Iran carries out two executions over 2023 bus bombing, days after threats from Trump

Iranian authorities on Saturday executed two men, a week after US President Donald Trump threatened military action against Tehran, ostensibly to protect Iranian protesters.

The men were executed for their alleged involvement in a 2023 bombing of a bus carrying worshippers to the Iraqi city of Karbala. According to reports, the attack killed a girl under the age of two and injured several other passengers.

Local media identified the two men as Amanesh Karvanchi and Arsalan Sheikhi, and stated that they attempted to kill hundreds but failed.

Further reports state that the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device planted by Islamic State group operatives.

The execution comes just days after heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.

Last week, Trump threatened to hit Iran with severe measures if Tehran continued to execute dissenters or anyone accused of being involved in acts of violence, reaffirming that Washington was closely watching developments in the country.

Iran responded to the warnings, stating, through a message in the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, that executions are carried out in accordance with domestic laws and counterterrorism regulations.  

The news agency also hit back at claims from Trump, who said he had halted 800 executions in the country, adding that it was untrue.

Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday said Trump’s claims were "completely false".

The latest developments come after activists said this week that the death toll from the crackdown on nationwide protesters earlier this month has reached at least 5,032 people.

Last year, Human Rights Watch raised concerns over what it called a "horrific execution spree" in Iran, noting at least 113 people were executed in the first 25 days of May alone.

Another rights group, Iran Human Rights, said that as of 27 May, authorities had executed 478 people, adding that this marked a 75 percent increase in executions in the first four months of 2025 compared to 2024.

 "The killing spree shows no signs of slowing down and the scale of the crisis underscores an urgent need for the international community to press the Iranian government to immediately halt all executions and establish a death penalty moratorium," Federico Borella, the Iranian executive director of Human Rights Watch, said.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official this week said that the country will treat any attack "as an all-out war against us" following the arrival of a US aircraft carrier strike group, and other military assets, in the region.

"This military ‌build-up - we hope it is ‌not intended for real confrontation - but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran," said the Iranian official, who asked to remain anonymous.

"This time we will treat any attack - limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it - as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this," he continued.