Iran executes detainee for participating in January anti-regime protests, judiciary says

Iran has executed a man detained during protests in January for allegedly firing at police, the judiciary said on Saturday, as the Islamic Republic continues its crackdown on those who participated in the mass anti-regime demonstrations.

The judiciary said Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi fired at least three shots at police on January 8 and was arrested two days later with a handgun in Shahrekord in southwestern Iran.

It accused him of contacting people online to organize "anti-security" activities and seeking payment for a "mission," without identifying who was purported to be behind it.

The anti-regime protests erupted on December 28, 2025, over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.

Iran blamed armed groups and operatives backed by the US and Israel for involvement in the protests and for some of the violence.

Iranian FM dodged question about executions on sidelines of UNGA summit

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, when probed on the regime’s execution of Iranian citizens by a reporter on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, smiled and did not answer the reporter’s question. 

Fox News Digital reporter Efrat Lachter shared video of the encounter on X/Twitter, in which she asked Araghchi, “How can you call yourself a victim of terror when you executed more than 900 of your own people?”

Araghchi smiled as he looked in Lachter’s direction and did not answer.

Lachter’s question was asked in reference to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s UNGA speech, during which he accused US President Donald Trump of "bullying" the Islamic Republic and claimed that the regime has been “the victims of terrorism.”