Iran on Sunday hanged a man convicted of espionage, the judiciary said, the first known execution for a spying offense committed during the most recent war with Israel and the United States.

“Mojtaba Kian… who sent information related to the country’s defense industry units to the enemy, was hanged early this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.

It said he shared information related to Iran’s defense capabilities during the nearly 40-day war.

The execution is the first directly linked to spying offences carried out during the war, which broke out on February 28 when US-Israeli strikes killed senior Iranian leaders, triggering retaliatory attacks by Tehran across the region.

Israel and the US launched the war in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Since the start of the conflict, Iran has stepped up executions for spying or collaborating with Israel and the US, although before Sunday, all those hanged were sentenced for offenses carried out before the war.

According to Mizan, Kian “sent multiple messages to hostile networks affiliated with the Zionist-American enemy, including coordinates and information on facilities producing parts related to the country’s defense industries.”

#Breaking — Mizan News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, announced today the execution of Mojtaba Kian on alleged espionage charges. Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" ||........

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