October 18-2013
Iran says it has arrested three men suspected of spying and attempting to recruit Iranian citizens to gather intelligence for Israel, the Mehr news agency reported Saturday.
The report did not give the nationalities of the arrested men, but it was assumed from the context that they were Iranians. The Jerusalem Post erroneously reported that Mehr said the men were Isarelis.
The report quoted Judge Dadkhoda Salari as saying most of the suspects confessed duirng interrogation to collecting information and transferring it out of the country.
“The three hired some 60 Iranian citizens to plot against the Islamic government,” the judge was quoted as saying.
The Islamic Republic frequently announces thr capture of spies working for Israel. Few are ever named.
In August, an Iranian national was arrested for allegedly passing sensitive information to the Israeli embassy in Thailand.
In May, Tehran announced it had executed Mohammad Heidari, accused of passing security-related information and secrets to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency in exchange for money.
In 2011, Iranian intelligence services announced that they had arrested a network of Mossad-trained agents linked to the assassination of the country’s top muclear scientists.