Iran executes men over alleged Mossad sabotage plot
Iran has executed four men convicted of planning sabotage and alleged links with Israel’s Mossad secret service, state media reports.
The official IRNA news agency said the men were convicted of planning to target a factory in 2022 belonging to Iran’s defence ministry and involved in missile and defence equipment in the central city of Isfahan.
The operation was allegedly engineered by Mossad and the four were trained by the Israeli agency in an African country before entering Iran, according to reports.
The four were identified as Iranian nationals: Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi.
The executions were carried out after the country’s supreme court upheld their death sentences, handed down by another court in September.
The report did not say how the death sentences were carried out, but in Iran it is usually by hanging.
In 2022, Iran said its intelligence agents had dismantled a group linked to Mossad that had allegedly planned terrorist operations inside Iran, arresting all members of the group and confiscating a large amount of weapons and explosives.
Iran from time to time reports on arrests, trials and executions of its nationals for spying for Mossad and other Western intelligence services.
Late last month, Iran executed four people – three men and a woman – and sentenced several others to prison for having alleged links with Israel’s Mossad security service, local media reported.
Earlier in December, another man was executed on charges of releasing classified information to Mossad.
Iran and Israel have accused each other of spying and waging a shadow war for years.
Israel views Iran as its greatest threat and has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.
Iran does not recognise Israel and supports anti-Israeli militant groups across the region, including the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant Hamas group, currently embroiled in a war with Israel.
AAP
