{"id":16348,"date":"2026-09-02T10:54:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:54:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:54:33","slug":"iranian-ngo-report-records-50-drop-in-terrorist-attacks-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harici.com.tr\/en\/iranian-ngo-report-records-50-drop-in-terrorist-attacks-for-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian NGO report records 50% drop in terrorist attacks for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Habilian Association (Families of Iranian Victims of Terrorism), an Iran-based non-governmental organization and think tank, has released its 2025 annual terrorism report<\/a> <\/span>documenting terrorist acts against the country and its citizens.<\/p>\n

The findings of the report were shared during the Day of Commemoration and Respect for Victims of Terrorism ceremony, co-organized by the Habilian Association and hosted by the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Saeed Khatibzadeh, Deputy Head of the Judiciary Dr Seraj, and Habilian Secretary-General Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad, alongside the families of those who lost their lives in terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

First published in 2019 and now in its fifth edition, the report covers the year 2025 according to Iran’s official Solar Hijri calendar (spanning 21 March 2025 to 20 March 2026). Published in Persian and English, the document provides detailed data examining the activities of non-state terrorist organizations and state-sponsored actors.<\/p>\n

“Attacks down by half, fatalities drop 43%”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report highlighted a significant decline in nationwide terrorism indicators compared to the previous year. The number of recorded terrorist incidents fell by 50%, dropping from 52 in 2024 to 26 in 2025, while the death toll decreased by 43%, falling from 100 to 57.<\/p>\n

Comparing three-year trends, the report noted that while terrorist incidents rose by 62.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, 2025 saw a decrease of 18.7% compared to 2023 and 50% compared to 2024. A steady decline in fatalities was also identified. Fatalities in 2025 fell by 64.6% compared to 2023, which included the victims of the Kerman Golzar attack. However, the average fatality rate per attack increased from 1.92 in 2024 to 2.20 in 2025.<\/p>\n

The report stated that “Iran has been a victim of terrorist violence for nearly half a century, with 23,000 people killed by terrorism, while countries hostile to Tehran apply a clear double standard by providing terrorist organizations with offices, freedom of movement, and high-level contacts.”<\/p>\n

“Terrorist threat almost entirely confined to southeast”<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most critical findings of the 2025 report was the narrowing geographic distribution of terrorist acts. While incidents in 2024 spanned six provinces and two countries, all 26 attacks in 2025 took place within Iranian borders and were concentrated in just four provinces.<\/p>\n

Sistan and Baluchestan province remained the primary centre of terrorist incidents in the country. The report stated that 84.6% of terrorist attacks (22 operations) and 86% of casualties (49 victims) in 2025 were recorded in this province. Nevertheless, the number of attacks in Sistan and Baluchestan fell 39% year-on-year from 36 to 22, representing a 17% improvement in its share of total nationwide victims. Within the province, the highest number of attacks occurred in Iranshahr, followed by Zahedan.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the country, three people were killed in two attacks in Kurdistan province, one person was killed in one attack in West Azerbaijan province, and four people died in one attack in Kerman province. Central and southern provinces targeted in previous years, including Tehran, Isfahan, Fars, and Hormozgan, recorded zero terrorist incidents in 2025.<\/p>\n

“Security forces comprise over 75% of targets”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report analyzed the occupational and demographic profile of the victims in detail. Of the 57 people killed, 56 were male and one was female; 49 were Iranian citizens and eight were Pakistani labourers.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement personnel formed the largest group by occupation. In 2025, victims of terrorism included 19 police officers (33%), 11 Basij members, eight foreign Pakistani workers, six conscripted soldiers, six civilians, three border guards, three security personnel, and one member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The report stated: “Security and law enforcement forces accounted for 75.4% of total casualties, a figure that reaches 88% when Pakistani workers are excluded.”<\/p>\n

The drop in IRGC fatalities from 27 in 2024 to one in 2025 was attributed to the withdrawal of Iranian military advisers from Syria and Lebanon. The report emphasized that civilians were not selected as direct primary targets, though civilian casualties did occur, including seven-month-old Navid Baluch Shir Mohammadi and a 60-year-old Baluch woman killed in the Zahedan courthouse attack, as well as 16-year-old Mansour Layegh-Jami killed at the Fahraj checkpoint in Kerman.<\/p>\n

“Jaish al-Adl persists under a new name”<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its group-based assessment, the report determined that Jaish al-Adl remained the most active and deadliest group in Iran in 2025. Announcing its name as the “People’s Combatants Front” in late 2025, the group carried out 14 attacks resulting in 28 deaths, accounting for 53.8% of attacks and 49.1% of fatalities nationwide. While the group’s operations declined by 48% compared to 2024, its fatality rate per incident increased. The report evaluated the group’s rebranding as “a formal maneuver aimed at evading legal restrictions, escaping terrorist watchlists, and projecting an image of organizational vitality.”<\/p>\n

After two years of inactivity, the Kurdish separatist group PJAK carried out three attacks in Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces in July and August 2025, leaving four people dead. The report noted that the group had previously been unable to operate due to the Iran-Iraq security agreement, Iranian strikes against its positions in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government area, and its expulsion from border regions. The attacks were described either as potential retaliation for an Iranian drone strike in Penjwin or as an effort by the group to assert operational independence amid the disarmament process undertaken by the PKK in T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n

Ansar al-Furqan caused five deaths across two attacks, while the Baluch Nationalist Army (BNA) killed eight Pakistani workers in a single attack in Mehrestan. Arab separatist groups in Khuzestan, numbering up to 15, carried out no armed terrorist attacks in 2025 and engaged solely in media propaganda. Unclaimed attacks totaled six incidents resulting in 12 deaths, all of which occurred in Sistan and Baluchestan.<\/p>\n

Regarding the removal of Israel and the US from the list of direct terrorist perpetrators compared to the 2024 report, the document cited the withdrawal of military advisers from Syria and Lebanon, two conventional conflicts (the “12-Day War” and the “Ramadan War”), and the classification of assassinations of political, scientific, and military figures during the January events within the framework of conventional warfare.<\/p>\n

“Targeted assassinations and armed assaults dominate”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report also examined tactical shifts among terrorist organizations. In 2025, over 69% of incidents (18 cases) were direct firearm assaults, accounting for 87.7% of fatalities. Unlike 2024, no suicide bombings or “inghimasi”-style raid attacks were recorded in 2025.<\/p>\n

Conversely, targeted assassinations of local figures resurged. The targeting of Basij commander Javad Karimkoshteh in front of a mosque in Zahedan, local IRGC member Iraj Shams Eskani in a barbershop in Rask, Shehr-e Deraz police station chief Mahmoud Haghighat in Iranshahr, and tribal leader Mohammadreza Shahouzehi’s convoy in Eshkelabad were characterized as a strategy to weaken local security personnel and community leaders in border districts. The report noted that intelligence operations, including the “Martyrs of Security” drills and the seizure of 25 kilograms of explosives in Chabahar, foiled multiple planned attacks.<\/p>\n

Chronology of 2025-2026 terrorist incidents<\/strong><\/p>\n

The monthly breakdown of incidents and details in the report were listed as follows:<\/p>\n