Iran has carried out the execution of an individual found guilty of espionage for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. The execution took place in the holy city of Qom, according to a report from the official judiciary news agency on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
Confirming the report, the Mizan news agency stated that the sentence was enacted in the early hours of Saturday, October 18, following the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the judgment and the rejection of a clemency appeal.
While the identity of the executed person was not disclosed, the individual faced grave charges of ‘intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime,’ alongside convictions for ‘corruption on Earth’ and ‘enmity against God.’ These offenses carry the death penalty under Iran’s stringent Islamic penal code.
Mizan further detailed that the individual initiated contact and collaboration with Israeli intelligence services in October 2023, leading to their arrest just four months later, in February 2024.
The report alleged that the defendant supplied sensitive intelligence to Mossad and undertook missions within Iran at the behest of Israeli intelligence. However, specific details regarding the alleged espionage activities or the exact date of arrest were not publicly disclosed.
Iranian judicial authorities have consistently justified such executions as vital for national security, especially in light of what Tehran describes as Israel’s ‘infiltration and sabotage operations.’ This latest execution in Qom, a city renowned for its sacred Shiite shrine located approximately 120 kilometers south of Tehran, is part of a broader pattern of recent cases involving alleged collaboration with Israel.
Just weeks prior, on October 4, Iran executed six individuals in Khuzestan Province, who were accused of carrying out bombings and armed assaults while reportedly working with Mossad. Officials stated that this group had ‘operated in direct connection with the Zionist regime’s intelligence apparatus.’ Earlier that same month, on September 29, Iran executed Bahman Choobiasl in Arak Prison, after he was convicted of espionage for Israel, specifically for gathering and relaying sensitive information to Israeli contacts.
Following the ’12-day war’ earlier this year and a series of Israeli strikes on Iranian military installations, Iran has executed at least nine individuals on charges of espionage.
This recent conflict, characterized by Israeli airstrikes that claimed approximately 1,100 lives, including several senior Iranian military commanders, provoked retaliatory Iranian missile attacks on Israeli territory. This dangerous exchange has left both nations on high alert and significantly heightened regional tensions.
International human rights organizations and various Western governments have voiced strong condemnation of Iran’s escalating application of capital punishment, particularly in cases involving political dissent and espionage.
Critics and activists contend that many of these convictions are based on forced confessions, and that trials frequently occur in secret, denying defendants access to independent legal counsel.
Tehran, conversely, asserts that those executed were legitimate ‘agents of hostile intelligence services’ engaged in acts of terrorism or sabotage. Iranian officials have consistently accused Israel of masterminding a clandestine campaign within Iran, reportedly involving the assassination of nuclear scientists and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.