Iran detained 20 individuals on allegations of spying for the Mossad intelligence agency in recent months, the judiciary said on Saturday, adding that they will receive “no leniency,” Reuters reported.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangiri subsequently told reporters in Tehran that charges against some of the 20 suspects had been dropped and they were released.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” Iranian media quoted the spokesman as saying.
Full details will be made public after the conclusion of the investigations, he added.
On Wednesday, Iranian authorities executed Rozbeh Vadi, an Iranian citizen convicted of providing intelligence to the Mossad, including information supposedly related to an Iranian nuclear scientist killed in a targeted attack.
Iranian sources claim that he was recruited online and met with his purported handlers in Vienna, where he received technical training and communicated via encrypted channels.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph reported on Saturday that Iran’s surviving nuclear scientists have gone into “deep hiding” in the wake of Israel’s elimination of 30 researchers during its 12-day war with Iran in June.
Most of them have been transferred with their families to secure locations in Tehran or cities on the Caspian Sea coast, no longer living in their homes or performing their teaching duties, a senior Iranian official was cited as saying.
Israel has a list of about 100 surviving scientists who it says must now decide if they want to continue risking their lives or change their careers, the report read.
The names of more than 15 of them have been shown to The Telegraph, the British newspaper noted.
“The figures who remain have worked on adapting Shahab-3 missiles for nuclear warheads, and are critical to Iran’s ability to deploy nuclear weapons,” Israeli intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon was quoted as saying.
“While the eliminated scientists focused more on warhead design, the expertise in delivery systems makes those who remain equally strategic targets for Israel, as Israel’s June 2025 strikes also targeted ballistic missile infrastructure,” Solomon added.
The report cited unnamed “Israeli experts” characterizing the new generation of scientists as “dead men walking,” despite the round-the-clock protection they are provided by the Islamic Republic.
