{"id":287655,"date":"2026-02-12T14:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/287655\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:23:14","slug":"irans-fm-berates-israeli-daily-over-report-of-secret-mass-executions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/287655\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran&#8217;s FM berates Israeli daily over report of secret mass executions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday derided a report by the Israel Hayom newspaper that the Islamic Republic had secretly executed thousands of people who participated in protests after telling Washington it would not do so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever Miriam Adelson\u2019s mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it\u2019s worth asking who it serves,\u201d Araghchi posted on X, referring to the Israeli-American philanthropist who owns the free daily. \u201cEven the US president has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog_entry\/hailing-adelson-and-her-60-billion-in-the-bank-trump-quips-that-she-likes-israel-more-than-us\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acknowledged<\/a> where her primary loyalties lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He went on: \u201cIn its latest piece, Adelson\u2019s outlet declared \u2014 just an hour before [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu\u2019s White House visit \u2014 that Iran had \u2018deceived\u2019 Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facts: No executions have taken place, no court process has been concluded, and more than 2,000 prisoners have been pardoned. Before buying the narrative being peddled, consider who benefits from it \u2014 and who may actually be doing the deceiving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.israelhayom.com\/2026\/02\/11\/iran-deceived-us-executions-nuclear-talks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israel Hayom report<\/a>, information has reached several intelligence agencies \u2014 including Israel\u2019s Mossad and British and German services \u2014 indicating that the Islamic Republic has executed thousands of protesters, despite having told the US it wouldn\u2019t do so.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition<br \/>\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Regime forces have shot or strangled the protesters in custody, the intelligence reportedly indicates, and have told the protesters\u2019 families that they were killed amid the unrest, despite evidence they were arrested alive.<\/p>\n<p>The report, published Wednesday in English and Hebrew, cited two unnamed diplomats. It came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/trump-says-he-insisted-to-netanyahu-that-iran-talks-go-on-as-pm-stresses-security-needs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">meet with US President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0on, among other things, a potential strike on Iran, and it was published shortly before the meeting began.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whenever Miriam Adelson\u2019s mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it\u2019s worth asking who it serves. Even the U.S. President has acknowledged where her primary loyalties lie.<\/p>\n<p>In its latest piece, Adelson&#8217;s outlet declared\u2014just an hour before Netanyahu\u2019s White House\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pJK3JFqRz8\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/pJK3JFqRz8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/araghchi\/status\/2021666899700879848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In January, as mass protests grew in Iran, Trump threatened to attack the Islamic Republic if it killed the demonstrators. After regime forces killed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog_entry\/us-based-activists-raise-death-toll-in-iran-protest-crackdown-to-over-7000\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thousands<\/a> of them \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/iran-opposition-outlet-says-regime-killed-over-36000-people-on-january-8-9\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tens of thousands<\/a>, according to some reports \u2013 the US boosted its military presence in the region. The US has not struck Iran as of yet, however. Trump has cited both Iran\u2019s supposed cancellation of planned executions and the resumed negotiations with the regime as reasons for holding off.\n<\/p>\n<p>The report on Wednesday claimed that, in addition to lying about the executions of protesters, Iran lied to the US about accepting preconditions for negotiations. According to the report, the Islamic Republic initially said it was willing to discuss its nuclear program, its ballistic missile program, and its support for terror groups across the Middle East, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. Then, the regime backtracked.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26042352522826.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3753297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26042352522826-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tBoys stand on a launcher of an Iranian domestically-built missile during an annual rally marking 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) sq. in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n<p>First, Iran refused to conduct the talks in Turkey, with representatives of other countries, such as Qatar, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia present. Talks were then moved to Oman, within the same general format in which talks were held between the US and Iran last year about the Islamic Republic\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n<p>Those 2025 talks focused solely on the nuclear issue \u2014 not the ballistic missiles or terror proxies \u2014 and they ended when Israel attacked Iran in June in order to cripple the nuclear and ballistic missile programs by force, citing them both as imminent, existential threats to the Jewish state.<\/p>\n<p>After the US agreed to hold the talks in Oman, Iran then demanded the US stop its buildup of military forces in the region and withdraw additional forces it had already sent, the report said. Washington was reportedly \u201cfurious about this and nearly canceled [the talks],\u201d before Tehran caved.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/trump-netanyahu-wants-a-good-deal-with-iran-nuclear-talks-this-time-are-different\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">talks were held<\/a>, the Iranians would not negotiate on anything other than the nuclear program, according to Israel Hayom.<\/p>\n<p>There was no outside corroboration of most of the newspaper\u2019s claims, though it has been widely reported that the sides quarreled over the location of negotiations and the participants.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26041446307552-e1770745884500.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3752144\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26041446307552-e1770745884500-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tIn this photo released by state-run Oman News Agency, Oman\u2019s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, left, shakes hands with Iran\u2019s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani during their meeting in Muscat, Oman, February 10, 2026. (State-run Oman News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n<p>After Araghchi\u2019s post to X on Wednesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.israelhayom.com\/2026\/02\/12\/iran-accuses-israel-hayom-of-trying-to-sway-trump-as-intel-cites-hidden-executions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israel Hayom noted<\/a> that despite the Iranian diplomat\u2019s claim that \u201cmore than 2,000 prisoners have been pardoned,\u201d Iran\u2019s Deputy Judiciary Chief Ali Mozaffari has stated that protesters from recent demonstrations were not among them.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tIs accurate Israel coverage important to you?\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>If so, we have a request.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Every day during the past two years of war and rising global anti-Zionism and antisemitism, our journalists kept you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. 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Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday derided a report by the Israel Hayom newspaper that the Islamic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-287655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}