Iran announced Monday that intelligence agents have arrested an “Israeli spy” in the country’s East Azerbaijan province but revealed little else.
The director-general of the Iranian intelligence ministry in East Azerbaijan Province (northwestern Iran) said “several spies” were arrested there during the past Iranian year, which ended March 20, 2021.
The official told the IRNA news agency and other state media that the “other spies . . . were in contact with several countries’ intelligence services” and were arrested “as well.” He did not, however, reveal the nationalities of the “other spies.”
Israeli government officials have made no comment on the report.
An Iranian citizen was convicted and executed last year for allegedly spying for US and Israeli intelligence. Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili announced in August 2020 that the country’s security forces had “chased and captured” several “spies and traitors” cooperating with foreign intelligence agencies.
Esmaili said at the time that the spies had infiltrated Iran’s foreign ministry, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and companies producing parts for the defense ministry.
