Iran executes person accused of spying for Israel

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran executed a person convicted of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in the city of Qom, the official judiciary news agency reported Sunday.

The sentence was carried out early Saturday after the Supreme Court upheld the ruling and a request for a pardon was denied, the Mizan news agency said.

The report didn't identify the person, but said that the individual was accused of “intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime” and found guilty of “corruption on Earth” and “enmity against God” — crimes punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic penal code.

Mizan said that the person began contacts and cooperation with Israeli intelligence services in October 2023 and was arrested four months later, in February 2024.

The defendant had allegedly provided sensitive information to Mossad and carried out missions inside Iran on behalf of Israeli intelligence, according to the report. No further details about the nature of the alleged espionage or the date of the person's arrest were made public.

Iran’s judiciary has repeatedly described such executions as necessary to safeguard national security, particularly amid what Tehran calls Israel’s “infiltration and sabotage operations.”

The execution in Qom, home to a sacred Shiite shrine about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the capital Tehran, follows a recent series of similar cases involving alleged cooperation with Israel.

On Oct. 4, Iran executed six people accused of conducting bombings and armed attacks in Khuzestan Province while allegedly working with Mossad. Authorities said that the group had “operated in direct connection with the Zionist regime’s intelligence apparatus.”

Days earlier, on Sept. 29, Iran hanged another defendant, identified as Bahman Choobiasl, who was convicted of spying for Israel. Choobiasl was executed in Arak Prison, after being found guilty of collecting sensitive information and providing it to Israeli handlers.

Since the “12-day war” earlier this year and a series of Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military sites, Iran is known to have executed at least nine people accused of espionage.

The conflict — marked by Israeli airstrikes that killed about 1,100 people, including senior Iranian military commanders — triggered Iranian missile barrages targeting Israeli territory in retaliation. The exchange left both sides on high alert and further inflamed tensions across the region.

Human rights organizations and Western governments have condemned Iran’s increasing use of capital punishment, particularly for political and espionage-related offenses. Activists argue that many of the convictions rely on coerced confessions, and that trials often take place behind closed doors, without access to independent legal representation.

Tehran, however, maintains that those executed were “agents of hostile intelligence services” involved in acts of terrorism or sabotage. Iranian officials have accused Israel of orchestrating a campaign of covert attacks inside Iran, including assassinations of nuclear scientists and cybersabotage of strategic facilities.