Iran Executes Man Convicted of Spying for Israel

Iranian authorities executed a man on Tuesday after convicting him of cooperation with and espionage for Israel's Mossad spy agency. The judiciary said the man had been sentenced to death on charges of intelligence cooperation and espionage in favor of the Zionist regime. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The judiciary described the executed man as one of the operational ringleaders of Mossad abroad who sought to recruit individuals inside the country for anti-security actions. He was detained by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence forces after being guided into the country through intelligence deception tactics.

The report stated the man had been tasked by Mossad to travel to a regional country to identify and prepare the groundwork for the assassination of a Jewish rabbi in order to accuse Iran of anti-Jewish actions. It was not immediately clear when the man was arrested or sentenced.

The judiciary said the execution by hanging took place after legal proceedings and confirmation of the sentence in the Supreme Court.

Monday, Iran executed another man convicted of carrying out armed attacks during nationwide anti-government protests that peaked in January. The day before, Iran hanged a man over espionage in the first reported execution linked to spying offenses during the war with the U.S. and Israel.

Iran carries out the second-highest number of executions in the world after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. A doubling of Iranian executions contributed to the world reaching a high for death penalties in 2025 not seen since 1981, an Amnesty report published earlier this month found.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty said last month that at least 1,639 people were executed in 2025, including 48 women. Earlier this month, a man was executed for his role in a murder committed during protests that rocked Iran in 2022-2023 following the death of Mahsa Amini.