DW’s investigative documentary All the Ayatollah’s Men offers a rare insight into the opaque security apparatus that has kept the Islamic Republic of Iran in power for more than four decades.

The 27-minute documentary All the Ayatollah’s Men — Ensuring the Regime’s Survival lays out how Iran’s security apparatus has been systematically expanded and deployed to suppress dissent. It examines the meticulous design of these forces: the command structures, operational procedures and weapons issued during protests.

The film features testimony from two high-ranking defectors from Iran’s security forces, a former intelligence officer and a former special forces commander, both sentenced to death in absentia in Iran. The defectors describe a highly controlled internal system designed to foster loyalty within the security apparatus, including restrictions on personal freedoms and close institutional oversight. During the protests in Iran that started in late December 2025 and lasted until March this year, it is estimated that thousands of protesters were killed by the regime.

One of the film’s central revelations concerns an alleged clandestine gathering place south of Tehran known as Dakhme (“crypt”). Senior security officers allegedly use the site to plan the murder and abduction of regime opponents outside official government structures – and with unlimited resources.

“Access to credible insiders from within Iran’s security establishment is exceptionally rare,” says Mathias Stamm, DW Editor in Chief. “This investigation opens a window into a system that is normally hidden from public view. By combining the defectors’ accounts with extensive research, our team was able to shed light on structures and practices that are otherwise difficult to verify.”

Using burner phones, encrypted messaging applications and code words, journalists Naomi Conrad, Birgitta Schülke from DW’s investigative unit and Farzane Seyed Saeedi from DW’s Persian service verified the defectors’ identities through documents, photographs, footage smuggled out of Iran and corroborated their testimonies with experts and sources.

Find the full investigation here. You can watch it on DW Documentary’s YouTube channel or DW Persian’s YouTube channel.