Tehran, Nov 5 (EFE).- Iran claimed on Sunday that its authorities had arrested three suspected Israeli spies planning drone attacks in the Islamic Republic.
According to the Fars news agency, the suspects were apprehended in a joint operation with Afghanistan’s Taliban.
The three Iranian nationals collaborated with the Israeli spy agency Mossad and “were planning drone attacks on multiple targets in Iran,” according to the ministry.
“The detainees intended to fire suicide drones from across the Afghan border into targets inside Iran,” the news agency said.
The intelligence ministry said the suspects planned sabotage activities during the mourning month of Muharram, but were captured before “entering (their) extensive… operational phase.”
They allegedly plotted to attack Muharram mourning ceremonies, fueling stations, power pylons, and natural gas plants to disrupt domestic and export supplies, the statement read.
Iranian authorities frequently report the busting of terrorist cells linked to Israel.
In May, Iranian authorities claimed to have dismantled a terrorist cell linked to Israeli intelligence in the west of the country
Iran and Israel wage a covert war that includes cyberattacks, alleged assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, and sabotage of ships, even though neither acknowledges it.
The Jewish state considers the Islamic Republic as its main enemy and has also been attacking Iranian military positions and allied militias in Syria for years.
Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated after the start of the war in Gaza following the attack by the Islamist Hamas group on Israel and the subsequent bombing of the Palestinian strip. EFE
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