Iran confirms execution of two January protest detainees in Isfahan
Iran executed two protesters detained during the January 2026 protests, Alireza Sepahi and Alireza Raisi, on Monday morning, the judiciary’s media center said.
The Islamic Republic had previously executed Abolfazl Sepahi and Amirhossein Safari, two other protesters, in the case known as the “Alikhani Square” case in Isfahan.
Mahshad Kashani, Alireza Sepahi’s wife, was sentenced to five years in prison in the same case. Lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi had officiated the couple’s marriage ceremony.
Iran’s Supreme Court upheld death sentences for 12 defendants in the Alikhani Square case in July.
The latest warning came from Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and head of the National Cyberspace Center, who raised the possibility of treating satellite internet infrastructure as a military target.
“If satellite internet infrastructure is used as a tool of war, naturally this infrastructure can become a legitimate military target,” Aghamiri said Monday at a conference on online businesses organized by Iran’s cyber police.
Aghamiri described satellite internet and Starlink as potential threats and said the Islamic Republic was technically prepared to counter them.
Referring to the January protests as a “coup,” Aghamiri said authorities had succeeded in disabling Starlink terminals during the unrest.
Officials and state media have repeatedly described anti-government protests as riots or attempted coups and attributed them to foreign actors, including the United States and Israel.
Internet shutdowns and protests
Internet restrictions have long been used by Iranian authorities during periods of widespread unrest.
The Islamic Republic imposed a sweeping internet shutdown during the November 2019 protests and has since restricted or cut connectivity at different points, including during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, the 12-day war and the January 2026 protests.
After the 40-day war began in late February, authorities again cut internet access. The restrictions lasted 88 days, becoming the longest digital blackout in the world.
Concerns surrounding Starlink have grown alongside an increased US military presence in the region, worsening economic conditions and domestic discontent.
Internet and cybersecurity expert Davoud Sajjadi told Iran International on October 1 that Starlink allows users to bypass filtering and other government mechanisms designed to control internet access.
The ability to connect outside those systems has made the technology a growing concern for officials, Sajjadi said.
Diplomatic pressure and Starlink seizures
Iran has also pursued diplomatic and law-enforcement measures against the satellite service.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Norway’s ambassador on Sunday to protest continued Starlink operations in Iran.
Norway is the country through which the Starlink network is registered with the International Telecommunication Union, and Iranian authorities say Oslo is therefore responsible for preventing what they describe as unauthorized operations inside Iran.
Foreign Ministry delivered a formal protest to the Norwegian ambassador and called on Norway to take action to halt Starlink operations in Iran.
Authorities have simultaneously intensified efforts to stop the import and distribution of Starlink equipment.
Hossein Rahimi, head of Iran’s Economic Security Police, previously said police seized 997 Starlink devices and related equipment during the first four months of the current Iranian year, which started in mid-March, and arrested 163 people in connection with their import and distribution.
Efforts to stop the entry and distribution of Starlink equipment increased after the 12-day war, Rahimi added.
Official warns Starlink could force power cuts
The extent of official concern was underscored by a Communications Ministry official who warned that widespread Starlink access could undermine the government’s existing mechanisms for controlling cyberspace.
“The spread of Starlink drives the final nail into the coffin of cyberspace governance,” Mohammad Hafez Hakami, deputy minister for technology, innovation and international affairs at the Communications Ministry, said on September 30.
“Those concerned about Starlink have been warning about it for two years, but not even a single line of policy has been developed on the issue,” Hakami said. “If this trend continues, we will be forced to cut electricity in the next crisis.”
Hakami also warned that the expansion of Starlink and direct-to-cell technology could render mechanisms such as device registration and user identification ineffective.
“Starlink, as a new tool that evades governance, is fundamentally no longer based on our network,” Hakami said.
Direct-to-cell technology allows mobile phones to connect directly to satellites without relying on conventional telecommunications towers.
The prospect of satellite connections operating independently of domestic networks poses a particular challenge to authorities because shutting down conventional internet infrastructure would no longer necessarily disconnect users.
Starlink enters broader debate over information access
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also highlighted Starlink during his September 24 address to the United Nations General Assembly, holding up one of the devices while discussing access to information in Iran.
“The Iranian regime is especially afraid when their people have this. This is a communications device, Starlink, that allows people to access truth, to exercise choice and to exercise freedom of thought and freedom of speech.”
Netanyahu said Starlink could give Iranians access to what he called “truth,” as well as choice, freedom of thought and freedom of speech.
The growing focus on Starlink now extends across several arms of the Iranian state, from diplomatic pressure and equipment seizures to technical countermeasures and warnings of military action.
Messages sent to Iran International by employees at companies spanning the automotive, energy, pharmaceutical and aviation industries describe wages arriving weeks or months late, with some workers saying they have taken second jobs to cover everyday expenses.
Several employees said their salaries were being paid in installments rather than on schedule. Others described losing workplace benefits or being told to resign if they objected to payment delays.
Delayed wages and disappearing benefits
Two workers at Megamotor, a subsidiary of automaker Saipa, criticized the company's wage and benefit payments in messages to Iran International.
