Iran executes four accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad

Tehran said the plot involved 16 different bombs and had been overseen by Mossad chief David Barnea.

By JNS

Iran executed four men on Monday who were convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad, according to Agence France-Presse, citing the Iranian judiciary’s online portal.

“The death sentence of four members of a group affiliated with the Zionist spy organization, who were arrested…for plotting a bombing operation in [the central province of] Isfahan, was carried out this morning,” AFP cited Mizan as saying.

According to state-run news outlet ISNA, the four had planned to blow up an Iranian Defense Ministry missile production facility in Isfahan.

The report claimed the four, from Iran’s Kurdish region, were arrested in August of last year. Tehran said the plot involved 16 different bombs and had been overseen by Mossad chief David Barnea.

The operation was meant to take place in the summer of 2022 but was thwarted by Iranian intelligence, according to the report.

On Dec. 29, Iran executed another four people, including a woman, accused of being “saboteurs” with links to the Mossad. Those executions, in West Azerbaijan province, followed Iran’s mid-December execution of a fifth accused Mossad agent in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Iran has accused Israel of carrying out several attacks on facilities linked to its nuclear program and of killing nuclear scientists.

In August, Iran accused Israel of being behind “one of the largest sabotage plots” targeting its defense industry and the production of missiles.

In July, its intelligence ministry said it had arrested a network of agents working for Israel before they were able to carry out sabotage in sensitive locations.

In April 2021, Tehran blamed an act of “nuclear terrorism” for a disruption of power at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility in the desert in the central province of Isfahan.