Iran arrests 15 on charges of spying for Israel: report
People demonstrate against a possible Israeli military attack and war with Iran on March 24, 2012 in Tel Aviv, Israel. As the balance between war and diplomacy continually teeters, Israel’s leaders are afraid that a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat and if negotiation efforts fail, Israel could strike this year.
Iran’s state news agency today said more than 15 people have been arrested on charges of spying for Israel and plotting to assassinate "one of our nation's experts and to bomb some of the nation's installations," reported Agence-France Press.
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"So far 15 people, holding Iranian birth certificates and foreigners, have been arrested," IRNA quoted the intelligence ministry as saying, providing new details to the arrests announced last month, said AFP.
The official IRNA report also said a spy base being run by Israel's Mossad had been found in a neighboring nation, according to the Associated Press, but did not provide further information.
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The ministry also accused the group of having "illegally used diplomatic missions in some Western countries" to pursue their activities, said AFP. No further details were provided.
The report did not say what field the expert was in, but several of Iran's top nuclear experts have been killed in mysterious circumstances in the past several years, according to CNN.
The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and Iran.