Reports: Shiite militias assisted Iran protest crackdown

Reports: Shiite militias assisted Iran protest crackdown

DPA

Fri, January 16, 2026 at 8:13 PM UTC

1 min read

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Iranian demonstrators set fire while blocking a street during a protest at Tehran's Grand Bazaar in response to worsening economic conditions. -/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

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Foreign militias were also reportedly involved in the recent violent suppression of the mass protests in Iran that are feared to have left many thousands dead and injured.

Over the past 10 days, members of Shiite militias from Lebanon were observed leaving the country, according to security sources cited by US media.

The men officially travelled on pilgrimages, initially to Iraq, where central shrines of Shiite Islam are located.

Citing a source in Iraq, US broadcaster CNN reported on Thursday that in recent weeks almost 5,000 fighters from various militant groups travelled to neighbouring Iran to support the state authorities.

According to CNN, a European military source spoke of more than 800 Shiites.

They were said to belong to groups under the command of the so-called Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Iraq – an Iranian-backed paramilitary network founded in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (IS).

It now plays a central political and military role in the country, partly as a parallel structure to the Iraqi state. The men from Lebanon are believed to be supporters of the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

The demonstrations in Iran were triggered in late December by an economic crisis and soaring inflation, before snowballing into political protests against the country's authoritarian leadership.

The Oslo-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) on Thursday put the number of demonstrators killed by security forces at 3,428, although the actual figure is likely to be significantly higher.

These figures cannot be independently verified at present.

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