Illustrative: A picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on December 12, 2022, shows the public execution of Majidreza Rahnavard, in Iran's Mashhad city. (Mizan News/AFP)

Iran executes two men convicted of links to Islamic State, planning attacks

Tehran says two men part of cell operating along Iran-Iraq border, were hanged after final decision from Supreme Court

by · The Times of Israel

Iranian authorities on Tuesday hanged two people convicted of being part of the Islamic State group, the judiciary’s news website reported.

“Following the Supreme Court’s final verdict and in accordance with legal procedure, two members of the terrorist Islamic State group, Mohiyodin Abdollahi and Hossein Palani, were hanged this morning,” Mizan Online said.

It did not specify the date of their arrest or of the legal proceedings against them.

According to Mizan, the two men “were planning to launch terrorist operations” in the country, adding that their cell had planned attacks in Iran after operating from the Bamo heights along the Iran-Iraq border.

They were sentenced to death for “armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic.”

ISIS has claimed multiple attacks on Iran in the past few years, most notably massive bombings targeting a commemoration for IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani that killed 95 people in 2024.

A demonstrator wears a sticker over her mouth with the words “no execution” next to the portraits of alleged victims of crackdowns, during a silent march denouncing the deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Islamic Republic, in Paris on January 31, 2026. (Sébastien DUPUY / AFP)

Iran executes more people annually than any other nation besides China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.

Authorities have stepped up executions in the country since the start of the war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Last month, the United Nations said Iran had executed at least 40 people, including 18 protesters, since the start of 2026.