“From now on, we will shoot the thugs,” promised Iran’s notorious police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, in an interview with the media in April 2025. Since then, state media have regularly shown videos of police officers posing with alleged “thugs” they have arrested, saying they have been shot, usually in one or both legs. The Iranian police are responding to growing criticism of the increase in crime and violence, which some Iranian sociologists believe is due to poverty, trauma and daily stress caused by political unrest and mistrust of institutions. Images of violent attacks and robberies have become ubiquitous in Iran, with multiple videos recorded by CCTV cameras or mobile phones posted daily on social media.   Some of the attacks result in the victim’s death, such as an incident on February 12, when two thieves attacked a Tehran University student, stabbing him in the neck while stealing his backpack. The student, Amir Khaleghi, died in hospital. CCTV footage of the attack triggered several days of protests and strikes at Tehran University. Some days later, Tehran police claimed …