Iran has arrested 14 members of what it claims was an Israel-linked terrorist cell planning to carry out assassinations in the country, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.
According to the report, the hit squad was actively searching for targets. They were arrested in the northwestern part of the country, home to a large Azeri population.
The report comes a little over a week after Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said that another Israel-affiliated terrorist group had been arrested on the country’s western border.
Iran has accused Israel in the past of conducting operations inside its borders to thwart its nuclear program—in December of last year executing four men convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Three other people received prison sentences of between five and 10 years.
In October, Tehran announced it had arrested 10 persons accused of working for Israel.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei “warned of the dangers that the Zionist regime’s presence poses in the region” in a meeting in Tehran on Monday with the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.
On Saturday, Iranian Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforooshan said that the “Zionist regime continues to get responses on a daily basis for its mischievous acts.”
