Iran says Babak Shahbazi was a Mossad spy, but was he really? Or was he simply the latest name on Tehran’s long list of “convenient enemies” executed to prove a point? The judiciary announced his hanging this week, claiming he handed intelligence to Israel in exchange for money and the promise of a foreign residency. Yet in Iran, where espionage trials are often rushed, secretive, and heavy with politics, it’s hard to separate fact from performance.
The official story sounds too neat
According to Mizan Online, Shahbazi had access to sensitive sites because of his work installing industrial cooling systems. That supposedly allowed him to pass secrets to Mossad. On paper, it fits the classic spy script: access, money, betrayal, punishment
The execution comes just months after Iran’s war with Israel escalated. The government has been under pressure, both at home and abroad, and nothing rallies national anger quite like pointing to an Israeli spy. By declaring that Shahbazi was waging “war against God,” the regime wasn’t just convicting a man, it was reinforcing the narrative that the survival of the Islamic Republic is under constant foreign threat.
A pattern that raises questions
Shahbazi’s death isn’t an isolated case. In August, another Iranian, Roozbeh Vadi, was executed for allegedly leaking information about nuclear scientists. Weeks before that, intelligence services bragged about arresting 20 alleged Mossad agents. If every few weeks a spy is “found,” tried, and killed, you have to wonder, are these all real networks, or are some of these trials staged to send a message?
Iran is the world’s second-biggest executioner after China, and human rights groups have long accused it of using the death penalty as a weapon of control. In this environment, the line between justice and propaganda is blurred. Was Shahbazi really a Mossad operative risking his life for Israel? Or just another man caught in the gears of a system that thrives on fear and spectacle?
