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The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, strongly condemned Iran’s execution of two more men on Thursday, accusing Tehran of leveraging its ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel to crack down on domestic dissent.
In a statement published on social media, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that Iranian authorities are weaponising the current wartime climate to systematically silence political opposition and stifle public protests.
.@volker_turk deplores the execution of two more people in Iran. Since the military escalation began, at least 34 people have been executed on political & national security charges, including in the context of the January protests. It is unacceptable that the Iranian authorities… pic.twitter.com/ewlCUbHyhl
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 21, 2026
According to the UN rights office, at least 34 individuals have been executed on national security and political charges since the recent military escalation began, with several of those deaths linked to demonstrations that took place in January.
Labelling the surge in state-sanctioned killings unacceptable, the global body emphasised that the geopolitical crisis is being used as a shield by the Iranian regime to intensify its domestic security crackdown.
