Intelligence Minister: Iran Captures Several European Spies
Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmayeel Khatib said that the country's security agents have arrested several British, French and Swedish spies, adding that a number of these operatives have been sentenced to capital punishment irrespective of foreign pressures.
Addressing commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Sunday, Khatib said more than 50 intelligence services have set up Iran desk to confront an emerging power at the international arena.
“Today, the power of the country’s intelligence organizations is such that they have detained spies from the UK, France and Sweden and many other countries,” the minister stated.
He added that a number of those spies have been sentenced to death despite foreign pressures and have been executed.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the official said about 200 terrorists had infiltrated into Iran to carry out attacks during Arbaeen ceremonies that mark the 40th day after the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shia Imam, but Iranian security and intelligence forces defused the scheme.
The terrorists, affiliated with Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) terror group, had entered Iran and were planning to make “harmful and destabilizing moves across the country and in the region during Arbaeen in Iraq”, but they were captured and their plots were defused.
The Iranian intelligence minister also pointed to the internal crises in the Israeli regime and said the occupying entity is on the verge of collapse.
“The situation that the Zionist regime is facing on a daily basis is the result of the resistance put up by Martyr Soleimani’s efforts,” Khatib said, referring to the late commander of the Quds Force of IRGC, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a 2020 US drone strike in Iraq.
“The Zionist regime, which once claimed to be the fourth power in the world today, speaks of its own internal decay. From its president to other officials, everyone is talking about the fact that this regime is collapsing,” he added.
Tehran has in recent years identified and captured several members of spy networks affiliated to foreign secret services.
Iranian officials lashed out at the Western countries for their hostile policy towards Tehran. They stressed that the Zionist regime as well as Western intelligence services are seeking to stir chaos in Iran to push the country into a civil war.
In recent years, Iranian security forces have also arrested hundreds of members of terror groups planning to carry out terror attacks and acts of sabotage across the country.
The militants were involved in making explosives and hand-made bombs and linked to foreigners and planned to carry out counter-security acts. The detained mercenaries also intended to blow up sensitive military sites inside Iran by highly powerful bombs.
