Authorities in Iran have executed three men convicted of involvement in anti-government protests that swept parts of the country late last year, according to an official statement released on Monday.
The executions, confirmed by the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan Online, come amid a broader crackdown following demonstrations that began in December over rising living costs and escalated into unrest across several regions.
According to the report, two of the men—Mehdi Rassouli and Mohammad Reza Miri—were accused of involvement in violent incidents during protests in Mashhad, Iran. Authorities alleged they acted as agents of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, and were responsible for acts of violence that led to the death of a member of the security forces.
The judiciary said the pair used Molotov cocktails and bladed weapons, incited others to commit violence, and directly participated in the killing of a security officer.
A third individual, Ebrahim Dolatabadi, was also executed after being identified as a key instigator of the unrest in Mashhad, which authorities said resulted in multiple casualties among security personnel.
All three sentences were carried out after being upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, the report added.
Iranian officials maintain that the protests, which peaked in January, initially began as peaceful demonstrations but later devolved into what they describe as riots influenced by foreign actors, including the United States and Israel.
The government has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the unrest but attributes much of the violence to what it calls “terrorist acts” linked to external interference.
The latest executions follow a similar case on Sunday, when another individual was put to death for a killing during earlier protests in 2022–2023, which were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman whose case drew widespread international attention.
Human rights organizations have consistently raised concerns about Iran’s use of capital punishment. According to the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, the country remains one of the world’s leading executioners, with at least 1,500 executions recorded last year, including several linked to protest-related cases.
