Rights Groups Say Iran Escalating Executions To Deter Dissent
Iranian authorities have sharply escalated the use of executions against protesters and political dissidents, often after rushed trials marred by torture allegations and other serious due-process violations, two human rights groups said on September 10.
Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said authorities were using the death penalty “to instill fear and deter further public dissent” following nationwide protests earlier this year.
Between March 18 and the end of August, authorities executed at least 59 men on politically motivated and vaguely worded national security charges, including 29 people arrested in connection with the December 2025-January 2026 protests, the groups said. Several were aged 18 or 19, and five were executed in public.
In 16 of the 29 protest-related cases, authorities made no allegation that the defendants had killed anyone. Some were accused of acts including damaging public property, throwing stones, or breaking into government buildings.
“Day after day, Iran’s authorities are sending protesters, including teenagers, to the gallows based on torture-tainted ‘confessions’,” said Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The groups said defendants had been denied access to independent lawyers and convicted on vaguely worded capital charges including “waging war against God” and “corruption on earth.” In some cases, little more than five weeks elapsed between arrest and execution.
Scores of protesters and dissidents, including women and children, remain at imminent risk of execution, the groups said.
“The authorities’ message is clearly that protests will be met with brutality,” Saba said.
The groups urged UN member states to press Tehran to halt executions and establish a moratorium on the death penalty.
The increase in political executions comes amid a broader surge in the use of the death penalty in Iran. The Boroumand Center recorded at least 2,113 executions in 2025, the highest annual figure known since the late 1980s. Meanwhile, the Iran Human Rights group says it has recorded 549 executions so far this year.
We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.
US Allows Iranian Delegation To Attend UN Assembly In New York
The United States has allowed an Iranian delegation to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week, even as the seven-month-old war between the two countries continues.
"Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week," the State Department said in a September 17 statement.
However, it added that the delegation would be smaller than last year's and that its members would face travel restrictions and prohibitions on purchases of luxury goods and other products in the United States.
The move comes as negotiations between Washington and Tehran have effectively stalled in recent months, with US and Iranian forces exchanging strikes and key issues in the conflict remaining unresolved.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen remains restricted and under threat from attacks by Iran and Yemen's Tehran-aligned Houthi rebels, while disputes over Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose another obstacle to a negotiated agreement.
On September 17, Iran’s allies, Russia and China, vetoed a UN Security Council proposal to extend the mandate of the panel of experts monitoring nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
With reporting by Reuters.
US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange Over Hormuz Payments
The United States imposed sanctions on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani on September 17, accusing it of processing payments linked to safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz and channeling hundreds of millions of dollars to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Iran’s Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority had used BitBank since June to transfer payments it received to the Iranian government.
Between June and July, Zanjani used the exchange to facilitate transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC, OFAC said.
“Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.”
OFAC also designated BitBank software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three Zanjani associates -- Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.
Zanjani, a longtime figure in Iranian sanctions-evasion networks, was sentenced to death for embezzlement in 2016 before his sentence was commuted in 2024. He later reemerged as a backer of government-linked economic projects.
In January, Washington sanctioned Zanjani and two of his digital-asset projects, accusing them of laundering money for the IRGC, and in July targeted nine more companies linked to him in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
With reporting by Reuters
Billions Go Missing From Iran's Secret Oil Cash Network
Billions of dollars in oil revenue are missing from Iran’s coffers. At the center of the scandal are shadowy middlemen known as "trustees" who help Tehran sell oil, steel, petrochemicals, and other goods abroad while bypassing international sanctions. But the middlemen Iran used have not all been handing over the sales revenues -- instead, many have absconded with it, to the tune of over $11 billion. Roya Maleki from RFE/RL's Negah-e-Farda (Iran Tomorrow) program explains. (Video by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Roya Maleki, and Will Tizard)
Iran Human Rights Organization Documents Over 4,000 People Killed In January Protests
The Iranian Human Rights group (IHRNGO) has published a list documenting more than 4,200 people it says were killed during the mass nationwide protests in Iran that began in late December 2025 and continued into January. The organization said the list was compiled after months of collecting and cross-checking information, verifying victims' identities and reviewing extensive documentary evidence.
