"It’s Like a Game": Iranian Basij Boasts of Sniper 'Headshots' on Protesters
In a chilling deleted post, Arshia Maghsoudi allegedly admitted to using a Dragunov rifle to "kill teenagers," claiming commanders told him to "shoot as much as you can."
Arshia Maghsoudi, an alleged member of Iran's Basij paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reportedly posted a now-deleted Instagram story boasting about using a Dragunov sniper rifle to target protesters during the ongoing unrest in Iran.
In the story, Maghsoudi wrote: "For the first time, they gave us a Dragunov. They told us think of it as a sniper game - 'shoot as much as you can'. So I went and landed a ton of headshots."
The post, from his account @t0nabedar (now inaccessible and presumed taken down), has gone viral among Iranian opposition figures and activists on X, who accuse him of participating in the regime's crackdown that has reportedly killed thousands of protesters.
Maghsoudi is linked to the IRGC's Imam Hussein and Imam Ali battalions, with photos circulating of him posing with an SVD sniper rifle (Dragunov), which he claimed to have used to "kill teenagers."
The profile was associated with the Maghdad Base, and the post's deletion is speculated to stem from IRGC displeasure over the exposure.
No official response from Iranian authorities has been reported, but the incident has fueled calls for justice among dissidents, tying into broader accusations of regime atrocities during protests.