Iran Executes Postgraduate Student Convicted of Spying for CIA and Mossad

Iranian authorities executed Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old postgraduate student, at Ghezel Hesar prison outside Tehran. According to the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website, Shakourzadeh was convicted of collaborating with the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence service by providing them with details about his workplace in satellite technology, his access level, duties, and other sensitive information.

Mizan reported that Shakourzadeh’s confessions were scheduled to be broadcast on state television. The execution is the fifth carried out by Iran on espionage charges since the conflict with Israel began in late February. Shakourzadeh had been transferred from Evin prison to Ghezel Hesar earlier in May 2026.

He was arrested in February 2025 while studying aerospace engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran, following earlier graduation with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tabriz.

The Iranian judiciary’s reporting states that Shakourzadeh worked on satellite technology projects and passed information to foreign intelligence agencies. No publicly released evidence from Iranian court filings detailing the specific satellite-tech access or transmitted information was included in available reporting.

Mizan Online presented the case as a successful disruption of espionage targeting Iran’s aerospace and satellite programs.

A note attributed to Shakourzadeh and circulated by the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights and Iran Human Rights claimed the charges were fabricated. ” The two rights groups reported that Shakourzadeh was held in solitary confinement for eight and a half months and subjected to nine months of severe physical and psychological torture.