Iran Arrests Five Spy Suspects Linked To Israel, Lapid PM's Office Refuses To Comment

Illustration flag Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Sonia Seville)

JAKARTA - Iran's law enforcement authorities said on Thursday that the country's police had arrested the suspected leader and four members of a spy ring suspected of being affiliated with Israel's secret service.

Authorities did not announce the nationalities of the arrested suspects, but said they had received training for armed operations and sabotage.

"The five arrested members of the spy network were given various promises from the (Israeli) Mossad, including financial promises, to gather information from key areas across the country," the law enforcement intelligence organization said in a statement reported by the semi-official news agency. official ILNA, as quoted by Reuters July 28.

Far apart in Israel, the Office of Prime Minister Yair Lapid, which oversees the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, declined to comment on the reported arrests.

It is known, Iran and Israel are longtime enemies and are currently involved in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. Israel accuses Iran of supporting militant attacks against it.

Meanwhile, Iran says Israel has carried out a number of assassinations against Iranian officials, including a senior officer in May. Israel did not confirm or deny the move.

On Wednesday, Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said Tehran had thwarted the subversive actions of the Zionist regime, its term for Israel. Iranian security forces have successfully carried out a number of operations against Israel over the past few months, he said without elaborating on what they consisted of.

Last week, Iranian security forces said they arrested a network of agents working for Israel, who entered Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan to carry out sabotage and what they called a "terrorist operation".