Omid, whose real name is different, joined the Iranian security forces when he was 18 years old. At the time, he was "deeply attached to his homeland". At the academy, the cadets were controlled by the regime "day and night" - from military training to daily prayers and speeches. "They shape the minds of the young cadets", Omid tells DW.
Some of these recruits eventually rise through the hierarchy of the Iranian security apparatus to join an elite circle of officers who plan missions, kidnappings and assassinations in Iran and abroad. They have unlimited resources and personnel, says Omid, who attended their meetings.
A deserter speaks
Omid served for many years in Iran's special forces, where he even rose to the rank of commander. His training included training in street fighting and riot control, sniper shooting and parachuting. The deserter provided photos and videos of his training to the DW investigative team, which has been verifying the information for months. Omid also shared documents and information about the location of a secret surveillance center and the location of housing reserved for high-ranking members of Iran's elite units.
The informant told DW that a secret circle of high-ranking officers who are absolutely loyal to Iran's supreme leader are planning and carrying out assassinations and kidnappings of regime opponents.
The information provided to DW was largely confirmed with the help of documents, photos, videos and interviews with experts. An intermediary connected the investigative team with a second high-ranking defector, whose testimony confirmed key details provided by Omid. The identities of both men have been established beyond doubt, but for reasons of their security, as well as that of their families, DW cannot reveal their names.
Omid and Reza provided DW with photographs and documents. Photo: Privat
Omid's testimony shows how Iran's powerful and secretive security apparatus operates and explains its unquestioning loyalty to the regime - despite a powerful protest movement, international sanctions, rising inflation and Israeli-American strikes that eliminated much of its top military and political leadership. The DW team contacted the Iranian embassy in Berlin and the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic with questions related to the revelations. There was no response from the ayatollah's administration. The embassy in Germany declined to answer specific questions, but said that "the Islamic Republic categorically denies these accusations and the conclusions drawn from them".
Privileges for regime insiders
As a high-ranking member of the special forces, Omid enjoyed privileges that the regime provides to its people: from financial incentives and lucrative contracts for their own companies, to special housing complexes with their own mosques, schools and hospitals, where the installation of satellite dishes is prohibited and compliance with religious norms is mandatory.
However, these privileges come at a price - "control and more control", says Omid. The employees are under strict supervision. "You can't just go to a wedding or travel. They take your passport, they even decide for you which schools your children can study in," he says. The control also extends to the soldiers' future partners, who are first thoroughly vetted by the regime. But even then, wives are not allowed to know much: Omid, for example, was not allowed to reveal to his wife what he actually does. In his words, it "really eats you up inside."
Omid's training included skydiving courses. Photo: Privat
By isolating these officers from other Iranians, the regime can exercise tighter control over its forces, notes Saeed Golkar, a political scientist at the University of Tennessee who has studied the command structure of the Islamic Republic's security apparatus in depth. "They can create peer pressure and carry out ideological indoctrination much more effectively," he told DW. Furthermore, those people who live in segregated conditions are much less likely to resist the use of force against their fellow civilians.
A deserter from Iranian intelligence
The second DW informant was also very high-ranking - Reza, as we call him in this investigation, worked in the Ministry of Information (Iran's intelligence service). Like most security personnel, he also comes from a religious family.
Reza was once a staunch supporter of the Iranian regime. Photo: DW
Initially, Reza was an ardent supporter of the regime and even cried during prayers, proud to serve his people and the Islamic Republic - he was even ready to "die as a martyr for Islam". But after witnessing the repression during protests against the country's deteriorating living conditions and strict "moral" laws, his attitude gradually changed.
"Years in the service of a cruel system"
Both Omid and Reza were horrified by the regime's atrocities - for example, the mass killings of protesters, which, according to reports by human rights organizations, included shooting unarmed people in their hospital beds. It was this brutality of the regime that ultimately prompted them to speak to DW. Omid insists that he never shot at protesters or gave such orders. DW was unable to verify this independently. However, the man admits that he witnessed the killing of protesters.
In January 2026, people in Iran took to the streets again. The protests were brutally suppressed. Photo: UGC/DW
The two talk about secret command centers that are central to the suppression of the protests. They are equipped with huge monitors on the walls, transmitting footage from countless surveillance cameras. There are similar surveillance centers throughout the country, they say. They receive all the information collected by agents on the ground, from social media or obtained through surveillance and interception devices. The protest marches are also monitored by drones. Today, Reza feels guilty about having "wasted 10-11 years in the service of a cruel system". "The truth is, when your opponent is a regime that does not respect any moral principles, you have to be ready for anything".
Omid and Reza say that agents in plain clothes often infiltrate protests and are used to redirect demonstrations to places where security forces are waiting for them. Human rights groups have documented the use of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and even heavy machine guns mounted on pickup trucks, to suppress protests.
"The "Killing Machine" Dakma
Omid also tells of a seemingly inconspicuous place on the outskirts of Tehran: a prayer hall that many officers call "Dakma" – the Persian word for crypt or ossuary. High-ranking officials gathered there to plan covert operations that bypassed state structures. He says he attended several such meetings. "Decisions are made there for assassinations: it's a killing machine," says Omid.
He himself attended meetings in Dakma only on orders from his superiors and never participated in the actual operations planned there. These included murders and kidnappings - both in Iran and abroad.
The men met in this prayer hall in Tehran, Reza and Omid say. Photo: Privat
Some of the experts DW contacted knew about Dakma - in connection with an attempted assassination of an adviser to a reformist president more than two decades ago. Among them is Miad Maleki, a former US Treasury official who until recently developed US sanctions programs against Iran. He told DW that the secret military operations planned in Dakma probably provide the regime with an opportunity to deny involvement in the killings.
Religious and ruthless
The secret meetings usually begin under the guise of religious ceremonies and rituals. They are held in a hall with religious flags, and after a communal dinner, only members of the inner circle remain. They hand over their mobile phones, which are locked in a secure place, after which "experienced specialists from Iranian special forces and intelligence services" discuss killings and kidnappings until late at night, according to Omid.
"For these people, someone's position is not important. "If they consider it a threat to the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, they take it extremely seriously and take action," the DW source added.
After each operation, the men return to their respective roles within the Iranian security apparatus until they are reunited to protect the Islamic Republic at all costs.
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Source: www.dw.com