The Iranian regime’s year-long campaign of state executions has reached alarming new heights, with dissident groups reporting that Tehran has put more people to death in 2025 than in recent memory — a grim milestone highlighting the clerical government’s ruthless crackdown on dissent and security offenders.
According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran and allied watchdogs, more than 2,000 Iranians have been executed so far this year under President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government, a figure that reportedly more than doubles previous years’ totals and underscores how the regime is using the death penalty as a tool of control.
European lawmakers and human rights advocates have decried the surge, with the European Parliament adopting a resolution condemning Tehran’s execution spree, and activists warning that the regime’s brutality continues unchecked.
Opposition voices — including leaders aligned with the Iranian resistance movement — say the numbers reveal a systematic effort to crush political resistance and silence voices opposed to the Islamist government’s hard-line rule. Critics argue that many executions are being used to intimidate protesters, minority groups, and others labeled as threats to national security, rather than to serve justice.
In response, Iran’s mission to the United Nations has not publicly commented on the latest execution figures, as international concern grows over the scale and speed of the death sentences.
With pressure mounting from Western capitals and human rights organizations, the situation inside Iran continues to be framed by opponents as a stark example of the regime’s disregard for fundamental freedoms and its willingness to use extreme measures to maintain power.