According to the Norway-based IHRNGO, at least 420 women and 281 people under the age of 18 are among those documented. Twenty-five victims were under 14, while the youngest identified victim was 4 1/2 months old. The organization stressed that its figure of more than 4,200 represents only the deaths it has been able to document and identify and should not be regarded as a final death toll.
IHRNGO said nationwide Internet and communications shutdowns, pressure on victims’ families, and limited access to hospitals and forensic facilities have hindered efforts to establish the full scale of the killings.
Iranian authorities previously announced that 3,117 people had died during the protests. IHRNGO says its investigation found that the official list was incomplete, including names appearing on some provincial lists and in state media that were absent from the list held by the President’s Office.
The organization identified January 8 and 9 as the deadliest days, saying 3,356 documented deaths occurred during that period. Amnesty International has independently documented widespread shootings by security forces during the crackdown, including from streets and rooftops, and reported that protesters were frequently shot in the head and upper torso.
IHRNGO also reported at least 29 executions linked to the protests and identified 100 protesters sentenced to death, while warning that the actual figures could be higher. The organization said verification of its list remains ongoing.
UN Fact-Finding Mission Finds Grounds To Investigate Possible US War Crimes
Following the US and Israeli military strikes on February 28, the United Nations' Fact-Finding Mission found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed a war crime in carrying out indiscriminate attacks that caused civilian deaths and injuries, as well as damage to civilian infrastructure.
In a report released on September 17, the UN mission said the incidents identified were Tomahawk missile strikes against the clearly marked Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, which killed more than 150 people, including approximately 120 children.
US officials have repeatedly said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict and that an investigation is ongoing. In June, US President Donald Trump said “nobody did that on purpose” and it was "under investigation.” A final conclusive report on any findings has yet to be published.
"Unlike Iran, the United States never targets civilians, and we will continue to act with precision, targeting only those who threaten us and our allies, and we will not relent," Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, wrote on X in March, days after reports of the school bombing first emerged.
In a separate attack in Lamerd, the UN experts said, precision strike missiles released clouds of tungsten pellets over a clearly identifiable sports complex and nearby residential area, killing 22 civilian men and women.
US Central Command said in March that US forces did not launch any strikes into Lamerd on February 28 and that video circulating of the attack did not show a precision strike missile.
The report also concluded that the Iranian government's violent repression of the December-January protests marked an unprecedented escalation from past crackdowns, marked by the widespread use of lethal force resulting in mass killings and injuries, and extensive arrests.
The mission said that many of these gross violations amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts committed by Iranian authorities as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.
The Fact-Finding Mission called on Iran and the United States to immediately end all violations and alleged crimes, provide full reparations to victims, and take steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring again. It also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, renewed diplomatic efforts by UN Member States to pursue lasting peace, and accountability by third states through the use of universal jurisdiction.
Trump Says Iran Reached Out Directly As Washington Eyes Postwar Talks
US President Donald Trump said on September 16 that Iran had contacted the United States directly and was seeking a deal, as he suggested the seven-month war could be nearing an end.
Speaking to reporters after arriving in North Carolina on September 16, Trump said, "Hopefully we are toward the end of the war," and added that Iran "wants to make a deal."
Asked whether the contact had come directly from Tehran or through intermediaries, Trump replied that it was direct. He did not provide details, and there has been no public confirmation from Iranian officials of such contact.
Trump later told a campaign rally in Gastonia that the conflict could have a "really good ending," while suggesting it might enter a different phase after the November US midterm elections.
Vice President JD Vance has similarly said the war could enter a "fundamentally different phase" within the next month or two, without specifying whether that would mean reduced fighting, escalation, or diplomacy.
The comments come despite a recent hard-line public message from Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei. On September 14, Rezaei said Tehran would not negotiate with Washington until Iran's conditions were met.
Meanwhile, Axios reported that Trump is expected to meet Gulf Arab leaders in New York on September 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The meeting is expected to focus on Washington's proposed postwar strategy for Iran, although the plans have not been publicly confirmed by the White House.
House Passes Sanctions Package Extending US Pressure on Iran
The US House of Representatives on September 16 passed a sweeping sanctions bill that extends a key element of Washington's sanctions regime against Iran through 2031, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for his signature. The measure, known as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, passed by 262–159, with 58 Democrats joining most Republicans in support.
