Iran executes at least 45 political prisoners in 3 months as nuclear talks proceed

Iran's government is intensifying its crackdown on dissidents — expanding executions and mass arrests — even as it pursues nuclear negotiations with the United States. Critics say the regime is resorting to a politics of fear to maintain stability amid mounting economic hardship and political discontent.

The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 45 people have been executed in Iran on political charges this year, with a significant number of those executions carried out in the past three months alone.

Iran and the United States entered a ceasefire on April 7 — 106 days after armed conflict broke out following a US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began Feb. 28 — halting hostilities that had continued since then. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on a war-ending agreement on June 17 and are now engaged in 60 days of nuclear negotiations.

The WSJ reported that "the Iranian regime is seeking an economic breakthrough through negotiations with the United States while simultaneously consolidating its power base at home by suppressing dissent through executions and arrests."

Human rights groups interpreted the sharp rise in executions over recent months as a deliberate warning from the regime aimed at suppressing anti-government sentiment. They said the crackdown is designed to quell the economic grievances and political discontent that pose the greatest threat to the government's survival.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, a rights organization headquartered in Oslo, Norway, said the regime "has already lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the people." He added: "The economy is in serious crisis, and the only way to maintain power is to create fear."

Iranian authorities have paired the executions with sweeping arrests targeting opposition figures. Observers say the repression intensified following large-scale anti-government protests that erupted in January.

Ahmad Reza Radan, commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Police, announced in March that 500 people had been arrested on charges of sharing intelligence with enemies. Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, chief justice of the Supreme Court, also warned that those who voiced or acted in support of the US-Israeli airstrikes against Iran would face swift and severe punishment.

Human rights groups noted that espionage charges are being used broadly as a tool to punish political opponents. Critics also said that vague offenses such as "enmity against God" are being applied to dissidents.

Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, who was recently reported to have been executed, was arrested following women's rights protests and sentenced to death on charges of killing a member of the Basij, a paramilitary force under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. While imprisoned, he told a human rights group in a phone call that he had been "beaten, tortured and threatened from the moment of his arrest and forced to make a false confession," maintaining his innocence, the WSJ reported.

Human rights groups warn that thousands of anti-government protesters remain imprisoned and face the risk of further executions.

Karen Kramer, deputy director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based organization, said "none of them have had adequate access to independent legal counsel" and that "the right to a fair trial and due process has been severely undermined, with revolutionary courts processing cases at speed."

Roya Boroumand, director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, said authorities are seizing the assets of protesters' families and imposing unaffordable bail amounts. "The repression is being carried out in ways that destroy people's very livelihoods," she said.