Three Iranian males have been executed this week on alleged fees of collaborating with Israel, based on the Islamic Republic judiciary, bringing the whole variety of individuals put to loss of life on comparable fees throughout the 12-day struggle between Tehran and Tel Aviv to 6.
The hangings have been a part of the “season of traitor-killing,” based on Iran’s ISNA Information Company, as Iranian authorities pushed the executions by means of lower than 48 hours after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel was introduced on Monday.
Iran’s judiciary mentioned the lads have been convicted of espionage on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence company. Nonetheless, human rights activists declare the lads have been Kurdish day-laborers with no entry to labeled info and have been denied honest trials.
“This can be a very corrupt regime, and there’s no due course of in Iran,” Azadeh Pourzand, a Center East and human rights professional and a senior fellow and head of the State-Society Relations Unit on the suppose tank Centre for Center East and World Order, instructed ABC Information.
Armed members of Iran’s particular police forces monitor an space throughout an anti-Israeli rally to sentence Israel’s assaults on Iran, after Tehran’s Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto by way of Shutterstock
The crackdown follows a struggle with Israel that Iranian authorities say left at the least 627 individuals lifeless and 4,870 injured, together with main infrastructure harm throughout the nation.
Iran’s present regime, nonetheless, continues to be sustaining energy whereas many analysts had speculated the opportunity of a regime change within the aftermath of the destruction of navy infrastructure and the killing of many excessive rating navy commanders, together with ambiguities concerning the Iranian supreme chief’s well being and whereabouts.
Given the nation’s monitor file in comparable conditions over almost half a century of rule, many human rights activists and Iranians contained in the nation view this “defeated and wounded” part as, doubtlessly, the regime’s most harmful, particularly when it comes to repression.
A number of Iranians who’ve been towards the struggle instructed ABC Information that they’re involved concerning the regime taking its revenge on individuals.
“I cried as soon as when the struggle began, and once more when the ceasefire was introduced,” a 37-year-old lady from Rasht, who declined to be named out of concern of security considerations, instructed ABC Information. “We concern the Islamic Republic simply as a lot as we concern Israel.”
Armed members of Iran’s particular police forces monitor an space throughout an anti-Israeli rally to sentence Israel’s assaults on Iran, after Tehran’s Friday prayers, in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto by way of Shutterstock
Over the course of the 12-day battle, Iranian intelligence and safety forces mentioned they arrested greater than 700 individuals accused of getting ties to Israel, based on state affiliate PressTV earlier this week.
Sharing deep considerations concerning the security of the human rights activists, journalists and ladies, Pourzand mentioned the regime has already “accelerated its execution machine.”
Israeli officers haven’t commented on these arrested for alleged ties to Israel however Mossad Chief David Barnea mentioned this week the Israeli intelligence company would proceed to maintain a “shut eye” on Iran.
“We’ll proceed to maintain a detailed eye on all of the tasks in Iran that we all know very properly. We shall be there(in Iran), as we have now been there till now,” Barnea mentioned.
Moreover, on June 25, Iran’s judiciary introduced adjustments to what it known as the “Espionage Regulation for Coping with Residents,” with the Intelligence Ministry saying the formation of a brand new particular committee tasked with monitoring residents’ on-line actions — a marketing campaign state media has labeled an “intelligence jihad,” highlighting it as a part of a broader “nationwide protection” effort.
“There are safety forces out patrolling the streets in full drive. We hardly dare exit,” Samira, a 23-year-old scholar activist in Tehran, instructed ABC Information. “It is an especially terrifying time. I feel we’re about to enter a part of additional paralysis and suffocation.”
Pourzand — the human rights advocate — described the post-war environment as a “systematic and inflexible type of repression,” warning that the brand new surveillance measures will additional tighten management over public dissent and private freedoms.
“That is collective punishment towards bizarre individuals … as a way to make a degree and instill concern domestically, and to make factors internationally,” she mentioned.
For critics, the Islamic Republic’s response follows a well-worn sample.
“This regime has mastered methods to personal the narrative over the previous 47 years,” Pourzand mentioned. “They use all kinds of instruments — misinformation, disinformation.”
The battle has stirred blended feelings amongst Iranians, lots of whom are nonetheless grappling with the trauma of the state’s crackdown that adopted the 2022 nationwide “Lady, Life, Freedom” protests that have been ignited after the tragic loss of life of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.
The crackdown left a whole bunch killed, 1000’s imprisoned and a number of other executed. The rebellion adopted years of repression and financial hardship made worse by U.S.-led sanctions on prime of widespread regime corruption that has solely deepened the general public’s frustration and despair.
Some Iranians initially considered Israel’s early rhetoric about “releasing Iranians” from dictatorship with hope.
A plume of smoke billows after Israeli strikes in Tehran, June 23, 2025
UGC/AFP by way of Getty Photos
“The Islamic Republic is a totalitarian regime … which has introduced many years of destruction, insecurity, and regional instability,” Parham, 36, instructed ABC Information. “Supporting the Iranian individuals of their quest for freedom will not be solely an ethical crucial but in addition a pathway towards peace, prosperity, and stability within the area.”
Nonetheless, not everybody shares the identical sentiment.
“It might be silly to consider Israel’s goal was ever to free us from this regime,” Samira mentioned. “They made it clear their solely objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
On Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public look because the begin of the struggle, rising from weeks of absence to ship a taped televised tackle to the nation.
“This is without doubt one of the best divine blessings,” Khamenei mentioned, referring to Iran’s armed forces penetrating a number of layers of Israeli protection methods throughout the latest battle. “It exhibits the Zionist regime that any aggression towards the Islamic Republic will come at a price — a heavy price — and fortunately, that is precisely what occurred.”
Nonetheless, some now concern that Khamenei’s “heavy price” will finally fall on Iranian residents, because the world’s consideration shifts elsewhere, leaving them on the mercy of a regime decided to show it stays in management.
“What’s already began is sort of horrific,” Pourzand mentioned. “Sadly, I feel what’s coming shall be even worse.”
