Even as the U.S. and Iran began talks in Switzerland on a permanent peace plan, the Islamist regime continues to rely on arbitrary arrests and political executions to maintain its grip on a dissatisfied population.

At least 45 people have been executed in Iran this year on politically related charges, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing human rights groups and Iranian state media.

The memorandum of understanding that the U.S. and Iran signed last week established a 60-day framework while the sides work toward a permanent deal. The overriding theme of the MOU was to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.

The plight of Iranians living under the regime was not addressed. Still, Iran's leaders face a challenge from their deeply disaffected population.

The regime has run out of tools for maintaining control, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, a nonprofit group based in Oslo, told the Journal.

"They do not have legitimacy among people," he said. "The economy is in a terrible state. The only way they can hold on to power is by instigating fear."

In addition to the hangings, thousands accused of being traitors or spies have been arrested in recent months, the Journal reported, citing Ahmad-Reza Radan, head of Iran's Law Enforcement Command.

The latest round of internal repression began when Iranian authorities suppressed street protests in January, killing thousands of demonstrators during protests calling for sweeping political change amid a crumbling economy.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran reported April 30 that between March 17 and April 27, at least 22 political prisoners, including 10 detained during the January protests, were known to have been executed. The group said the cases followed secretive proceedings marked by torture, forced confessions, and the absence of due process.

"These executions are a core part of a systematic state policy aimed at crushing dissent," said Esfandiar Aban, director of research at the Center for Human Rights in Iran. "The death sentences are built on torture, secrecy, and sham trials, and they are designed to send a clear message: Dissent in the Islamic Republic will be met with death."

Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of Iran's judiciary, said at the end of April that cases involving alleged collaboration with aggressor regimes would be handled under expedited procedures and "addressed decisively and without leniency under the law," the Journal reported.

Espionage has become an increasingly elastic charge used to suppress political activity, according to human rights groups. Other loosely defined capital offenses used against political dissenters include "enmity against God" and "corruption on Earth."