Iran has executed a man accused of spying for Israel, according to the judiciary’s media outlet Mizan.
The report said Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour was hanged at dawn on Wednesday after being convicted of passing classified information to a Mossad agent. Mizan said Esmailpour had been arrested on April 29, 2025, and was found guilty of espionage and intelligence cooperation with a hostile foreign service, with the sentence upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court.
Rights groups say at least 12 people have been executed on similar espionage charges since Israel’s war with Iran in June 2025.
The execution comes as Iran faces intense international scrutiny following a sweeping crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this month, during which security forces reportedly killed thousands of demonstrators.
US President Donald Trump has said Tehran told him it halted plans for hundreds of executions of detained protesters, a claim Iran has denied.
Human rights organizations and Western governments have condemned Iran’s expanding use of capital punishment, particularly in political and espionage cases. Activists argue that many convictions rely on forced confessions and closed trials without independent legal counsel, while Iranian authorities insist those executed were agents of hostile intelligence services involved in terrorism or sabotage.
