Tehran — Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of 12 people accused of “collaborating” with the country’s arch-foe Israel, local media reported on Sunday.
Revolutionary Guards “arrested 12 collaborators with the Zionist regime (Israel) in six provinces” of the Islamic Republic, the Fars news agency said.
Iran regularly announces the arrest of people accused of working as agents for foreign countries, most notably Israel.
Fars did not specify the dates or locations of the arrests but said the accused had been “planning to take action against the security” of Iran.
Tehran has accused Israel of being behind sabotage operations at a number of its nuclear sites, as well as assassinating several Iranian scientists.
In December, authorities executed a man convicted of collusion with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
And in December 2022, four men were hanged after being convicted of collaborating with Israel.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate over a July strike, blamed on Israel, in Tehran that killed the Qatar-based political chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
According to an Iranian media report, Iran has enhanced efforts to build relations with its Arab neighbors by holding talks with Arab leaders at the United Nations.
In a meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart on the sidelines of the 79th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday, Araqchi said the policy of good neighborliness is one of the principles of the Iranian administration, which he said is set to deepen Tehran’s ties with the regional countries.
The Iranian foreign minister also pointed to the Zionist regime’s recent acts of aggression, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resorts to criminal measures to escape from the deadlock in the Gaza Strip.
“The Zionist regime entered Gaza to destroy the Hamas movement, but it failed and now it is in a desperate situation,” Araqchi noted, the Foreign Ministry’s website reported.
He also discussed the martyrdom of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in an Israeli strike in Tehran, vowing that the assassination will not go unanswered.
The top Iranian diplomat denounced the Israeli regime’s atrocities as a serious threat to regional and world peace and security.
He also stressed the need for the countries in the region to cooperate to shield themselves against the Israeli regime’s evil moves, adding that Iran favors maximum dialogue and interaction with the southern Persian Gulf littoral states.
For his part, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al Yahya welcomed Iran’s neighborhood policy and expressed hope that the ties between Iran and the regional countries would further expand.