Salary payments became irregular after the 40-day war, one worker said.
“We are suffering greatly and do not know how we can provide for our families.”
Another Megamotor employee said some wages and benefits, including overtime and meal allowances, were no longer being paid to workers, while managers and supervisors continued to receive overtime and other benefits.
Low pay at Saipa Yadak has forced most employees to work for the Snapp ride-hailing service from the afternoon until late at night, an employee of the auto-parts company said.
Some of the company's resources are spent on government ceremonies or large payments to senior managers, the employee added.
Workers at Bahman Motor are also facing financial and psychological pressure, an employee of the automaker said.
The company has declined to make payments to employees even as it continues constructing new industrial buildings, according to the employee.
The accounts come as Iran's economic problems have deepened in recent months alongside the Islamic Republic's regional policies, tighter sanctions and a sharp decline in the value of the national currency.
Rapid inflation and declining purchasing power have increased pressure on household budgets and made basic goods harder to afford for a broad section of the population.
Iran International reported in August that workers at mines and companies had gone months without receiving wages.
Workers say complaints put jobs at risk
Employees at other companies described wages being divided into installments and said challenging the delays could put their jobs at risk.
Salaries at Imen Tak Pishro in Jajrud are paid in installments and employees who object are warned they could be dismissed, one worker told.
Another employee previously told Iran International that their employer paid three months of overdue salaries in two installments.
Mapna has not paid workers at 25 power plants for 40 days, an employee of the company said.
At pharmaceutical company Arya Tinagen, salaries remained unpaid 11 days into the month, an employee said.
“The company has cut all employee benefits, from meals to the monthly benefit card. If we complain, they tell us to resign and leave.”
Messages in recent days have also described overdue wages, unpaid insurance contributions and warnings of dismissal across a range of workplaces.
An employee at Yasuj University of Medical Sciences said at the time that staff had gone three months without salaries and were warned they could lose their jobs if they pursued their demands.
Second jobs and unemployment fears
For some workers, irregular wages and rising living costs have made additional employment a necessity. For others, the concern is whether their main job will survive at all.
An employee at Ata Airlines said inflation, the rising exchange rate and aviation sanctions had led the carrier to cut jobs.
The airline had previously borrowed billions of tomans in an effort to avoid dismissing employees, according to the worker.
Employees at Kish Air said they had been instructed not to report for work until further notice and had not received a year's worth of performance-related payments.
Concerns extend beyond individual companies.
Large numbers of factories at the Shamsabad industrial estate have shut down, one person familiar with employment conditions there told Iran International.
The person said they had filled out around 50 job applications for factories in the industrial estate without receiving an offer.
The accounts follow broader signs of concern about employment. In an Iran International survey published in August, 92% of respondents said they had witnessed unemployment among people around them.
Iran reviews US response
Iran’s seven-day proposal, outlined by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York, was sent to Washington through intermediaries and the United States subsequently provided its views on the plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Sunday.
“The proposal that Mr. Araghchi outlined in New York, Iran’s seven-day plan, was sent to the United States through intermediaries, and they provided their views on the plan,” Gharibabadi said.
The US response is being reviewed inside Iran and Tehran will communicate its final position through the appropriate channel once that process is complete, Gharibabadi said. Iran was also maintaining readiness for “other scenarios,” he added.
Parliament deputy speaker Hamid-Reza Haji Babaei separately said negotiations with Washington were taking place, while expressing little confidence that they would ultimately produce an understanding.
“Negotiations with the United States are in fact underway now,” Haji Babaei said.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said US proposals had recently been conveyed through Qatar, although he did not know their details.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said US proposals remained focused on the nuclear issue and Iran had already responded. He also rejected President Donald Trump’s remark that Washington did not know who represented Iran in negotiations, saying a six-member committee under the Supreme National Security Council was overseeing the process.
Lawmakers differ on further talks
Despite the exchanges, parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said there were no unresolved substantive issues requiring new negotiations.
“We are, in my view, at a post-negotiations stage both on the Strait of Hormuz and on the conditions,” Ghashghavi said.
Another committee member, Ebrahim Rezaei, said Iran would not retreat from its conditions and presented diplomacy and military pressure as the alternatives facing Washington.
“The Americans must either surrender to our diplomats or surrender to Iran’s missiles. We have no other proposal for them,” Rezaei said.
Nuclear debate continues as rial falls
The nuclear program remained part of the diplomatic debate. Baghaei said Iran remained bound by its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for as long as it remained a member.
Parliament will consider a possible withdrawal from the NPT while maintaining uranium enrichment, parliament board member Alireza Salimi said.
Iran is also considering a Russian offer to take custody of its uranium enriched to 60%, with a final decision to be based on its national interests, Baghaei said.
The diplomatic maneuvering coincided with further pressure on Iran’s currency, with the US dollar rising above 2.7 million rials on the free market on Sunday.
The statements put the focus on Tehran’s review of Washington’s response, with Iranian officials differing over whether the next step requires further negotiations or a decision on proposals already exchanged.
