In November alone Iran executed at least 260 people, the highest monthly total in more than two decades, while officially announcing only two, the United States Department of State said in a Persian-language post on X on Tuesday.
“This year, more than 1,500 people have been killed in Iran, many without fair trial or due process,” the post said. “The Islamic Republic uses the death penalty to instill fear and silence every dissenting voice.”
The same account earlier denounced what it called the suspicious death of Iranian human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, saying his case highlights the severe risks faced by those defending basic freedoms in the Islamic theocracy.
Alikordi, a 46-year-old prominent lawyer for jailed protesters and a former political prisoner, was found dead under unclear circumstances on Friday night, prompting some attorneys and activists to suggest possible Islamic Republic involvement.
“The world cannot turn a blind eye,” the post said. “The United States stands with the people of Iran and will continue to condemn these horrific violations.”
Iranian authorities executed at least 24 people across the country on Saturday and Sunday, underscoring what monitors describe as a rapid escalation in the use of capital punishment, human rights groups reported.
The figures indicate an average of 12 executions per day — roughly one every two hours.
The executions took place in prisons in different cities across Iran, reports from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) and the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said. Iranian state media acknowledged only one case.
Iran’s cyber police, known as FATA (Iran’s internet crime enforcement agency), blocked the account of Niousha Mofidi, a young woman who performed solo at a concert by Iranian pop singer Hamid Hami.
All posts on her Instagram account, which had nearly 12,000 followers, were deleted. Security officials said the page was closed for “producing criminal content.”
A video shared on social media showed Mofidi singing along from the audience while Hami told others, “Let her sing,” then remained silent so her voice could be heard alone. Mofidi had previously posted videos of her singing on Instagram.
The Instagram account of Iranian rapper Evi, which had nearly 26,000 followers, was also taken offline on Monday. She had previously said security agencies contacted her, demanding she delete her page within 24 hours—a demand she refused.
“I will stand with my people for the rest of my life and will not accept anything that contradicts living freely, even if it is presented in the name of religious law,” she said in a post.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women in Iran have been banned from singing in the presence of men, based on religious interpretations. The policy ended the official careers of female singers active before the revolution and pushed their work to the margins.
In recent months, repression against singers and music activists—particularly those opposing the mandatory hijab—has intensified.
More than 160 artists, civil activists, and organizations, including 19 based inside Iran in April condemned the government’s increasing crackdown on female singers, describing it as part of a systematic effort to suppress women and reinforce a gender-discriminatory system.
Street concerts, outdoor festivals, late-night parties and music events have become increasingly visible in Tehran and beyond. Young people, many without the headscarves which are required for women, have filled pop and jazz concerts while street bands draw large crowds on central boulevards.
“This has nothing to do with the government,” Memarian said. “It is a very massive force underneath the society, and they are opening pathways that my generation was not able to even touch.”
Images and reports from across the country show men and women running together in a desert marathon in Kerman, while on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf the organizers of a separate marathon were arrested after women ran without hijabs.
Local media said more than 5,000 people took part in the Kish race, and photographs of female runners posing with medals and uncovered hair circulated widely online. Judicial officials accused organizers of “violating public decency” and said warnings about the dress code had been ignored.
The apparent cultural opening has been tolerated by authorities in its bid to shore up popular support in the wake of the punishing conflict with Israel and the United States, even as they have stepped up arrests and executions.
Memarian said the opening is not sudden. For years, multiple demographics “have been pushing inch by inch,” and many have paid a price. But two events accelerated it: the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in 2022, which triggered nationwide protests and the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel earlier this year.
In June, Israel launched a surprise military campaign on Iranian nuclear facilities, missile production sites, killing nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians.
Iran retaliated with waves of drones and ballistic missiles, prompting a week of exchanges. The United States then intervened directly, striking three Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz with bunker-busting bombs.
Many Iranians spent nights sheltering in parking garages and stairwells. The government urged calm and vowed that its defenses had “full control,” yet many ordinary people said they felt unprotected.
“People were left alone. They saw the regime could not protect them. That created a huge vacuum and emboldened many Iranians,” Memarian said.
He emphasized that the changes are not limited to affluent parts of Tehran.
“It is a very widespread movement. From Tehran to small cities and villages, people are voicing their demands, imposing their lifestyle on the system.” Social media has erased the geographic divide, he added, allowing young people in remote areas to follow the same trends as their peers in urban centers.
“We have a massive explosion of expectations inside the country,” he said. “They are not going to let the government write their destiny. There’s no going back.”
Despite ongoing arrests and a rise in executions, officials have responded cautiously. The judiciary chief recently said the current relaxed approach to hijab enforcement “cannot continue,” and conservative voices have warned that “the Islamic revolution will soon disappear” if the trend continues.
Memarian said the state’s enforcement network sees the social shift as existential. “Those who favor repression are part of a massive, expensive machine,” he said. “Their identity, paycheck and power come from it. If they lose this, it’s over.” Some insiders, he added, now believe they cannot win. “They fear this is the beginning of the end. The domino has started to fall.”
Iran’s economy remains under strain, with sanctions, inflation, water shortages and energy problems. Yet Memarian said young Iranians remain focused on building their future ... one where the "Islamic Republic is something from the past.”
