Iran Executes Six Members of 'Terrorist' Group Amid Wider Crackdown

Iran executed six members of a "terrorist" group in Khuzestan, accusing them of armed attacks and affiliation with Israel, Mizan News Agency reported.

Official logo of Iran's Judiciary. (Photo: Kurdistan24)
Official logo of Iran's Judiciary. (Photo: Kurdistan24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The Iranian judiciary announced on Saturday that it had executed six members of what it described as a "separatist terrorist network affiliated with the Zionist regime," accusing them of carrying out a series of deadly armed attacks and bombings in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

The executions, carried out by hanging at dawn, mark the latest in a string of severe state-sanctioned punishments meted out by Tehran as it wages a fierce and often opaque internal war against perceived enemies of the state, a campaign that has intensified dramatically in the wake of its recent, brief but devastating war with Israel.

While the official judiciary news outlet, Mizan Online, linked the men directly to Israel, this charge is a frequent and often unsubstantiated claim leveled by Iranian authorities against a wide range of opposition and separatist groups.

"The death sentence for six separatist terrorist elements, who in recent years had carried out a series of armed operations and bombings targeting security in Khuzestan province, was carried out at dawn today," the judiciary's Mizan website stated, confirming that the sentences had been carried out after all legal procedures were completed and the verdicts were confirmed by the country's Supreme Court.

While the identities of the six executed individuals and the specific details of their arrests and trials were not immediately made clear, the Mizan report provided a list of the crimes they were alleged to have committed.

The judiciary stated that the men had "direct participation in the assassination and martyrdom" of four security personnel: FARAJA (Law Enforcement Command) officers Allah-Nazar Safari and Mohammadreza Rafiei-Nasab, and Basij paramilitary force members Ali Salehi-Majd and Younes Bahr.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), these killings took place in 2018 and 2019. Beyond these assassinations, the report claimed the men had "confessed to designing and carrying out sabotage acts such as making and planting bombs, the explosion of the Khorramshahr gas station, armed attacks on banks, throwing grenades at a military center, and shooting at mosques."

The judiciary asserted that the actions of these executed "terrorists" had "repeatedly threatened the peace and security of Khuzestan's citizens over the past years."

In a separate execution on the same day, Iranian authorities also hanged a man named Saman Mohammadi. He was convicted on the charge of "Moharebeh," or "waging war against God," for his alleged membership in what Tehran described as "terrorist and Takfiri groups," a term often used for hardline Islamist militants.

Mohammadi, who was arrested in 2013, was reportedly involved in the 2009 killing of the Friday prayers imam in the western city of Sanandaj, as well as in armed robberies and kidnappings, including the killing of a military conscript.

These latest executions are part of a broader, intensified campaign of state repression and capital punishment that has been a hallmark of the Islamic Republic, but which has reached a new level of ferocity since the June 2025 conflict with Israel.

Iran, which is the world's second most prolific executioner after China according to human rights groups like Amnesty International, has vowed to deliver swift justice to anyone accused of collaborating with its arch-nemesis.

This has resulted in a wave of arrests and executions targeting individuals accused of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Less than a week before Saturday's hangings, Iran announced it had executed Babak Shahbazi, a man it described as one of Israel's top spies, after convicting him of "corruption on earth" and "waging war against God" for providing sensitive information.

The case of Babak Shahbazi, as detailed by Mizan, provides a telling glimpse into the opaque world of Iran's security courts. Shahbazi, a contractor who specialized in industrial cooling systems, was accused of using his access to sensitive telecommunications and military facilities to gather intelligence for Mossad.

His execution followed that of another man, Esmail Fekri, in June, with whom Shahbazi was allegedly collaborating. The judiciary's detailed account alleged a complex web of recruitment through social media, clandestine Skype meetings with Mossad officers, payments in cryptocurrency, and extensive training in tradecraft.

This intense counter-espionage effort has seen numerous high-profile arrests and executions.

In August, authorities executed Roozbeh Vadi, who had worked at a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, after convicting him of handing over information about Iranian nuclear scientists and facilities.

In late July, Iran's intelligence agency announced it had arrested "20 spies, Mossad operational and support agents, and elements connected to the (Israeli) regime's intelligence officers" across several provinces, a figure later confirmed by the judiciary.

The judiciary spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir, vowed that those found guilty would face decisive sentences intended to serve as a "historical lesson."

The context for this crackdown is the aftermath of a brief but devastating 12-day war in June, which saw unprecedented Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, a conflict Iran refers to as the "12-day Holy Defense."

During that conflict, Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion," a multi-pronged air and drone offensive that, according to reports, was supported by Mossad sabotage teams on the ground and resulted in the deaths of numerous senior Iranian scientists and IRGC commanders. Iran retaliated with its own massive missile and drone barrages against Israeli targets.

This open conflict appears to have validated and intensified a long-held belief within the Iranian security establishment of a deep and pervasive network of Israeli intelligence operating within the country.

Recent investigative reports in Western media have lent credence to these fears, detailing a significant strategic shift by Israel to increasingly utilize non-Israeli operatives, including Iranian dissidents, for covert missions inside Iran.

These reports describe a "ruthlessly effective" campaign that included technologically advanced operations and the use of "cutouts" to mount operations and reduce risk.

The executions on Saturday, particularly those in Khuzestan, also highlight the long-running and often violent tensions between the central government and ethnic minorities in Iran. Khuzestan province, which is home to a large Arab population and is rich in oil, has been a site of periodic unrest and separatist activity for decades.

The Iranian government has frequently responded to this unrest with force and has often linked local dissident groups to foreign powers, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, as a way to delegitimize their grievances and justify harsh crackdowns.

While the judiciary's statement on Saturday confidently declared the six executed men to be part of a "separatist terrorist network affiliated with the Zionist regime," the lack of a transparent legal process and the state's frequent use of such sweeping accusations leave the true nature of their activities and affiliations shrouded in the same fog of state secrecy that surrounds all such cases in the Islamic Republic.

 
 
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