Iran on Monday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, as tensions in the region escalated following US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel.According to Iran’s judiciary, Mohammad-Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh was hanged early in the morning for “intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime.”Shayesteh was also accused of having links with Iran International, a London-based Persian-language channel critical of the Iranian government, which Tehran views as being connected to Israel.The execution came just a day after another man, Majid Mosayebi, was hanged for allegedly attempting to pass sensitive information to Mossad. Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests since Israel’s June 13 strike, claiming to have dismantled several spy networks operating on behalf of Israel.Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said on Sunday that security-related cases involving collaboration with Israel would be handled more swiftly.He described such actions as support for the “usurping regime” and acting as a “fifth column” of the enemy, in a statement to the state television.On Sunday, the US launched airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities. In retaliation, Iran fired missiles at strategic sites in Tel Aviv.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued a stern warning in response to the US actions, saying that they will “ not to be intimidated by the noise made by Trump or criminal gangs ruling the White House and Tel Aviv” and warned that the US had now placed itself “at the front line of aggression.”Iran remains one of the world’s top enforcers of the death penalty, second only to China, according to rights groups such as Amnesty International.
