Tehran set to implement law expanding death penalty to online offenses

The incident had not previously been reported.

Hooman Kiani, a student at Isfahan University of Applied Science and Technology, was returning home with a friend when their car came under fire from Basij forces, a volunteer militia under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards according to the Amir Kabir Newsletter.

“Around 11 PM, their car was stopped at a checkpoint in the Mardavij neighborhood,” the newsletter quoted a family member as saying.

“The driver stopped a little late, and the officers opened fire without any warning. Two bullets struck Hooman in the lungs and liver, and his friend was hit in the leg.”

100%

The report said Kiani was taken to Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan, where doctors performed surgery, but he did not survive his injuries.

"Emergency staff began resuscitation efforts and Hooman underwent surgery, but due to extensive bleeding and severe liver damage, he went into cardiac arrest and lost his life" the family member said.

100%

Amir Kabir Newsletter also published a copy of Kiani’s official burial permit issued by Isfahan’s Legal Medicine Organization, which listed the cause of death as “hemorrhagic shock,” “injury to the liver and lungs” and a “gunshot wound,” with the date of death recorded as June 15, 2025.

The newsletter added the family has demanded an explanation from authorities over why Basij forces “fired directly at the car” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

In a similar incident during the 12 day war, guards at a military base in the central Iranian city of Khomein mistakenly opened fire on two civilian vehicles, killing four people on July 17. State media said the shooters were arrested and a judicial investigation was launched.

In another earlier incident, on July 2, two young men were shot dead by the Islamic Republic's security forces outside Hamedan in western Iran.

Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that personnel opened fire on their vehicle near the Tareek-Darreh area after suspecting it of drone-related activity.

The Washington-based group told Iran International that the executions this month included 38 for drug-related offenses, 26 for murder, seven on political charges and one for a sexual crime.

“What is going on behind the closed doors of Iran’s prisons, summary and arbitrary executions whose details are deliberately hidden from the public, is nothing short of mass killing,” Roya Boroumand, the center’s executive director told Iran International.

“These are not acts of justice or crime prevention but the desperate violence of a state that has lost the consent of its people,” she added.

Rights groups, including Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights, have documented that executions in Iran disproportionately affect members of ethnic minorities.

Of the seven people executed on political charges this month, six were from the Arab minority and one from the Kurdish minority.

In late September, Amnesty International said that in less than nine months, the number of people executed by Iranian authorities this year has already surpassed last year’s total of 972, marking the highest annual figure recorded by the group in at least 15 years.

Last week, Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, said 11 people have been executed on alleged espionage charges this year, with nine carried out after Israel’s military strikes on Iran on June 13.

The surge in executions comes as Iran’s Guardian Council approved a new espionage law expanding the definition of spying and increasing penalties, including the death sentence, for cooperation with foreign governments or media deemed hostile.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf formally notified President Masoud Pezeshkian of the legislation earlier this week, marking its final approval and paving the way for it to take effect, raising concerns over a further expansion of the death penalty and a potential rise in executions under the new law.

Esmail Khatib said the surprise military campaign launched by Israel on Iran in June falsely assumed that its people would rise up and overthrow the Islamic Republic.

“The intended outcome was to witness regime overthrow and national disintegration in our country,” Khatib said Thursday in Hamedan, official media reported.

“The enemy’s entire design was based on the premise that the people are dissatisfied and opposed to the system and government, and that the arrival of the Zionist regime would spark chaos in the country.”

Khatib accused Israel and its Western allies of trying to fuel unrest through “financial inducements, incitement, creating dissatisfaction and distrust, sectoral gatherings and sporadic protests and hype in virtual spaces,” aiming to destabilize Iran internally.

“But they failed to achieve their sinister goals,” Khatib said.

'Missiles ensured victory'

Israel launched a surprise military campaign against Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites as well as senior officials. The attacks assassinated nuclear scientists and killed hundreds of military officials and civilians.

Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones which killed 31 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.

The United States joined the conflict with air attacks on three key Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 before brokering a ceasefire on June 24, ending what became the most direct confrontation between the two countries to date.

Khatib credited the leadership by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and military response for what he described as Tehran’s victory.

“Under the leadership of the Leader, our losses were quickly contained through prompt appointments and prudent measures, combined with the zeal, strength, and power of our armed forces. The missile superiority of our forces brought a great victory for our country,” he said.

Khatib also praised what he described as the public's solidarity during the conflict, saying citizens from all walks of life stood with the government.

“The people have fulfilled their duty to us. Despite different tastes, lifestyles, and views, they stood firm with the system and revolution, supporting the Leadership and proving themselves,” Khatib said.

The Commerce Department included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc. on its so-called entity list for allegedly facilitating purchases of American technology by Iran-linked groups. It is unusual for units of a US-listed company to appear on the blacklist.

Arrow spokesperson John Hourigan said the subsidiaries in China and Hong Kong “have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations” and the company was discussing the matter with the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

In all, BIS added 26 entities and three addresses to the list of firms that US vendors cannot sell to without government approval. US suppliers should presume requests will be denied on national security grounds, the agency said.

Some of the new listings stemmed from wreckage of drones recovered by Persian Gulf states and Israel, which investigators found contained US-origin components routed through the sanctioned firms. BIS said parts recovered from Hamas drones used in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel also traced back to some of the companies.

Part of wider campaign

The action is the latest in a series of measures aimed at constraining Iran’s weapons programs and its use of front companies abroad. Earlier this month, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 people and entities from Iran and China accused of advancing Tehran’s procurement of surface-to-air missiles and US-made helicopter parts. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would “deny the regime weapons it would use to further its malign objectives.”

Those sanctions were also tied to the reimposition of United Nations measures on Iran under the “snapback” mechanism triggered by Britain, France and Germany in late September. The restored restrictions cover Iran’s nuclear, missile and arms programs, along with embargoes, travel bans and asset freezes.

Targeting financial networks

The US has also sought to cut off the flow of money to Iran’s armed forces and aligned groups. In September, the Treasury sanctioned four Iranian nationals and more than a dozen companies in the UAE and Hong Kong accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars through oil sales and cryptocurrency transactions. Officials said the networks helped finance ballistic missile and drone programs, as well as groups such as Hezbollah.

The same week, the State Department revoked a sanctions waiver for Iran’s Chabahar Port that had been in place since 2018 to support reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, warning that firms operating there could face penalties.

“Groups in the resistance front are today stronger and more active than two years ago against America and Israel,” Behnam Saeedi, secretary of parliament’s national security commission, told Didban Iran, referring to militias backed by Tehran in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza.

Saeedi dismissed US President Donald Trump’s peace initiative as unreliable. “Any plan that takes sovereignty away from the Palestinian people is doomed to fail,” he said.

Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on a ceasefire after two years of war in Gaza, with terms set out in a 20-point US proposal presented by Trump and backed by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. The plan would see the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the freeing of Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from parts of the enclave, and the entry of aid.

Israel’s government is meeting later Thursday to vote on the deal, which is widely expected to pass. If approved, a truce will go into immediate effect and the release of hostages is due to begin within days. Families of hostages in Israel and residents in Gaza have already staged celebrations at the news.

While regional leaders from Egypt to Qatar hailed the breakthrough, Iranian state officials and media have so far shown little reaction to the Gaza agreement.

Iran’s only public comment came from government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, who said Tuesday Tehran would support any lasting peace that benefits Palestinians. Trump said Iran had sent “a very strong signal” it wanted to see progress toward an agreement.