On Monday, September 29, 2025, Iran executed Bahman Choobiasl Asi, a database systems expert whom the government described as one of the most important spies for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The execution, confirmed by the judiciary’s official news outlet Mizan, marks the latest in a wave of death sentences carried out since the brief but bloody war between Iran and Israel earlier this year. Choobiasl’s case, shrouded in secrecy until the moment of his hanging, has become a focal point in the escalating conflict between the two nations and the international debate over Iran’s use of the death penalty.
According to Mizan, Choobiasl was accused of extensive cooperation with Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, particularly in the sensitive field of governmental databases and telecommunications. Iranian authorities claimed that Mossad’s main objective in recruiting him was "to obtain governmental databases and infiltrate Iran’s data centers, while also pursuing secondary objectives such as monitoring the import routes of electronic equipment." The charges against Choobiasl included espionage for a foreign service, receiving money, and intelligence cooperation with Israel.
Details provided by Iranian media allege that Choobiasl received specialized training in database systems during a technical course in a Persian Gulf state. The recruitment process reportedly began with a Mossad officer contacting him by phone, inviting him to collaborate on database projects through a front company called ESMI. Under the guise of technical negotiations, Choobiasl was asked to travel to Armenia, though the destination was later switched to India, where he was instructed to bring his work laptop. All travel expenses were paid by Mossad, according to Mizan, and Choobiasl was offered rewards as well as further specialized training in Ireland, where he spent about 45 days.
The official account goes on to say that Choobiasl held as many as 63 face-to-face meetings with Mossad officers during nine trips abroad, along with 95 online meetings. The Supreme Court of Iran ultimately upheld his death sentence after rejecting his appeal. The specifics of his arrest and the evidence presented against him remain undisclosed, a common feature in Iran’s closed-door trials for those accused of espionage.
Choobiasl’s execution is part of a much broader trend. Since the June 2025 war with Israel, Iran has executed nine people for espionage, eight of whom were accused of spying for Israel. Earlier in September, Babak Shahbazi met a similar fate after being convicted of collaborating with Mossad. Activists have raised serious doubts over the fairness of these proceedings, with some alleging that Shahbazi was tortured into a false confession after he wrote a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offering to fight for Kyiv. According to the Associated Press, these cases often proceed with little transparency, and suspects are frequently denied access to the evidence against them.
The June war, which erupted when Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military, government, and nuclear sites, lasted just 12 days but left lasting scars. Israeli attacks reportedly killed more than 1,100 Iranians, including top generals, nuclear scientists, and civilians. Iran retaliated with missile and drone barrages, some of which struck Israeli territory. The United States stepped in to broker a peace deal that ended the conflict, but the underlying animosity between the two countries remains as fierce as ever. The war also saw a campaign of psychological warfare, with Israeli officials reportedly encouraging Iranians to rise up against their government and Iranian soldiers receiving anonymous threats targeting their families.
Amid this turmoil, Iran has dramatically increased its use of the death penalty. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights report that over 1,000 people have been executed in Iran so far in 2025—the highest number in at least 15 years. The United Nations Human Rights Office put the 2024 figure at at least 901, including around 40 in a single week in December. "The ongoing escalation of executions in Iran has reached horrific proportions as the Iranian authorities continue to systematically weaponize the death penalty as a tool of repression and to quash dissent while displaying a chilling assault on the right to life," Amnesty International spokesperson Heba Morayef said in a statement. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk echoed this concern, stating, "It is deeply disturbing that yet again we see an increase in the number of people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year-on-year. It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions."
Iranian authorities, for their part, argue that these executions are necessary to safeguard national security in the face of foreign aggression and internal unrest. They claim that Mossad’s efforts to breach Iranian infrastructure through operatives like Choobiasl pose an existential threat to the Islamic Republic. According to Mizan, the espionage network’s aims went far beyond technical sabotage, seeking to destabilize Iran’s security apparatus and encourage insurrection from within. In this context, Choobiasl’s execution is seen by some as a warning to others who might consider cooperating with foreign intelligence agencies.
However, critics—both inside and outside Iran—see a different picture. Many argue that the Iranian judiciary uses espionage charges as a pretext to eliminate political dissidents and suppress protests. The rapid increase in executions has coincided with ongoing unrest over economic hardship, demands for women’s rights, and calls for broader political change. Human rights groups accuse the government of holding "sham trials" and issuing death sentences without credible evidence. The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, along with Iran Human Rights, has highlighted the lack of transparency and due process in these cases.
The international response has been swift. The United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran on Sunday, September 28, 2025, in response to the country’s nuclear program, and the European Union followed suit with its own sanctions the following day. Iran has vowed to confront its enemies and continues to frame its actions as part of a broader struggle against foreign interference. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have remained silent on the specifics of Choobiasl’s execution, though Tel Aviv has previously acknowledged conducting covert operations inside Iran and targeting nuclear scientists and military commanders with the help of Mossad operatives.
As the number of executions climbs and international pressure mounts, the fate of those accused of espionage in Iran remains a deeply contentious and troubling issue. The case of Bahman Choobiasl, with its blend of high-stakes espionage, secretive proceedings, and geopolitical intrigue, underscores the deadly seriousness with which Iran views its shadow war with Israel—and the profound human cost of that conflict.
