Adversary Intelligence — 2026-05-21

Iran Executes Two Iraqi Nationals on Espionage Charges Bringing Wartime Spy Execution Total to Eight

BLUFTehran's expansion of espionage executions from Israeli to Arab-state charges signals a widened counterintelligence dragnet that will likely produce at least two more executions by 31 August 2026.

IranWire and Norway-based Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights reported that Iran executed Ali Nader al-Obaidi, 27, and Fadel Sheikh Karim, 29, both from Amarah, Iraq, at Karaj Central Prison at dawn on April 6 on espionage charges for alleged cooperation with an unspecified Arab state 1. Both men had been held roughly 11 months by the Ministry of Intelligence and then IRGC Intelligence before a Revolutionary Court trial, with Hengaw citing informed sources who reported torture and denial of independent counsel 12. Iran Human Rights NGO reported the executions raise to at least eight the total executed on espionage charges since the Iran-US-Israel war began, with the prior six convicted of alleged Israeli spy work 12. Iranian state media and judicial authorities had not confirmed the executions as of May 21 12.

Analysis
Baghdad faces mounting pressure to respond formally, complicating both governments' fragile post-ceasefire posture. The expansion from Israeli to Arab-state charges signals widened counterintelligence targeting, and Revolutionary Court proceedings, uniformly coerced, impose no institutional constraint on further cases. Confidence is moderate, reflecting single-source Hengaw reporting without official corroboration. Iran will likely carry out at least two additional espionage executions by 31 August 2026, with eight documented since late February establishing a tempo persisting through the ceasefire. If these prosecutions instead reflect a discrete Arab-state network, the pace slows once that penetration is dismantled. Arab governments with nationals in Iranian detention face compounding pressure to demand consular access and condition diplomatic normalization on prisoner releases if Iran crosses that threshold before 31 August.
5 sources
  1. Execution of Two Iraqi Nationals in Karaj on Espionage Charges - Shabtab News
  2. Iran executed two Iraqis convicted of spying for Arab country, rights groups say - The National
  3. Iran secretly executes four as it hits global death sentence record - Euronews
  4. Iranian Regime Secretly Hangs 2 Iraqis and 2 Kurdish Political Prisoners - Arab Times Online
  5. Iran secretly executes two young Iraqi nationals on alleged espionage charges - Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights

View in full brief →

UNCLASSIFIED // OPEN SOURCE