Iran Exploits Diplomacy With U.S. To Execute Protesters

As the authorities in Iran staged nationwide rallies on February 11 to mark the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Republic, the spirit of last month’s wave of anti-regime protests was very much in evidence. Against the background of celebratory firework displays laid on by the regime, residents of Tehran and other cities chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Despite Tehran’s assurances to President Donald Trump that executions of protesters had halted, Iran’s judiciary has continued carrying out death sentences, including against detainees from earlier unrest.

On February 9, the authorities executed 20-year-old Ali Heydari in the city of Mashhad, one month after his arrest.  Heydari’s was the first reported case of the execution of  a protester who participated in the most recent wave of demonstrations, dubbed the “Lion and Sun Revolution” for its use of the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag and chants supportive of Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah.

Execution of Political Detainees Continues

Heydari’s execution was the tip of the iceberg. Executions over the last month have included two men on January 24 arrested in 2023 on security charges, as well two cousins put to death on January 1 for allegedly killing a law enforcement officer.

The regime also executed detainees on fabricated charges of conducting espionage on behalf of Israel. Local media reported that one man arrested in 2023 was executed on January 7, while a second detainee arrested in 2025 was hanged on January 28. The pattern strongly indicates that the regime is using the ongoing negotiations with the U.S., which opened in Oman on February 6,  as a diplomatic shield to eliminate dissidents.

Judiciary Tightens Repression, Pressures Victims’ Families

More than 2,500 protesters incarcerated in January in Tehran were transferred by the authorities from clandestine detention centers to Evin, Qarchak, and Greater Tehran prisons, all of which are notorious for the torture and murder of jailed dissidents.

Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei meanwhile ordered that all detainees and convicts linked to protests be excluded from the annual February 11 pardons marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a process that traditionally includes sentence reductions or releases for selected prisoners. And in a further sign that the regime is in no mood to show leniency, intelligence agencies have increased the psychological pressure on the families of detainees, coercing them to attend regime rallies to spare their relatives from execution. Security forces have restricted funerals to overnight burials in mass graves, demanding fees to release bodies.

With nearly 40,000 slaughtered during the protests, the shadow of death now looms over nearly every Iranian household. Funerals have become opportunities for protests, university students have staged sit-ins for slain classmates, medical students have protested the arrests of doctors who treated the wounded, and soccer players have refused to celebrate goals.

Negotiations Have Not Changed Regime Behavior

Washington’s willingness to negotiate did not prevent Tehran from launching a drone toward a U.S. naval vessel in the Persian Gulf alongside broader threats against American bases and embassies.  As was the case during the inconclusive Rome negotiations with the U.S. over the nuclear program in May 2025, Tehran is sending contradictory signals on missiles, proxy support, enrichment limits, and the fate of its existing uranium stockpiles to deter U.S. military action.

Tehran has made a practice of entering negotiations without any intention of offering meaningful concessions. Anti-Americanism, nuclear ambitions, terror financing, and domestic repression remain embedded pillars of the Islamic Republic. Neutralizing these threats requires aligning policy with support for the anti-regime movement inside Iran, rather than relying on diplomacy to moderate regime conduct.

Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he focuses on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic’s regional malign influence. For more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Janatan on X @JanatanSayeh. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.