Iran Jails 1,895 in Security Cases as Officials Mix Spying Charges With Protest Crackdown
Court records show mass trials and executions while analysts debate whether the state is pursuing spies or silencing critics.
By Layla Fontaine ·
Iran's judiciary has opened cases against at least 1,895 people accused of working for Israel or other hostile states, spokesman Ali Kazemi said earlier this month, a figure that includes 94 media workers. The prosecutions form the latest chapter in a security drive that has swept up protesters, journalists, lawyers and minorities alongside suspected agents since the 2025 war.
The sweep traces to February 28, when an Israeli and US assault killed senior figures including former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on its first day. Saeid Golkar, an associate professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said the killings show the infiltration threat is real. He also noted that Tehran has long leaned on security scares to justify repression of domestic critics.
Iranian suspicions received fresh fuel on October 22, when former Mossad director David Barnea told a conference in Israel that he sent dozens of agents into Iran for intelligence or sabotage work in the weeks before the 12-day war of June 2025. "I can't say that they are here with us. But they are there in Tehran, living their lives," Barnea said. He added that his agency released footage of operatives bearing a Mossad logo hours after that war began, which pushed local authorities to arrest thousands of people with no ties to the service, shielding the real agents in the process.
The numbers behind Iran's crackdown run high. Police announced at least 21,000 arrests after June 2025, and at least 50,000 people were detained in connection with the January 2026 protests. The UN counted at least 19 hangings in espionage cases between June and December 2025. Iran Human Rights logged 16 executions of espionage defendants from January through September 2026, and Amnesty reported at least 34 executions tied to the January protests by October 13.
Rules on communications have tightened alongside the courts. Sending images or information to outlets deemed hostile, including BBC Persian, can draw 10 to 15 years in prison, and added to other counts it can bring a "corruption on Earth" charge that carries the death penalty. Authorities call Starlink a "tool of war" and have moved to seize or jam the terminals. The state also cut internet access for 90 million people for several days during the 12-day war, for 20 days during the January protests and for 88 days at the start of the current war.
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said Tehran has genuine grounds to guard against infiltration and sabotage, but "there is a fundamental distinction between espionage and dissent." Criticism of the government, reporting on its failures or work with foreign media does not by itself amount to spying, she said, yet officials have increasingly blurred the two.
Golkar offered a similar reading. Counterespionage is a legitimate state function, he said, but it has become a means to shield the ruling establishment and expand the reach of security services. He added that the Islamic republic has hardened into a security-dominated regime that treats even nonviolent dissent as a threat to its hold on power.
Rules issued in October set prison terms for supplying material to networks such as BBC Persian. Iran Human Rights recorded 16 espionage executions in the first nine months of 2026, and Amnesty counted at least 34 executions linked to the January protests by October 13.
