Iran more than doubled the number of state executions it has carried out this year compared to data from the first half of 2024, confirmed the United Nations on Monday. 

The UN Human Rights Office said that at least 612 people have been executed this year alone, a figure more than double the 297 people who were killed during the same time period last year. 

Minority groups continue to make up a disproportionate number of those being killed by Tehran, confirmed the U.N.

Portraits of the Iranian youths that the Iranian regime has killed seen displayed at the rally in Paris, France on May 13, 2025.  (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The number of state executions has drastically escalated since President Massoud Pezeshkian took office in July 2024, with at least 975 people killed in 2024, the highest rate since 2015.

The U.N. body further warned that Iran is looking to expand its use of the death penalty and is reviewing a new espionage bill that will redefine what it considers “collaboration with hostile States.”

Acts including online communication and collaborating with the foreign media will apparently call into question their “ideological alignment” and will be punishable by death.

The changes come as Israel has called for a regime change in Tehran, and has repeatedly emphasized that the recent strikes were an attack against the government, not the Iranian people. 

A woman is laying down flowers for the victims of executions in Iran during the rally in Paris, France on May 13, 2025.  (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“This bill dangerously broadens the scope of capital punishment for espionage, and I call for it to be rescinded,” Türk said. “The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity.

“Instead of accelerating executions, I urge Iran join the worldwide movement abolishing capital punishment, starting with a moratorium on all executions,” he added.