For Iran, the most significant provision is the five-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which had been due to expire at the end of 2026. The law provides for sanctions against certain foreign companies and individuals involved in investments and transactions connected to Iran’s energy sector and other specified activities.
The extension does not create an entirely new sanctions framework, but it ensures that the United States retains a longstanding legal mechanism for targeting Iran’s oil and gas sector. That could continue to deter foreign companies and financial institutions from investing in or facilitating transactions involving Iranian energy.
The move comes as the Trump administration is separately stepping up efforts to restrict Iran’s access to international finance. On September 16, the US Treasury also held discussions with global financial institutions aimed at disrupting Iranian revenue and procurement networks.
The legislation also contains major measures targeting Russia and gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries purchasing Russian energy.
Women, Life, Freedom Leaves Its Mark On A New Wave Of Iranian Cinema
Four years after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked Iran's largest protest movement in decades, the impact of Women, Life, Freedom is in Iranian society.
One of the movement's most lasting effects has been on the way Iranian filmmakers portray women. Characters who once had to navigate the restrictions imposed by Iran's censorship system are increasingly being presented as women who simply refuse to accept them.
In Jafar Panahi's film It Was Just An Accident, one of the central female characters is unveiled, resolute, and pragmatic, forcing those around her to confront uncomfortable truths. Panahi has described the character as reflecting the women who took control of their own destinies during the Women, Life, Freedom protests.
A growing group of Iranian filmmakers have produced films outside the rules imposed by the Culture Ministry and without the official permits traditionally required to make and release a movie in Iran.
They include Navid Mihandoust's The Cafe, Karim Lakzadeh's Dark Matter, Mehrnoush Aliya's A Thousand and One Frames, Sahand Kabiri's The Group, Mohammad Shirvani's Cesarean Weekend, Abbas Nezamdoost's Dual, and Ali Asgari's A Little Light, among others.
The significance of these films lies not only in what they depict, but in how they are made.
To read the full report, click here.
Amini's Parents Pay Tribute On Fourth Anniversary Of Daughter's Death
The fourth anniversary of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by Iran's morality police in Tehran has been accompanied by widespread reactions on social media and heightened security measures in Kurdish cities in Iran.
Amini was a student from Saqqez who died at Kasra Hospital in Tehran on September 16, 2022, three days after she was arrested in Tehran by Iran's so-called morality police for an alleged violation of the compulsory hijab rules for women.
Her death triggered nationwide protests that developed into the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and attracted international attention.
Messages and commemorations began appearing on Persian-language social networks in the days before the fourth anniversary.
Amjad Amini, Mahsa's father, published a message on Instagram on September 16 thanking people who had participated in the general strike in Kurdistan and those inside and outside of Iran who had remembered his daughter. He wrote that, amid economic and livelihood difficulties, "keeping a shop closed and stopping work is not easy for anyone."
Reports indicated that shopkeepers and market traders in numerous Kurdish cities had closed their businesses in observance of the strike on September 16. The reported cities included Saqqez, Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Baneh, Marivan, Mahabad, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Divandarreh and Bukan, among others. Different sources reported participation in different numbers of cities: the Kurdistan Human Rights Network documented strikes in nine cities, while other organizations reported strikes in at least 11 or 20 cities.
Websites and human-rights organizations covering Iran's Kurdish regions, including Hana, Kurdpa, Hengaw, and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, published reports and images concerning shop closures and the strike.
Meanwhile, reports and images indicated a heightened security presence in several Kurdish cities, including the deployment of security and military forces and checkpoints. In Saqqez, reports described extensive patrols, security vehicles, and the blocking of routes leading to Aichi Cemetery, where Amini is buried.
The Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan had previously called for a general strike in Kurdish cities on September 16.
In his message, Amjad Amini also said security forces had blocked routes leading to Aichi Cemetery.
On September 15, Mojgan Eftekhari, Mahsa Amini's mother, published a message commemorating her daughter. She wrote: "I gave birth to you once and I was born once from the pain of your relentless absence. You were so close to the love of God that those who look from every corner of the world will see your name on the sky."