Iran executed four individuals on charges of espionage for Israel, a move that has sparked international concern and condemnation. The executions occurred on Friday, January 26, involving four people, including a woman, whom Iran accused of being "saboteurs" with links to Israel's Mossad intelligence service, as reported by the Mizan news agency affiliated with the judiciary.
In January 2024, Iran sentenced a total of five people to death in a decades-long shadow war, during which Iran accused Israel of attacks on its nuclear efforts, charges that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied. The Mizan news agency stated, "Four members of a sabotage team associated with the Zionist regime ... were executed this morning following legal procedures," accusing them of engaging in "extensive" actions guided by Mossad officers targeting Iran's security.
The executions in West Azerbaijan province on Friday followed Iran's mid-December execution of a fifth accused Mossad agent in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. The semi-official Tasnim news agency identified the four executed on Friday as Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari, Rahman Parhazo, and the woman, named Nasim Namazi.
They were the principal convicts in a case involving 10 offenders, according to Tasnim, although it was not immediately clear if the rest would also face execution. The official IRNA news agency shared a nearly eight-minute video clip showing the men confessing to their alleged cooperation with a Mossad officer in neighbouring Turkey, who used two names, Tony and Arash.