Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel

"The Zionists (Israel) are seeking to try their luck against Iran once again," Major General Mohsen Rezaei told the state TV.

“However, events will soon happen inside Israel that will make this impossible,” he said. “It is not expedient to talk about them now.”

His remarks came hours after Ynet reported Israel is on heightened alert after the United Nations sanctions were reinstated on Iran under the so-called snapback mechanism, amid fears in the Jewish State that Tehran could accelerate its nuclear activities.

The sanctions were imposed despite several rounds of talks between Tehran and world powers aimed at clinching an agreement on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

Rezaei said Tehran will not accept further negotiations with Western powers that give Israel time to prepare or strengthen its position.

“Negotiations aimed at giving Israel time or strengthen it are unacceptable,” the veteran general-turned-politician told the state TV as he was once again seen wearing his military uniform.

“If that happens, the moment Israel starts a war, we will also enter a war with the United States,” said Rezaei who is a member of Iran’s Expediency Council.

“Negotiations must not be accepted in any form, at any price, or without conditions,” he said. “If we enter negotiations, military force must in no way be used against Iran. Otherwise, we will retaliate; not only against Israel, but also against American targets in the region.”

The warning followed fresh statements from Iran’s military leadership emphasizing the country’s readiness to respond to any attack.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said the military is fully prepared to respond to any threat or assault.

“Unity between the army and the Revolutionary Guards is the guarantor of preserving Iran’s territorial integrity,” Mousavi said during a meeting with the Guards’ commander.

“The armed forces are fully ready to confront any threat or possible aggression with strength,” he added.

The contrast revived one of the movement’s most searing slogans: “Death to the child-killing government.”

The stories of these children underscore the scale and cruelty of the crackdown, where even toddlers were killed and grieving families were threatened into silence.

The boy who became a symbol

Nine-year-old Kian Pourfalak from Izeh in southwest Iran became a national symbol. He was killed when security forces opened fire on his family’s car on 16 November 2022. His parents—wounded but survived—insist they were deliberately targeted.

A bright, imaginative child, Kian loved rainbows and robotics, constantly inventing projects and experiments. One of his proudest creations was a boat built from lollipop sticks that floated successfully on water.

After his death, images of his rainbow drawings and handmade boat spread widely, becoming symbols of innocence and promise destroyed by the crackdown.

Kian’s parents have faced repeated intimidation and summons by intelligence officials for speaking publicly about his killing

The Youngest Victim

The youngest victim recorded was just two years old. Known only by her family name, Mirshekar, she was reportedly shot dead while playing outside her home in Zahedan, in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province, on 30 September 2022.

That day—remembered as “Zahedan’s Bloody Friday”—was among the deadliest of the uprising.

Security forces and snipers opened fire on protesting crowds after Friday prayers in the city’s Sunni-majority area, killing over 100 people and injuring many more with live ammunition, pellets, and tear gas.

More than a dozen children were among the dead.

The Child Laborer

Also killed on Bloody Friday was Mohammad-Eghbal Nayeb-Zehi, a 16-year-old Baluchi boy.

From a poor family without official identity papers, he had worked in construction since the age of nine to help support his parents and siblings.

That Friday, he walked many kilometers from his village to Zahedan to attend prayers. Carrying just enough money for a sandwich afterward, he was gunned down.

His modest dream was to one day buy a smartphone and open an Instagram account—a simple ambition that captured both his hopes and the fragility of his life.

Lost Before First Class

Hasti Narouei, a seven-year-old about to begin her first year of school, never made it.

On 30 September, her grandmother took her along to Friday prayers. There, she was reportedly struck on the head by a tear gas canister.

Hasti suffocated and died before she ever had the chance to sit in a classroom.

Gunned down on the way to school

In a village near Saravan, also in Sistan and Baluchestan, Mona Naghib was walking to class with her older sister Maryam when security forces opened fire while chasing two teenage protesters.

A bullet struck Mona. Maryam tried to carry her home, but she died before any medical help could arrive. The family has faced threats from intelligence officials who ordered them to remain silent, according to rights groups.

Killed for chanting

Helen Ahmadi, a seven-year-old girl from Bukan in West Azerbaijan Province, was shot on 12 October 2022 while walking home from school with other children, allegedly for chanting slogans.

Activists say security forces later pressured her family to claim her death was caused by a car accident, highlighting the ongoing intimidation faced by families of children killed in the crackdown.

“My Swedish colleague sent me the video on Friday. My first reaction was that it was amusing. But I immediately added, 'sad too’,” Valtonen told Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper.

She added that she does not change her clothing based on who she is meeting and avoids events that require covering the face or hair.

Valtonen said she raises women’s rights in every meeting with Iranian officials, including this week’s talks.

Iranian state television blurred Valtonen’s legs in a news broadcast of her meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard’s legs were also blurred in the same broadcast. The footage was widely shared on social media, including by Iranian women's rights activist and journalist Masih Alinejad.

Finland’s National Coalition Party, which Valtonen represents, also reacted on Instagram, calling the incident “a sad example of the trampling of women’s rights.”

"This is a reminder of how women around the world are still controlled and erased from visibility. Every woman has the absolute right to be seen, heard, and live freely," the party wrote on a post on Instagram.

"The National Coalition Party stands firmly for women’s rights — both in Finland and globally," it added.

Israeli security officials told the outlet that Iran’s leadership appeared increasingly anxious following the move, raising the risk of “miscalculation” that could spark further confrontation.

The sanctions, which restore an arms embargo, bans on uranium enrichment and ballistic missile activity, asset freezes and travel restrictions, were reimposed after the Security Council rejected a Russia–China proposal to delay them.

The report added that the recent conflict with Iran bolstered international support for sanctions but left open the risk of renewed escalation.

“Iran is still a power,” a senior Israeli official was quoted as saying. “Khamenei could decide tomorrow morning to race for the bomb at any cost.”

Ynet said Israeli officials acknowledged that while the strikes disrupted Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, Tehran retains sufficient material to potentially produce a weapon within a year.

They warned the snapback sanctions, combined with Iran’s missile tests and rebuilding efforts, meant Israel must remain vigilant.

Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, wrote that the situation is “deeply troubling” and “profoundly affected by the devastating military escalation and its aftermath” in the first half of 2025.

“While the military escalation between States ceased on 24 June, its end has not brought relief to the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who continue to face systematic repression,” according to the report.

The attacks, which targeted nuclear facilities, residential areas and Evin prison, killed more than 1,100 people and injured over 5,600, with between 40 and 60 per cent of deaths estimated to be civilian, the report said.

The strikes also killed 14 Iranian nuclear scientists and destroyed medical centers, worsening shortages and leaving vulnerable populations without care, according to the report.

The response of Iranian authorities was also criticized. Tehran’s actions included “scapegoating of ethnic and religious minorities, the mass deportations of vulnerable Afghan nationals and the introduction of draconian legislation that further criminalizes legitimate civil rights activities,” the report added.

On women’s rights, the report pointed to systemic impunity in cases of gender-based killings, noting that at least 108 femicides were documented.

“The legal framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran violates the right to life by providing protections for perpetrators of gender-based killings through discriminatory provisions.”

Executions also continued at what the report called an “alarming pace,” with more than 700 people put to death between January and July, including 98 Baloch, 42 Kurds and 45 Afghans.

Sato urged Iran to “establish a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its complete abolition” and to end corporal punishments including amputation and flogging. She also recommended international support for exiled activists and Afghan refugees.