TEHRAN, Iran, Aug. 3 (ANI): Iran on Monday executed two men convicted of spying for Israel after authorities said they provided sensitive targeting intelligence to Israeli intelligence officers during recent military conflicts.
According to Fars News Agency, the men were identified as Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat. Iranian authorities said they worked for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, during both the 12-day conflict in June between Iran and Israel and the conflict referred to by Iranian authorities as the “Ramadan War,” involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
Authorities alleged that the two men transmitted images, precise geographic coordinates and operational information about military and security facilities to Mossad handlers and affiliated communication networks, enabling targeted attacks on those locations. Fars reported that prosecutors presented intercepted communications between the defendants and Israeli intelligence as evidence during the proceedings.
According to Fars, one of the intercepted messages read: “I also have the video of them firing from this center towards a drone or fighter jet, but the internet is weak and it won’t send; thank you, soldiers of His Holiness Moses!”
The executions follow a broader crackdown by Iranian security agencies on alleged intelligence networks operating inside the country during periods of heightened military tensions.
Earlier this year, Iran executed another man convicted of spying for Mossad, according to state media, ABC News reported.
The state-run IRNA news agency identified the man as Ali Ardestani and said he had provided classified information to Mossad operatives in exchange for financial compensation that was reportedly paid in cryptocurrency.
IRNA reported that Ardestani admitted to the espionage charges and had expected to receive a $1 million payment and a British visa.
The agency described him as a “special operative of Israel” who supplied Mossad with photographs and videos of sensitive locations.
According to the report, Ardestani was recruited online by Israeli intelligence, and his case proceeded through Iran’s judicial system, including lower courts and the Supreme Court.
Human rights organizations and Western governments have criticized Iran’s extensive use of the death penalty, particularly in cases involving political activity and espionage, according to The Times of Israel.
Rights advocates say many convictions are based on coerced confessions and that trials are often conducted behind closed doors without access to independent legal representation. Iranian authorities maintain that those executed were agents of hostile intelligence services involved in terrorism or sabotage.
The Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights reported that Iran carried out at least 1,500 executions in 2025, describing the increase in the use of capital punishment as unprecedented.
“We have never seen numbers like this in the past 35 years,” the group’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said, according to The Times of Israel. (ANI)
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