Exposed to progressive politics from an early age, along with her brother, Dehghani joined the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG), becoming the only woman on its central committee.

While the majority of the OIPFG moved away from armed struggle and accepted the authority of the new Islamic Republic of Iran, Dehghani continued to advocate for guerrilla warfare against the new government.

In 1979, together with a minority of OIPFG members, she split off and formed the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (IPFG), which continued to fight against the government.

[1] She was brought up in a politically progressive household, where from an early age, her parents told her stories of the short-lived Azerbaijan People's Government.

In school, she developed a reputation as a political agitator, being reported to the SAVAK by her own teacher for writing an essay that criticised the Imperial State.

[4] During the late 1960s, Dehghani joined her brother in the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG),[5] becoming the only woman on its Central Committee.

[10] Following the Revolution, the Tudeh Party and the majority of OIPFG members deviated from the program of armed struggle, claiming the tactic to be outdated and accusing its proponents of ultra-leftism.

She thus felt that armed struggle was still a valid tactic, in order to prepare the masses for a social revolution and to build resistance to imperialist intervention in the country.

[26] When the 1979 Kurdish rebellion broke out, Dehghani's faction decided to join it,[27] declaring their support for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and fighting alongside them against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

[28] In June 1981, the IPFG and KDP were joined by the People's Mojahedin Organisation (MEK), who had decided to take up armed struggle against the Islamic Republic.

[31] Many of the group's leading members were killed and factional disputes broke out within its nucleus in Kurdistan, causing it to lose hundreds of supporters over the subsequent years.