Iran executes man accused of armed attacks during US-Israeli strikes

Iran executed a political prisoner in Kerman on Wednesday on charges of carrying out armed attacks during what the Iranian judiciary described as joint American-Israeli military operations on Iranian soil.

The Mizan news agency, the official outlet of Iran's judiciary, identified Ali-Sina Mostafavi, 38, as one of "the armed agents of the American-Zionist enemy" and accused him of opening fire on civilians in Azadi Square in Kerman on 24 March, wounding one person and a young girl.

According to Mizan, he also fired on conscript soldiers and passing vehicles on 21 April, injuring further civilians.

The judiciary additionally accused him of participating in protests in December 2025 and January 2026 — which the Iranian authorities call the "Dey protests" and describe as a coup attempt — and of sending footage to Persian-language media outlets based outside Iran, which Tehran brands as hostile.

Among the items seized from Mostafavi, said to be from the city of Bam, were a Brno rifle with telescopic sight, a shotgun, a second unlicensed shotgun, 246 rounds for the Brno and 30 Molotov cocktails, the judiciary said.

Mostafavi, who played the tar and had made a solo ascent of Island Peak in the Himalayas and attempted Ama Dablam, reaching 6,600 metres, was held in Shahab prison in Kerman. He was moved to solitary confinement in his final days and his family were summoned for a last visit.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's last shah, described Mostafavi on X as "a patriotic young man" condemned after forced confessions extracted under torture in what he called show trials, and urged others to speak out for political prisoners facing execution.

The charge Mostafavi faced, moharebeh, or "enmity against God," in Iranian law represents taking up arms against people's lives, property or honour in a way that creates insecurity.

Tehran has deployed the charge for decades to suppress opponents, critics and protesters.

Second execution this week

Two days earlier, the Mizan news agency confirmed the execution of Omar Dorastaran, 25, identified by the judiciary as a member of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl.

He was accused of helping group members enter Iran, arranging accommodation and transport, and providing support for attacks on IRGC forces in Sistan and Baluchistan province, including the attack on the Paroud base and March 2024 assaults on military installations in Chabahar.

The 2024 attack on the Rask police post was among the deadliest carried out by armed groups in south-eastern Iran. Eleven security forces members were killed.

Dorastaran, single and from the village of Cheraghan in Rask county, was studying at a religious school in the city of Pishin at the time of his arrest, according to human rights organisations.

Halvash, a local media outlet in Sistan and Baluchestan, reported that he was arrested without a warrant and held for an extended period without access to visits or phone calls, and that security agents sought to extract forced confessions through torture.

Sistan and Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest provinces, has long been the scene of armed clashes between security forces and Sunni militant and Baloch armed organisations. Fighting in the province has intensified in recent weeks.

Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned the execution of five men within a single week in Iran in cases linked to the January protests, and called for coordinated international pressure on Tehran to halt further executions.

The organisation said the Islamic Republic uses the death penalty systematically to intimidate opponents and raise the cost of protest. Iran executed at least 2,159 people in 2025, according to Amnesty.