[55375] Iran has executed Erfan Shakourzadeh on charges of espionage for the CIA and Mossad

Iran has executed Erfan Shakourzadeh on charges of espionage

The news agency affiliated with the Iranian judiciary, Mizan, reported on Monday, May 11, 2026, the execution of Erfan Shakourzadeh, a political prisoner convicted of "collaboration with the intelligence agencies of the US and Israel." Shakourzadeh was arrested in February 2025 by the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence on charges of espionage, and his death sentence was recently upheld by the Supreme Court.

According to reports from the official news agency IRNA and Akharin Khabar, Shakourzadeh used his professional role within a scientific organization involved in satellite projects to establish contact with foreign intelligence entities. Authorities claimed he acted in three stages with the American intelligence agency (CIA) and the Israeli Mossad, passing on classified and sensitive information about the organizational structure of the projects and the employees working on them.

Deutsche Welle in Persian added that the indictment details sophisticated recruitment techniques, including a Mossad officer posing as an Iranian living in Canada, and establishing contact through platforms such as LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Google Meet. According to the allegations, Shakourzadeh received payments in digital currencies in exchange for transferring technical details and locations of his workplace facilities.

Conversely, opposition figures and critical news sites, such as Payam Iran, reject Tehran's official narrative. In their publication, they claimed that "the execution of Erfan Shakourzadeh is not the administration of justice, but rather part of the Islamic Republic's killing machine and fabrication of cases." These sources emphasized that the trial was conducted without due process, without access to an independent lawyer, and that it was a use of security measures to sow fear in Iranian society against the backdrop of the regime's internal failures.