US urges Iran to halt execution of 19-year-old wrestler

The United States said it was deeply concerned by reports that a 19-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, Saleh Mohammadi, faces imminent execution, and urged Tehran to halt the sentence.

Iranian security forces arrested Mohammadi, a freestyle wrestler from the city of Qom, on Jan. 15.

“The United States is deeply concerned by reports about Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old wrestling champion, who is facing imminent execution,” the US State Department’s Persian-language account said in a post on X.

It called on Iran to stop the execution of Mohammadi and others sentenced to death for seeking what it described as their basic rights, adding that Iran’s authorities were “killing the youth and destroying Iran’s future.”