8 hours ago
Last Updated:June 24, 2025, 19:52 IST
As Israel strikes deep, Iran’s forces crack from within, as the IRGC fears repeat of Asgari-style defections.
IRGC issues treason warning as desertions mount, drawing parallels to 2007 Asgari intelligence blow. (IMAGE: REUTERS FILE/REPRESENTATIVE)
Iran’s top military judiciary has issued a blunt warning against desertion after reports surfaced of soldiers and officers abandoning their posts amid mounting internal pressure and repeated Israeli strikes on Tehran.
According to Iranian news outlet Farda, a growing number of security personnel, with some highly placed officers, have refused to report for duty or ignored direct orders.
Some are said to have fled and gone into hiding, prompting Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff to declare that “any disobedience or desertion will be considered a serious blow to the Islamic Republic’s security and treated as treason, whether motivated by aiding the enemy or personal reasons".
The recent wave of desertions among Iranian soldiers and officers has drawn comparisons to one of the most high-profile defections in the country’s history, that of Brigadier General Ali-Reza Asgari.
A former deputy defense minister and senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Asgari vanished during a trip to Turkey in 2007, in what was widely believed to be a defection to Western intelligence agencies. His disappearance was seen as a major intelligence and reputational blow to Tehran, particularly given his access to sensitive military and nuclear information.
The warning comes just as Israel stepped up its campaign of targeted strikes inside Iran. Iranian media confirmed Tuesday that Alireza Lotfi, deputy chief of the Intelligence Organization of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command, was killed in Monday’s coordinated Israeli strike on multiple locations in Tehran. Israel claimed hundreds of Revolutionary Guard members were also killed in the same wave of attacks.
In a separate incident, Iranian outlets reported that Mohammad-Reza Sedighi Saber, a senior figure in Iran’s nuclear program, was killed in an Israeli airstrike early Tuesday on his family home in Astaneh Ashrafieh, a city in northern Iran. Saber’s residence in Tehran had reportedly been targeted days earlier.
Footage broadcast by Iranian state and semi-official outlets showed rescue workers clearing debris from the collapsed house in Astaneh Ashrafieh, as Iranian officials vowed retaliation.
The escalation follows “Operation Midnight Hammer," the U.S. strike on three underground nuclear facilities over the weekend. A tentative ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump went into effect early Tuesday. Trump, however, appeared to be managing the truce in real time, lashing out at both Iran and Israel for violating the agreement before publicly declaring: “The Ceasefire is in effect!"
Trump had ordered Israel to stop bombing, posting: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS… BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!"
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev...Read More
Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev...
Read More
Tehran, Iran
First Published:News world Iran Issues Chilling Warning As Desertions Jolt Army After Israeli Attack: Report
