Iran has executed two men it accused of spying for Israel, the latest signal that Tehran is accelerating its use of capital punishment as part of a broader wartime crackdown.
According to the judiciary-linked outlet Mizan, the men — identified as Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed Validi — were convicted of cooperating with Israel’s intelligence service and plotting attacks inside Iran. Authorities alleged the pair were part of a network tied to Mossad and had received training abroad, including in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The report did not specify when they were arrested.
The men were convicted on charges including “enmity against God,” a capital offense under Iranian law, and collaboration with “hostile groups and the Zionist regime.” Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentences before they were carried out, Mizan said.
Iran already ranks among the world’s most prolific executioners, second only to China, according to international rights monitors. In recent weeks, that pace has intensified, with authorities increasingly framing domestic dissent and alleged espionage as wartime threats.
Earlier this month, Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, publicly instructed courts to fast-track cases tied to the conflict, including those carrying the death penalty.
“You need to speed up the issuing of sentences for executions and the confiscation of property,” Ejei said in a televised address, urging judges to use existing espionage laws to move more quickly against what he described as “agents of the aggressor enemy.”
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