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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities on Monday executed two men accused of passing military and security information to Israel during the 12-day and 40-day wars with Israel and the United States, amid a sharp increase in executions on espionage and national security charges and a widening crackdown on political and civil dissent.
Iran’s judiciary identified the men as Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat, alleging that they provided Israeli intelligence officers and channels linked to Mossad with coordinates, photographs, and information about sensitive sites.
Iran has frequently been accused by rights groups of using executions as a tool to suppress dissent, with around three dozen political prisoners and protesters executed since the start of the war on February 28. Human rights organizations have also accused Iranian security forces of systematically using torture and inhumane treatment to force detainees and prisoners into confessions, including allegations of espionage for Israel.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars News released a video on Monday showing the two men’s confessions. In the footage, Pouria Safvat said he had provided the coordinates of mosques, schools and Basij bases to Iran International, a London-based 24-hour news channel.
It is unclear why the defendants would have needed to provide the coordinates of sites that are freely available online.
Over the past week, at least three protesters have been executed, including two who were hanged in a public square in Isfahan on July 28.
The judiciary said technical examinations of Behzad’s mobile phone showed that he had repeatedly sent the locations and geographical coordinates of military, police, and security facilities during the 40-day war that began in late February.
Safvat was accused of sending the coordinates of military and security sites to Iran International, a media outlet that Iranian authorities have repeatedly alleged is linked to Israel.
The allegations, judicial proceedings, and circumstances surrounding the men’s arrests, detention, and trials could not be independently verified. Iranian authorities did not disclose when the men were arrested, where they were held, whether they had access to independent legal representation, or where the executions were carried out.
Iranian courts frequently rely on televised or recorded confessions in national-security cases. Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that such statements are often obtained under torture, prolonged solitary confinement or other forms of coercion.
The executions come amid an intensified campaign against people accused of collaborating with Israel and the US during successive wars and periods of unrest.
Tens of thousands of people were detained during the nationwide protests that erupted in January over worsening economic conditions and subsequently during the war launched by the US and Israel.
Those arrested have included protesters, journalists, lawyers, activists and members of ethnic and religious minorities. Many have faced accusations of espionage, communicating with foreign media or providing information to enemy states - charges that can carry the death penalty.
Iran Human Rights said at least 12 people had been executed on espionage charges so far this year. Ten were accused of spying for Israel or the US, while two Iraqi nationals were accused of working for an unidentified Arab country. Most of those accused of spying for Israel or the US were executed after the 40-day war began.
The Norway-based organisation has warned that some prisoners were initially arrested on unrelated charges before being accused of espionage and forced to make self-incriminating statements that were later used to secure death sentences.
Iran Human Rights documented at least 13 executions for alleged espionage for Israel in 2025, with the number rising around and after last year’s 12-day war.
Rights groups say the wars have enabled Iranian authorities to intensify an already severe domestic crackdown, using national security charges to target political prisoners, protesters, and dissidents as executions continue at an accelerating pace.
Behzad and Safvat’s executions are the latest indication that those detained during the conflicts remain at serious risk of receiving swift death sentences through proceedings that rights organizations say lack transparency and fundamental due-process protections.
