State media says Iran executed 27-year-old Aghil Keshavarz after convicting him of spying for Israel’s Mossad. Arrested in May in Urmia, he was accused of photographing military sites and carrying out more than 200 assignments across Iran. The Supreme Court reportedly upheld his death sentence. State reports place the case amid a string of espionage executions following a June air campaign and subsequent missile exchanges.
Iran Executes Aghil Keshavarz, Accused Mossad Informant, State Media Says
Iranian state media reported Saturday that a man identified as Aghil Keshavarz was executed after being convicted of spying for Israeli intelligence and the Israeli military.
State television said Keshavarz had "close intelligence cooperation" with the Mossad and photographed Iranian military and security sites. Authorities say he was arrested in May while taking pictures of a military headquarters in the northwestern city of Urmia, about 600 kilometers (371 miles) northwest of Tehran.
The report alleges Keshavarz carried out more than 200 similar assignments for the Mossad in several Iranian cities, including Tehran. He was tried, sentenced to death, and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the state account said. Keshavarz was 27 and reportedly studied architecture.
Context and Concerns
State reports placed the case in a broader context of espionage prosecutions, saying Iran has executed 11 people for espionage since a 12-day air campaign in June—an episode the report said killed nearly 1,100 people, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. The report adds that Iran’s missile response killed 28 people in Israel. In October, Iranian authorities executed another person accused of spying for the Mossad in the city of Qom.
Human rights and legal observers have frequently criticized Iran’s closed-door espionage trials, noting that suspects often have limited access to the evidence presented against them.
This account is based on state media reporting. Independent verification of some details, including the scale of alleged espionage activities and some casualty figures cited in state reports, was not available at the time of publication.
