Iran Executed 648 People in 60 Days. The War Made Sure Nobody Noticed.

Iran executed 648 people in the first two months of 2026. The war started on February 28. Those two facts are not a coincidence.

Yesterday morning — Nowruz eve, the Persian New Year — three young men were publicly hanged in Qom. Saleh Mohammadi was 19. Saeed Davoudi was 21. Mehdi Ghasemi's age hasn't been confirmed. All three were arrested at January protests. All three were convicted of "waging war against God." Human rights groups say their confessions were extracted under torture. One had competed internationally in wrestling.

Today, while missiles and oil prices dominate every headline, 90 million Iranians are marking their new year under a near-total internet blackout that's been in place since February 28.

The mechanism

When the war began, Iran's internet dropped to 4% of normal connectivity within hours. The New York Times confirmed this week that the government has blocked access for most of its 92 million citizens. The blackout isn't just information control — it's execution cover.

Iran Human Rights Monitor called it directly in a report two days ago: "This blackout occurs while the regime had already executed 648 people in only the first two months of 2026." February alone saw at least 353 executions across 31 provinces and 65 cities, including five women.

That pace — roughly 10 executions per day — is happening in the dark.

The impunity equation

This is the pattern Albis was built to show. When a government faces external war, the international community's bandwidth collapses. Diplomats who would normally raise human rights concerns are focused on ceasefire negotiations, oil prices, and missile trajectories. The same countries that might sanction Iran over executions are now tracking Brent crude at $114 and Pentagon requests for $200 billion in supplemental war funding.

The war didn't just start a military conflict. It ended the world's attention.

Amnesty International flagged in February that children are among 30 people at imminent risk of the death penalty in expedited trials. The UN Special Rapporteur raised concerns about protesters facing accelerated death penalty proceedings. HRW described "an execution spree unseen in decades."

None of that moved the needle. The Hormuz crisis moved the needle.

Nowruz without a leader

Today is also the first Nowruz — the Persian New Year — since Ali Khamenei's death on February 28. His son and named successor, Mojtaba, has made no public appearance. No Nowruz message from Iran's supreme leader appeared on the first day of the new year. US and Israeli sources describe him as incapacitated; Iranian authorities have confirmed injuries but provided no evidence of his condition.

A country executing protesters at 10 a day, under a near-total internet blackout, with a supreme leader who may or may not exist in any functional sense — that country is entering its new year while the world watches the Strait of Hormuz.

The Albis Perception Gap Index scored Iran's internal crisis at 6.70 this week, with the gap driven almost entirely by attention displacement: the story is confirmed and documented, but crowded out by the same war that's enabling it.

Dozens more protesters remain at imminent risk of execution. The planting window closes in weeks. The blackout holds.

That's the new year Iran is waking up to.