Iran thwarts 'terrorist operations' linked to Israel's Mossad — state TV

Iran has claimed that its intelligence agents dismantled a group linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad, which had allegedly planned terror operations inside Iran.

According to Iran's state-run TV on Saturday, citing the country's Intelligence Ministry, members of the group had entered Iran from an unspecified neighboring country's Kurdish-populated area. 

TV did not say how many people were arrested and did not divulge their nationality. The network planned "acts of sabotage and unprecedented terrorist operations in sensitive locations", its statement said, without giving details.

The report also said Iranian forces arrested all members of the group and confiscated a large amount of weapons, explosives, and technical and communication equipment belonging to the group in several operations across Iran.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Iran's nuclear programme

Iran often accuses its enemies or rivals abroad, such as Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia, of trying to destabilise the country.

Last month, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted the prosecutor of Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province as alleging that three people arrested in April there on suspicion of working with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency had wanted to kill Iranian nuclear scientists.

In May, an unexplained incident struck the Parchin military complex, a major military and weapons development base east of Tehran, killing an engineer and injuring another employee. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard later said the incident was a case of “industrial sabotage.”

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint pledge to deny Iran nuclear arms. 

Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and denies seeking nuclear weapons.