Iran Executes Terrorists Accused of Working for Mossad and Linked to Drone Attacks

Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz. (WIkimedia Commons/Hamed Saber)

JAKARTA - Iranian state media reported on Sunday that the country's court had executed a "terrorist" over an alleged drone attack that targeted a Ministry of Defense site in the center of the country last year.

The man "planned to blow up the Defense Ministry workshop complex in Isfahan under the guidance of Mossad intelligence officers," Israel's spy agency, according to state television, reported by The National News on March 4.

The identity of the perpetrator and the date of his execution are not yet known for certain.

Iran is known to have several nuclear research sites in the Isfahan area, including a uranium conversion plant.

On the other hand, the sanctioned country's nuclear program has been the target of sabotage, assassinations of scientists, and cyber attacks. Tehran accuses Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its territory.

Iran's intelligence ministry said in February 2023 that they had captured the "main actor" involved in the drone attack on the defense ministry site in Isfahan, the location of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

The previous month, an anti-aircraft system destroyed a drone and two others exploded in attacks on defense ministry facilities in the province, officials said at the time.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the night attack caused no casualties and only caused minor damage.

Authorities did not detail activities at the site, but IRNA said the attack targeted an "munitions manufacturing factory".

It is known that Iran has been involved in a shadow war for years with its arch enemy, Israel.

In August last year Iran claimed to have thwarted a "very complex" project initiated by the Mossad to "sabotage" its ballistic missile industry.

In January, Iran hanged four members of its Kurdish minority on charges of spying for Israel.

They were convicted of collaborating with Israel in a plan to sabotage an Iranian defense site in Isfahan.

In April 2021, Tehran announced it had begun producing 60 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz site, a day after accusing Israel of carrying out attacks there.