Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that 12 people had been arrested for being operatives collaborating with Israel and planning acts against Iran’s security. “As the Zionist regime (Israel) and their Western backers, most notably the United States, have not succeeded in their sinister goals against the people of Gaza and Lebanon, they are now seeking to spread the crisis to Iran with a series of actions planned against our country’s security,” the statement said.
Tensions in the Middle East have increased since thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanon based Hezbollah terror group’s members exploded in an attack widely blamed on Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged some of the heaviest cross-border fire in a conflict running in parallel to the almost year-long Gaza war.
The Revolutionary Guards added that members of the network of 12 operatives were arrested in six different Iranian provinces, but did not say when.
In late July, the political leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel by Iranian authorities. Israel has made no claim of responsibility.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has ordered all members to stop using any type of communication devices after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon blew up in deadly attacks last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.
One of the security officials said a large-scale operation is underway by the IRGC to inspect all devices, not just communication equipment. He said most of these devices were either homemade or imported from China and Russia.
Iran is concerned about infiltration by Israeli agents, this includes Iranians on Israel’s payroll and a thorough investigation of personnel is already underway, targeting mid and high-ranking members of the IRGC, added the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
