By Noureddine Omar | 2025-08-04

The Iranian regime's recent arrest and detention of a number of Jews, seemingly on the grounds of their religious affiliation alone, will have negative repercussions both inside and outside Iran, analysts told Al-Fassel.

Two US citizens were among 35 Jews who were arrested in Iran in June during a government crackdown following the country's 12-day war with Israel, media sources said.

Five of those arrested are still detained, including one of the two US citizens.

The "arbitrary arrest campaign, which included a number of Jewish citizens in Iran, underscores the tension in the relationship between the United States and Iran," international affairs researcher Mohammed Hamed told Al-Fassel.

He noted that the arrests were clearly a political ploy on the part of the Iranian regime, amid stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States, that will inevitably stoke international tensions.

"The arrest of US citizens also is a clear challenge to the national security of the United States, which places the safety of its citizens above all considerations," Hamed said.

Tensions are likely to rise with the United States due to the "lack of legal representation for detainees in Iran," he added, noting that this is "confirmed by the established facts about the conditions of detainees during the recent period."

Detainees "are imprisoned for long periods of time or executed immediately, as during the recent war, when executions of those whom the Iranian authorities referred to as 'spies' were announced just days after their arrest," he said.

These often occurred "immediately after the alleged investigations were concluded, without them appearing before a court or obtaining the right to legal representation to defend them," he noted.

Internal and external impact

"The arbitrary arrest of members of the Jewish community in Iran will have a negative impact on Iranian society," said Al-Sharq Center for Regional and Strategic Studies researcher Fathi al-Sayed, who specializes in Iranian affairs.

"These people have preferred to remain in their homeland despite the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans adopted by the Iranian leadership," he told Al-Fassel.

The Iranian regime's treatment of people of the Jewish faith also will have international repercussions that may hurt the country, he said.

Jewish communities in many countries around the world will demonstrate solidarity with their co-religionists and relatives in Iran, he noted, which will undoubtedly have political repercussions for the Iranian regime.

This will impact international relations and keep the country in a state of instability unless "Tehran makes concessions and pledges not to harm Jewish minorities and other nationalities suffering from systematic injustice," he said.