Arrests, beatings and an atmosphere of fear: Iranians on life under wartime ‘martial law’

NewsWorldMiddle EastIndependent PersianArrests, beatings and an atmosphere of fear: Iranians on life under wartime ‘martial law’Reports from within Iran point to an increase in checkpoints and surveillance, with claims of phones seized and social media monitored writes Amirhossein Miresmaeili Saturday 04 April 2026 10:50 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2950793","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-us-war-israel-martial-law-b2950793.html","title":"Tight security, beatings and arrests: Iranians on life under war time ‘martial law’ "},"popoverPlacementOverride":"bottom"}CloseTrump promises to 'bring Iran back to Stone Ages'On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"...