In a horrifying escalation of state-sanctioned violence, the Iranian regime executed a staggering 335 prisoners in November 2025, marking the highest monthly death toll in 37 years. The slaughter, which included seven women and two barbaric public hangings, has only accelerated in the first days of December, with at least 44 people hanged in just three days—one every 90 minutes.
This unprecedented wave of executions is not a sign of the regime’s strength, but a calculated act of terror by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Facing a populace seething with rage, the clerical dictatorship is futilely trying to prevent another nationwide uprising through mass murder. This rampant bloodshed, however, will not instill fear; it will only intensify the Iranian people’s determination to overthrow their oppressors.
A war against the people
This campaign of executions is not a matter of criminal justice; it is a political weapon. As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), stated at a recent conference in Geneva, a “bloodbath is unfolding inside Iran’s prisons.” She correctly identified the surge in killings as “Khamenei’s war against the people of Iran.”
This assessment was echoed by former UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, who confirmed that the regime has “weaponized the death penalty and mass executions as an instrument of repression and fear, exterminating all those challenging this brutality.” The regime’s targets prove this political agenda. Political prisoners like Mehdi Hasani and Behrouz Hassani have been executed for supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), while others, such as Zahra Tabari, remain on death row for the same reason.
A sign of terminal decline
A government that must execute its citizens at such a feverish pace to maintain control is not a strong one; it is a fragile dictatorship on the verge of collapse. What the regime truly fears is a popular uprising supported by a well-organized resistance. The execution machine is the regime’s main weapon to delay its inevitable downfall. This desperation is the driving force behind the policies of the Pezeshkian administration, which, under Khamenei’s ultimate command, recognizes the defiant spirit of the Iranian people and has resorted to maximum cruelty in a panicked attempt to suppress it.
During the presidency of Masoud Pezeshkian, who brands himself as a reformist, executions have surged to unprecedented levels with more than 2,500 deaths since July 2024.
The world must act now
The current slaughter is a continuation of an unbroken chain of atrocities stretching back to the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. For decades, a culture of impunity fueled by the failure of the international community has allowed the regime’s leaders to escape justice. This impunity has emboldened them to commit ever more brazen crimes, such as paving over the graves of political prisoners in Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery to build a parking lot.
The time for failed policies of appeasement and “behind-the-scenes diplomacy” is over. The international community must take decisive action. It is time to ostracize this regime of terror, refer its 46-year dossier of crimes against humanity to the UN Security Council, and apply universal jurisdiction to prosecute its leaders. The world must stand with the people of Iran and their organized resistance in their fight to establish a free and democratic republic. The human rights abuses will only come to an end when the people of Iran overthrow this regime. The world should support the people in this struggle.