When you last spoke with Freedom, protests in Iran were rapidly spreading and intensifying, but repression was also increasing. Can you explain what has happened since then and what your collective has done? ---- Since our last interview, the situation in Iran has changed violently and unprecedentedly. Widespread protests in many cities have been met with severe repression. Security forces have attacked protesters using live ammunition; thousands have been killed or injured, and tens of thousands arrested. A tense security climate has spread across the country.
There are also reports and documented evidence indicating that, under current wartime conditions, some detainees are being held in locations exposed to airstrikes and are effectively being used as human shields.In the midst of this situation, before the movement had a chance to regroup, another development occurred: on February 28, 2026, large-scale military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran began, hitting hundreds of targets across the country. Several senior commanders and political figures of the Islamic Republic were killed in these attacks, and the country is now in a state of war.
The Islamic Republic's power structure is facing a serious crisis, but the country's political future remains uncertain and contested.
US and Israeli forces have targeted numerous sites in Iran, and in these attacks, not only military targets but also civilians have been killed. At the same time, the Islamic Republic has used its missile capabilities to strike targets in the region.
These clashes endanger the lives of millions of people across the region, and hundreds of civilians have lost their lives so far. The region's historical experience also shows that foreign intervention has rarely led to real freedom and has often produced new forms of domination, instability, and geopolitical competition.
Under these conditions, our activities as anarchists have continued. We have sought to prevent these voices from being silenced in the midst of repression and war by documenting events, publishing statements, maintaining international solidarity networks, and broadcasting the voices of workers, women, and various sectors of society.
At the same time, we have placed particular emphasis on broadening discussions on self-organization and horizontal organizing in neighborhoods, workplaces, and universities, and connecting these nuclei with broader networks of social solidarity.
We believe that without such social bases, every wave of protest will remain vulnerable to state repression.
Have people managed to defend themselves from the repression they have experienced?
In many cases, people have sought to defend themselves in a variety of ways: from creating solidarity networks to care for the wounded and assist the families of detainees, to various forms of resistance in the streets. However, we must be realistic: the Islamic Republic's repressive apparatus is extremely vast and highly organized, which has made collective defense difficult.
Under these conditions, people have developed methods such as rapidly dispersing into the streets, organizing anonymously, and supporting each other within neighborhoods. In some regions, such as Kurdistan and Baluchistan, where there is a longer history of social resistance, local communities have in some cases been better able to protect themselves. In large cities, however, repression has been extremely harsh.
The most vulnerable group remains political prisoners, particularly those arrested during recent protests, held in extremely dangerous conditions and still facing the threat of heavy sentences or even execution.
The experience of this period shows that local social solidarity networks can play an important role in collective defense and supporting resistance.
When we last interviewed the Anarchist Front, the Iranian government had just completely blocked the internet. Have there been significant changes in your ability to communicate and access the internet since then? Have people managed to circumvent these restrictions?
The Iranian government continues to use internet blocks or restrictions as one of its main tools of repression. In recent years, whenever internet access has been widely disrupted, it has almost always coincided with violent crackdowns and the direct use of firearms against protesters.
With the outbreak of war, internet blackouts were again implemented on a large scale, depriving millions of people of online communication. Even before the war, during the recent protests, internet restrictions had become more severe and prolonged than in the past, interrupting communication between activists for weeks.
However, people have acquired considerable experience and skill in circumventing these restrictions. Tools such as the V2Ray protocols and applications like Psiphon and Lantern are widely used, and whenever a connection is available, Telegram remains one of the most important communication platforms.
Satellite internet has also become important for some activists, although access remains limited.
At the same time, the experience of recent years has shown that no social movement can rely solely on the internet. The true foundation of any social movement is built through direct relationships, mutual trust, and real connections between people.
You warned against the risk of monarchists (who represented a small minority in the protests) trying to use the movement as a springboard for their own political project. To what extent do you think they were successful?
Royalist factions have attempted to present themselves as the only political alternative, using media platforms under their control and with the support of some foreign governments. Reza Pahlavi and his supporters have actively attempted to present themselves as a transitional government and have received support from some Persian-language media outlets and some Western governments.
However, the actual social base of this movement within Iran is much more limited than its media presence suggests. Many of the people who participated in the protests took to the streets against all forms of authoritarianism and do not see the return of the monarchy as a solution.
In reality, a large segment of Iranian society understands very well that replacing one form of authoritarianism with another is not a solution. Therefore, we continue to emphasize that the future of freedom in Iran lies neither in the restoration of the monarchy nor in the continuation of other authoritarian structures, but in social self-government and democratic forms of social organization.
From our perspective, the liberation of the Iranian people cannot be the result of projects imposed by foreign powers. Freedom can only emerge from the struggle and will of the people themselves, and turning social movements into instruments of interstate rivalries inevitably ends up harming society.
Is there anything else you think our readers should know about the situation in Iran? And are there ways they can offer support?
It's important to understand that the people of Iran are not simply passive victims of this war. Within Iranian society, many social movements exist: workers, women, students, ethnic communities, and anarchist activists who continue to resist and organize under extremely difficult conditions.
Iranian society is complex, multiethnic, and dynamic, and the struggle for freedom continues in many forms. What matters most is international solidarity among popular movements, not support for state projects or top-down solutions.
Readers outside Iran can play an important role by amplifying and translating independent voices, organizing solidarity initiatives, and helping to make social struggles in Iran more visible. The more these voices are heard, the harder it will be to silence them.
We are here. We continue to organize and resist.
Neither the Mullahs nor the Shah!
Woman! - Life! - Freedom!
This article was published on the Freedom website on March 10, 2026 (https://freedomnews.org.uk/2026/03/10/iranian-anarchists-we-continue-to-organise-and-resist/).
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/wpAL/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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