• Man said to be responsible for providing extensive “logistical, technical and operational support” to Mossad has been executed by Iran on Wednesday.
• Amid heightened tensions with Israel and direct threats from the US if negotiations on a deal would fail, Iran executes an apparent spy after almost two years since conviction.
Iran has executed an apparent senior spy on Wednesday on charges of spying for Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad.
Mohsen Langarneshin, 36, was accused of providing Mossad with extensive logistical, technical and operational support for two years all the way back from 2020 before he was arrested in 2022.
One of the key accusations against Langarneshin was the killing of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) colonel, Sayyad Khodai who was shot dead on his way home by two motorcyclists.
Iran’s judiciary said via it’s official news agency, Mizan:
“His criminal activities included logistical, technical, and operational support for an attack on a defence ministry-affiliated industrial facility in Isfahan, procuring communication tools to create secure channels for Mossad operatives in Iran, purchasing and equipping vehicles with operational gear, transferring funds from Mossad officers to operatives inside Iran, and renting safe houses in several provinces.”
Numerous human rights groups have accused the judiciary of being unfair and unjust.
The director of Iranian Human Rights, a non-profit human rights organisation, director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddamsaid to AFP:
“Mohsen Langarneshin, who was sentenced to death in an unfair judicial process based on confessions obtained under torture and charged with espionage for Israel, was hanged at dawn today. “The Iranian authorities execution machine is accelerating every day, taking the lives of more people.”
Israeli officials have remained silent regarding the execution potentially out of fear of being implicated in the assassination,but Israeli media has strongly showed resentment over the execution with the Israeli propaganda engine attempting to damage Iranian PR with the execution.
The execution comes after tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States reached a new high with renewed US-Iran nuclear talks with the US threatening war if the talks fail.
Israeli defence minister Katz has said on Monday that Israel will attack Iran directly even with US attempt to strike a deal.
Although this is not the official position of the government and no attack has yet happened, if it’s true that Langarneshin was a “senior” agent involved in Israeli espionage it will heighten tensions even more with the Israeli cabinet potentially feeling more need to get into a conflict with Iran.
