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. Iran's Guards ban communications devices after strike on Hezbollah Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has ordered all members to stop using any type of communication devices after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon blew up in deadly attacks last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.
One of the security officials said a large-scale operation is underway by the IRGC to inspect all devices, not just communication equipment. He said most of these devices were either homemade or imported from China and Russia. Iran was concerned about infiltration by Israeli agents, including Iranians on Israel's payroll and a thorough investigation of personnel has already begun, targeting mid and high-ranking members of the IRGC, added the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"This includes scrutiny of their bank accounts both in Iran and abroad, as well as their travel history and that of their families," the security official said.
Iran's Foreign, Defence and Interior Ministries were not immediately available to respond to the comments made by the security officials to Reuters.
In a coordinated attack, the pager devices detonated on Tuesday across Hezbollah's strongholds. On Wednesday, hundreds of Hezbollah walkie-talkies exploded. The attacks killed 39 people and injured more than 3,000 people.
Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel was behind the attacks. Israel has neither denied nor confirmed involvement.
