not immediately”.
“They literally have people in the streets with machinegun, machine-gunning people down if they want to protest,” Trump claimed, referring to Iran’s state security forces.
“That’s a pretty big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons,” he said about anti-establishment Iranians, adding that the military strikes will continue.
Both sides of the conflict have said the war could drag on for weeks, with Iranian officials saying there are no prospects for negotiations.
A senior spokesperson for Iranian armed forces claimed in a statement carried by state media on Saturday that the USS Abraham Lincoln supercarrier has been “taken out of commission and taken away from the region after sustaining serious damage”.
“If regional countries do not trust in the fake power of the US, American forces will be forced to leave the region because they can’t even defend their own forces and bases,” said Abolfazl Shekarchi.
