Iran crackdown deepens with speedy executions and arrests

Three Iranian men were executed this week on alleged charges of collaborating with Israel, according to the Islamic Republic judiciary, bringing the total number of people put to death on similar charges during the 12-day war between Tehran and Tel Aviv to six.

The hangings were part of the “season of traitor-killing,” according to Iran’s ISNA News Agency, as Iranian authorities pushed the executions through less than 48 hours after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced on Monday.

Iran’s judiciary said the men were convicted of espionage on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. However, human rights activists claim the men were Kurdish day-laborers with no access to classified information and were denied fair trials.

“This is a very corrupt regime, and there is no due process in Iran,” Azadeh Pourzand, a Middle East and human rights expert and a senior fellow and head of the State-Society Relations Unit at the think tank Centre for Middle East and Global Order, told ABC News.

The crackdown follows a war with Israel that Iranian authorities say left at least 627 people dead and 4,870 injured, along with major infrastructure damage across the country.

Iran’s current regime, however, is still maintaining power while many analysts had speculated the possibility of a regime change in the aftermath of the destruction of military infrastructure and the killing of many high ranking military commanders, along with ambiguities about the Iranian supreme leader’s health and whereabouts.

Given the country’s track record in similar situations over nearly half a century of rule, many human rights activists and Iranians inside the country view this “defeated and wounded” phase as, potentially, the regime’s most dangerous, especially in terms of repression.

Several Iranians who have been against the war told ABC News that they are concerned about the regime taking its revenge on people.

“I cried once when the war started, and again when the ceasefire was announced,” a 37-year-old woman from Rasht, who declined to be named out of fear of safety concerns, told ABC News. “We fear the Islamic Republic just as much as we fear Israel.”

Over the course of the 12-day conflict, Iranian intelligence and security forces said they arrested more than 700 people accused of having ties to Israel, according to state affiliate PressTV earlier this week.

Sharing deep concerns about the safety of the human rights activists, journalists and women, Pourzand said the regime has already “accelerated its execution machine.”

Israeli officials have not commented on those arrested for alleged ties to Israel but Mossad Chief David Barnea said this week the Israeli intelligence agency would continue to keep a “close eye” on Iran.

“We will continue to keep a close eye on all the projects in Iran that we know very well. We will be there(in Iran), as we have been there until now,” Barnea said.

Additionally, on June 25, Iran’s judiciary announced changes to what it called the “Espionage Law for Dealing with Citizens,” with the Intelligence Ministry announcing the formation of a new special committee tasked with monitoring citizens’ online activities — a campaign state media has labeled an “intelligence jihad,” highlighting it as part of a broader “national defense” effort.

“There are security forces out patrolling the streets in full force. We hardly dare go out,” Samira, a 23-year-old student activist in Tehran, told ABC News. “It’s an extremely terrifying time. I think we’re about to enter a phase of further paralysis and suffocation.”

Pourzand — the human rights advocate — described the post-war atmosphere as a “systematic and rigid form of repression,” warning that the new surveillance measures will further tighten control over public dissent and personal freedoms.

“This is collective punishment against ordinary people … in order to make a point and instill fear domestically, and to make points internationally,” she said.

For critics, the Islamic Republic’s response follows a well-worn pattern.

“This regime has mastered how to own the narrative over the past 47 years,” Pourzand said. “They use all sorts of tools — misinformation, disinformation.”

The conflict has stirred mixed emotions among Iranians, many of whom are still grappling with the trauma of the state’s crackdown that followed the 2022 nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that were ignited after the tragic death of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.

The crackdown left hundreds killed, thousands imprisoned and several executed. The uprising followed years of repression and economic hardship made worse by U.S.-led sanctions on top of widespread regime corruption that has only deepened the public’s frustration and despair.

Some Iranians initially viewed Israel’s early rhetoric about “freeing Iranians” from dictatorship with hope.

“The Islamic Republic is a totalitarian regime … which has brought decades of destruction, insecurity, and regional instability,” Parham, 36, told ABC News. “Supporting the Iranian people in their quest for freedom is not only a moral imperative but also a pathway toward peace, prosperity, and stability in the region.”

However, not everyone shares the same sentiment.

“It’d be foolish to believe Israel’s objective was ever to free us from this regime,” Samira said. “They made it clear their only goal was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

On Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance since the start of the war, emerging from weeks of absence to deliver a taped televised address to the nation.

“This is one of the greatest divine blessings,” Khamenei said, referring to Iran’s armed forces penetrating multiple layers of Israeli defense systems during the recent conflict. “It shows the Zionist regime that any aggression against the Islamic Republic will come at a cost — a heavy cost — and thankfully, that’s exactly what happened.”

However, some now fear that Khamenei’s “heavy cost” will ultimately fall on Iranian citizens, as the world’s attention shifts elsewhere, leaving them at the mercy of a regime determined to prove it remains in control.

“What’s already started is quite horrific,” Pourzand said. “Unfortunately, I think what’s coming will be even worse.”