National Security & U.S. Foreign Policy

The report says Iranian authorities have deployed convoys of armored pickups mounted with heavy machine guns and staffed by foreign proxy fighters across Tehran, turning parts of the capital into fortified zones amid a deadly, weeks‑long protest wave. Video obtained by Fox and described by the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran purportedly shows Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces operating under IRGC commanders, firing DShK and other large‑caliber weapons from Toyota trucks as they guard government buildings, state media facilities and key intersections. Ali Safavi of NCRI claims the regime has flown in at least 5,000 foreign fighters and that nightly street battles pit protesters against special units, with HRANA reporting 4,519 confirmed deaths, more than 5,800 serious injuries and over 26,000 arrests nationwide since demonstrations began on Dec. 28 over economic collapse and opposition to clerical rule. Safavi also alleges IRGC units attacked a hospital in Gorgan, killed wounded patients and secretly stored at least 76 bodies in a warehouse to bury them without family consent, accusations that have not been independently verified. The escalation, coming under an ongoing internet blackout, underscores how Tehran is leaning on its regional militant network to hold the capital—an approach closely watched in Washington as the U.S. weighs additional sanctions and signals that further violence against protesters could trigger stronger action.