Iran’s war on its Jewry in the aftermath of a conflict with Israel

Tehran treats its Jews as both spies to be brutalized and props for anti-Israel propaganda.

By Ahmad Hashemi, Middle East Forum

In the aftermath of its Twelve-Day War with Israel in June 2025, Iran’s clerical regime has arrested hundreds of citizens accused of spying for Israel.

Not all those arrested were Jewish, but Iran’s small, dwindling Jewish community has become a scapegoat. State-controlled media have accused Jewish Iranians, along with other religious and ethnic minorities, of being “Mossad mercenaries.”

While Iran’s Jews already face discriminatory laws, the escalation with Israel has worsened their situation. They are now subject to increased surveillance, intimidation, and pressure.

Iranian authorities reportedly have summoned and interrogated at least 35 Jewish citizens in Tehran and Shiraz, demanding information about their contacts with relatives in Israel.

Security agencies have arrested several prominent members of the Jewish community, including rabbis and cantors. Authorities also have conducted raids on the homes of dozens of Jewish community members.

During these raids, they confiscated and checked cell phones for records of calls to Israel.

Tehran’s treatment of its Jewish population is paradoxical. On one hand, the regime brutalizes them as spies for Israel, and on the other, it exploits them for anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli propaganda and as a tool to vilify Israel.

For example, Homayoun Sameyah, the Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament, has claimed that Israel’s attacks on Iran destroyed homes belonging to Iranian Jews.

In another instance, security forces allegedly forced the Anjoman-e Kalimiyan-e Iran, the official representative body of the Jewish community in Iran, to send threatening text messages to its members warning that any contact with people outside the country is “forbidden” and that community members are responsible for any social media activities, including comments, reposts, or likes related to the Twelve-Day War.

According to various reports, following Israeli strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear sites, the Islamic Republic has forced some rabbis and Jewish conscripts to participate in anti-Israel rallies, including at a rally held in Tehran’s Abrishami Synagogue, while wearing their military uniforms and kippahs.

The regime also has forced them to attend public displays of loyalty to the Islamic Republic and its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The twelve-day conflict with Israel has fueled a surge in antisemitism in Iran and bolstered the regime’s apocalyptic worldview.

In using antisemitic tropes such as Jewish power and control, some Iranian officials and religious figures have even claimed that Israel has control over supernatural forces, and uses “Jinns and Hebrew talismans” as weapons of war.

Similarly, one Shahid Beheshti University Professor claimed “New York Jewry” orchestrated the June war. He explained that Jewish real estate interests have sway over President Donald Trump.

The belief in the Mahdi, a messianic figure Twelver Shi’a believe will return to usher in a period of just and divine Islamic rule on Earth, informs Iran’s foreign policy and its relationship with Israel and the Jewish people.

This Mahdaviat belief allows no space for Israel or Jews and leads to the apocalyptic worldview that drives the Islamic Republic’s pursuit of dominance, nuclearization, and its genocidal tendency towards non-Shi’a.

Yet, despite its radical ideology, realpolitik often guides the Iranian government’s actions.

While Tehran’s treatment of its Jewish population will worsen, the regime is unlikely to persecute so completely that it would spark a mass exodus, for it still benefits from its ability to use Jews as living museum exhibits to maintain a facade of diversity and tolerance to both domestic and international audiences.