Iran’s Regime Reclaims Streets Amid War, Silencing Public Dissent

The ongoing war involving Iran has done more than fuel military tensions—it has handed the Islamic Republic a renewed grip on the country’s urban public spaces. According to Foreign Policy’s Saeid Golkar, Tehran and other major cities have witnessed a surge of regime-backed rallies, checkpoints, and patrols that have pushed ordinary citizens out of the streets and back into their homes.

Since the conflict’s onset, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Basij militia have mobilized supporters to flood public squares and neighborhoods with chanting crowds, mobile rallies, and displays of military hardware. These events are more than symbolic shows of strength—they serve as a direct tool of social control. Checkpoints staffed by Basij and police now inspect cars and even search people’s phones for anti-regime content, detaining or beating those caught dissenting.

This crackdown dismantles years of subtle social change. Before the war, Iranians had been quietly reclaiming public space from the regime’s strict Islamic social controls. Women pushed back against compulsory hijab rules, young people mingled more freely in cafes and parks, and pets became a more visible part of urban life. This “quiet encroachment,” as scholar Asef Bayat calls it, had chipped away at the regime’s ideological hold on daily life.

Now, that progress is reversed. Fear of Basij patrols and regime rallies has made public movement risky, especially for critics. Many Iranians avoid going out, particularly at night when these events peak. Meanwhile, regime loyalists have consolidated control, concentrating in tightly controlled neighborhoods and newly built townships designed to preserve ideological conformity.

The result is a stark transformation: public spaces once slowly reclaimed by citizens are now dominated by authoritarian displays and surveillance. The Islamic Republic is using the war not just as a geopolitical struggle but as a pretext to tighten its grip at home, stifling dissent and reshaping society through force and fear. For Iranians, the streets are no longer a place of possibility but a battleground for control.