Iran on Sunday hanged a man who was accused of relaying the coordinates of a defense facility that was later destroyed in an airstrike, marking the regime’s first known execution for espionage during its war with Israel and the United States.
Mojtaba Kian was hanged less than 50 days after his arrest. He was charged with sending “numerous messages to hostile networks affiliated with the Zionist-American enemy.” The state-owned Mizan News Agency said the information included the location of factories that are part of Iran’s defense industry.
“A technical analysis of the messages exchanged between the defendant and enemy elements shows that three days after sending the information, the location in question was targeted by the enemy and completely destroyed,” the Mizan News Agency reported. “After Mojtaba Kian contacted the hostile media network, he was immediately identified and arrested.”
Iranian officials said Mr. Kian admitted sending the information through a satellite network, although his confession could not be independently verified. They said “numerous pieces of evidence” were recovered during the investigation, including his cellphone that contained eight text messages about Iran’s defense industry production locations.
In addition to hanging Mr. Kian, the Tehran government confiscated all of his property.
He was charged under the recently enacted Law on Intensifying the Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile Countries Against National Security and Interests, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based advocacy group.
“The bill significantly broadened the scope and application of the death penalty, effectively lowering the threshold for executions by codifying it for a broader range of vaguely-defined offenses under the guise of combating cooperation with hostile states,” Iran Human Rights said in a statement.
More than 1,600 people were executed in Iran last year, a 68% increased compared to 2024. Iran Human Rights said it marked the highest number of recorded executions since 1989. At least 213 people have been executed in 2026.
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