Iran on Tuesday executed nine members of the militant Islamic State (IS) group who had been detained following a deadly clash with the country’s paramilitary forces in 2018, according to the judiciary’s official news outlet.
The Mizan news agency reported that the militants were involved in an armed confrontation with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that resulted in the death of three Iranian troops. The executions were carried out by hanging, the standard method of capital punishment in the Islamic Republic.
Iranian authorities did not disclose further details regarding the identities of those executed or the exact location of the incident. However, the report emphasised that the group had been found guilty of “armed action against the state” and “membership in a terrorist organisation.”
The 2018 clash occurred during a period of heightened vigilance by Iranian security forces amid growing concerns over IS activity in the region. Though largely pushed back from its former strongholds in Iraq and Syria following a years-long campaign by U.S.-led coalition forces, IS has continued to stage sporadic but deadly attacks across the Middle East.
In recent years, the group has shown signs of resurgence in neighboring Afghanistan, where its local affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), has carried out high-profile attacks following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
Iran has also witnessed several attacks attributed to IS. The group claimed responsibility for a coordinated assault in June 2017 targeting Iran’s parliament and the mausoleum of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which killed at least 18 people and wounded over 50.
More recently, IS claimed twin suicide bombings in January 2024 at a memorial ceremony for General Qassem Soleimani, the powerful IRGC commander killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike in Iraq. The attacks in the southeastern city of Kerman left at least 94 people dead, marking one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in Iran in recent memory.
Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to bring perpetrators of such attacks to justice. Tuesday’s executions appear to signal the state’s continued resolve to confront threats posed by extremist groups operating within or near its borders.
