Update XI from The Iranist
May 15, 2026
Read my latest on why Iranians didn’t protest during the war. Hint: it has to do with defections.
Salam reader,
The number of executions in Iran is continuing to rise. Among those hanged this week was Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, a top-ranking master’s student in aerospace engineering at the prestigious Iran University of Science and Technology. An Iranian-American friend who was raised in Iran shared a heartbreaking reminder on her Instagram stories:
“Today, I realized we had some mutual connections on LinkedIn. I don’t know how to describe the feeling of watching young Iranians around my age being hanged, knowing our only difference is geography…”
Shakourzadeh was arrested in February 2025 and executed on allegations of spying for Israel and the United States. He was reportedly subjected to nine months of severe physical and psychological torture while in solitary confinement in order to extract forced confessions—a common tactic (IHRNGO). Like many prisoners, the graduate student neither received a fair trial nor access to an independent lawyer. In a letter from prison, he wrote:
“I am Erfan Shakourzadeh, one of the few elites who chose not to emigrate... I was arrested on fabricated espionage charges and, after eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement, was forced into a false confession. Do not let another innocent life be taken in silence.” (Hengaw)
Shakourzadeh is the fifth person executed on espionage charges since the war began on February 28. Others executed this week included Mohmmad Abbasi, a father and protester from the January anti-regime uprising, and Ehsan Afrashteh, a cybersecurity and network specialist, both of whom were hanged on the same day (Radio Farda/IHRNGO). Since mid-March, at least 28 people have been executed, including 13 arrested in connection with the January uprising, per Norway-based group Iran Human Rights. The Islamic Republic is well on track to beat its 2025 execution rate, which was the highest since the 1980s.
While the Islamic Republic should be focused on its external foes, it’s instead focused on the “enemies” within: its own people. As Amnesty International’s Iran researcher Raha Bahreini explains:
“Authorities have escalated their use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression. It’s really unfathomable that as people were being bombed, they were also waking up almost daily to news of hangings of protesters and dissidents and others targeted for politically motivated reasons.” (NBC News)
At least 4,000 individuals have been arrested on national security-related charges since the war began, including protesters. According to the United Nations, “Many detainees have been forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced—and sometimes televised—confessions and mock executions.” (OHCHR)
In other news, after international pressure, Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi was transferred to a hospital in Tehran for treatment (BBC News). Her doctors recommended an eight-month treatment course in an environment “free from external stressors, where she can receive permanent care and long-term treatment.” (AP) The Narges Foundation and 112 Nobel laureates are calling for her immediate and unconditional release (The Guardian).
Meanwhile, as I’ve written before, the economic cost of the war and US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is being felt hardest by ordinary Iranians, who are struggling with skyrocketing inflation, growing poverty, and even difficulty finding medication (AP). Iran is currently facing a worsening medical shortage crisis in the aftermath of the war. Not only are Iranians struggling to find medications like insulin and anti-seizure drugs, but they’re also dealing with soaring prices and, out of desperation, turning to the black market, where counterfeit medicine is a growing risk (HRANA). As HRANA explains, the shortages stem from several factors:
“Disruptions in the import of raw materials, difficulties in currency transfers, damage to parts of the transportation infrastructure, accumulated debts owed by insurance providers, and a sudden rise in demand for certain medicines gradually widened the shortages. Medications that had previously become scarce only occasionally have now turned into items patients must search for hours to obtain.”
Separately, the state-imposed internet shutdown that started on February 28 is also devastating the livelihoods of many Iranians, especially women (RFERL).
A yoga teacher in Tehran described the longest global blackout as “torture,” adding:
“I was just learning to stand on my own feet, but I can’t afford reliable VPN access. It’s too expensive and doesn’t work properly. I’m lucky because I live with my parents, but I know colleagues who can no longer pay their rent.” (RFERL).
I leave you with this quote from Iran-based Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi, who is at the Cannes Film Festival this week for his latest film, Parallel Tales, where he spoke about witnessing the impact of “two tragic events”:
“One of these events was the death of a number of innocent people, children, members of the civilian population who died in the war. And before this war, we had the death of a number of demonstrators, people who went to the streets to protest, and they were equally innocent but were massacred. These two events are extremely painful and will never be forgotten. To be up in arms, to express one’s indignation in the face of the death of victims, civilians, innocent people who have died because of the bombing, that doesn’t mean that one is in favor of the execution and the death of demonstrators. Similarly, to feel empathy for people who were killed, shot during demonstrations, doesn’t mean you can’t feel empathy for those who died because of the bombing. Any murder is a crime. Under no circumstances can I accept the fact that another human being should lose his or her life, be it a war, be it executions, be it massacres of demonstrators. It’s extremely cruel and tragic to know that in the world today, despite all the progress which we are supposed to have made, every morning we wake up with news of new innocents being killed without any reason whatsoever.” (Variety)
(At least 1,700 Iranian civilians were killed in the war, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.)
More soon,
Holly
P.S. Feel free to follow me on X for real-time updates and on LinkedIn, where I’ve been sharing additional interviews and commentary.