{"id":111374,"date":"2026-05-13T07:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/111374\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T07:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:46:14","slug":"iran-executes-man-accused-of-spying-on-behalf-of-israels-mossad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/111374\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran executes man accused of spying on behalf of Israel&#8217;s Mossad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel\u2019s Mossad intelligence service after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence, the judiciary\u2019s Mizan news outlet reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>According to the judiciary, Ehsan Afrashteh, 32, confessed to being recruited by Mossad and working on its behalf.<\/p>\n<p>He received payments of 1,000 euros to carry out tasks such as \u201cdocumenting target locations,\u201d including Iran\u2019s Intelligence Ministry, and \u201cattending gatherings and taking pictures of various people,\u201d the judiciary claimed.<\/p>\n<p>He operated under the guise of a taxi driver, and was given training by Mossad in Nepal, Mizan said, adding that he was fluent in several languages, including English and Hebrew.<\/p>\n<p>According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Afrashteh was arrested in 2024 after returning from a trip to Turkey, and sentenced to death in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition<br \/>\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The rights group claimed the death penalty was based on confessions that were fabricated or given under torture.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Iran executed Ehsan Afrashteh on Wednesday on accusations of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel, the judiciary\u2019s Mizan News reported.<\/p>\n<p>Afrashteh, who was born in the central city of Isfahan in 1993 and held a master\u2019s degree in civil engineering, was arrested in\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/b8UJ2pJJ9E\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/b8UJ2pJJ9E<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IranIntl_En\/status\/2054432760475811943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to the opposition-affiliated Iran International, Afrashteh was a native of Isfahan and held a master\u2019s degree in civil engineering.\n<\/p>\n<p>He was held in solitary confinement for months while in detention, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>Iran is the world\u2019s second-most prolific executioner, after China, according to rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says the Islamic Republic executed at least 1,500 people last year, one of the highest numbers worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and the US launched a war against the Iranian regime at the end of February, with a shaky ceasefire in place since April 8.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the conflict, Iran has ramped up<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/iran-executes-man-who-worked-in-satellite-field-for-allegedly-spying-for-mossad-cia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> executions,<\/a> particularly in cases involving alleged espionage or security-related charges.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Tehran executed three men convicted of involvement in anti-government protests that rocked the country in December and January.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tWhich gorgeous bird do you prefer?\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-200x200.png\" class=\"attachment-square size-square wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>THIS MONTH ONLY: Join our reader support group for as little as $6\/month and receive an exclusive tote bag featuring one of Israel\u2019s native birds.<\/p>\n<p>Choose between the\u00a0Duchifat (orange), Israel&#8217;s national bird, or the Shaldag (blue), a beloved symbol of the Israeli landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a member of the Times of Israel Community,\u00a0you&#8217;ll also enjoy:<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nAn ad-free experience of our site and podcasts.&#13;<br \/>\nExclusive access to award-winning films via DocuNation.&#13;<br \/>\nWeekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/crm.timesofisrael.com\/sign-up?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=module&amp;utm_campaign=tote_bags&amp;utm_term=both&amp;utm_source=website&amp;utm_medium=article_end&amp;utm_content=BDFCFF\" class=\"crm-post-module__btn crm-post-module__btn-desktop\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tJoin ToI Community &amp; 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Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel\u2019s Mossad intelligence service after the Supreme Court upheld his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4559,38473,34,20717,37,2478],"class_list":{"0":"post-111374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-espionage","9":"tag-human-rights-activists-news-agency-hrana","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-iran-executions","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-mossad"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116566162320677997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}