Iran arrests ‘Israeli spies planning terrorist acts’

The Iranian government yesterday claimed to have arrested spies belonging to a network of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.

Iran’s official news agency said the agents had been planning “terrorist acts” against “sensitive sites”. Iran said all the agents had been “identified and arrested before conducting any acts of sabotage”.

The uncorroborated statement gave no names or numbers, but said the spies had entered Iran through the Kurdish region of northern Iraq with weapons, explosives and communication equipment.

Israel never confirms or denies such reports. The prime minister’s office, which oversees Mossad, declined to comment. Iran’s intelligence ministry said investigation and intelligence monitoring were “ongoing”.

Asher Ben-Artzi, former director of Israel’s Interpol department, said: “The Iranian intelligence unit is very good and we take them very seriously. From time to time they announce these arrests, but nobody can know if this claim is truth or propaganda.”

Last month Iran said three alleged Mossad spies who had been arrested in April would stand trial in Tehran.

The two countries are engaged in covert conflict as Israel tries to curb Iran’s nuclear programme. President Biden and Yair Lapid, Israel’s prime minister, signed a joint pledge this month to deny Iran nuclear arms. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting that its nuclear programme is peaceful. Talks between the West and Tehran over nuclear enrichment have stalled since March.

Iran has accelerated its enrichment programme after it was criticised by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for failing to explain traces of uranium at several sites.

Jonathan Schanzer, a security expert specialising in Iran’s proxy groups, said the regime had gone into “crisis mode” to root out Mossad after a wave of embarrassing attacks on senior figures and strategic targets.

In May Tehran blamed Israel for killing Hassan Sayad Khodai, a colonel in the Revolutionary Guards who was shot dead in his car by two gunmen on a motorbike. Soon after, a young defence ministry engineer was killed in a drone attack and another senior member of the Revolutionary Guards fell to his death from a balcony. Last month Iran accused Israel of killing two scientists and a senior Revolutionary Guards member, who “fell off a roof”. A senior guards member was arrested three weeks ago on charges of spying for Israel.

“Israel has been operating with impunity inside Iran for months, if not years,” Schanzer said. “The leadership is clearly trying to convey a modicum of progress to the population.”

The arrests came as Turkish media reported that officials had arrested three more suspects, accused of being part of an Iranian plot to kill or kidnap Israeli citizens in Istanbul. Israel issued emergency warnings last month, urging its citizens to return home.