November 25, 2008
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards have claimed to have arrested the members of a spy network linked to Israeli intelligence who tried to gather information on Iranian nuclear and military programs.
Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said on state radio last night that its intelligence bureau had recently discovered the spy network, linked with Israel's Mossad.
"This network sought to gather important information from the Guards' military section, the country's nuclear centres and some security officials," Mr Jafari said.
"Very good information as well as equipment that this network were supplied with have been discovered and people will be informed of the evidence in the near future."
Mr Jafari did not specify how many people were detained or where and when the group was arrested.
He said the detainees had confessed to being trained in bombing and assassination in Israel and had bought vehicles and lots of equipment with Mossad support, the state broadcaster's website reported.
Iran said on Saturday it had hanged an Iranian telecommunications salesman convicted of spying for Israel. It warned that a "more serious intelligence war" had begun with the Jewish state.
Judicial spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Ali Ashtari was hanged on November 17 after being sentenced to death on June30 by a revolutionary court in Tehran.
Ashtari, who was in his mid-40s, was a tradesman in electronic merchandise who supplied military, security and defence centres across the country with electronic devices.
Iranian authorities also recently arrested Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger who visited Israel last year, on his arrival in Tehran from Canada. Mr Derakhshan, who also holds Canadian citizenship, had admitted to being involved in espionage for Israel, the Iranian news website Jahan News reported.
It said Mr Derakhshan had admitted spying for Israel during initial questioning.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Tehran does not recognise Israel and tensions have flared since the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly said the Jewish state is doomed to vanish and has branded the Holocaust amyth.
Israel, which along with the US accuses the Islamic republic of seeking atomic weapons, has never ruled out a military action to halt Tehran's nuclear drive.
Tehran, which insists its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity, angrily points to Israel's widely believed status as the sole, if undeclared, nuclear weapons power in the Middle East.
Iran has always warned of a dire response in the event that it comes under attack by the US or Israel.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful ideological army, control the country's sensitive missile program, including the long-range Shahab-3 missile, which Tehran says can reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf.
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards have claimed to have arrested the members of a spy network linked to Israeli intelligence who tried to gather information on Iranian nuclear and military programs.
Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said on state radio last night that its intelligence bureau had recently discovered the spy network, linked with Israel's Mossad.
"This network sought to gather important information from the Guards' military section, the country's nuclear centres and some security officials," Mr Jafari said.
"Very good information as well as equipment that this network were supplied with have been discovered and people will be informed of the evidence in the near future."
Mr Jafari did not specify how many people were detained or where and when the group was arrested.
He said the detainees had confessed to being trained in bombing and assassination in Israel and had bought vehicles and lots of equipment with Mossad support, the state broadcaster's website reported.
Iran said on Saturday it had hanged an Iranian telecommunications salesman convicted of spying for Israel. It warned that a "more serious intelligence war" had begun with the Jewish state.
Judicial spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Ali Ashtari was hanged on November 17 after being sentenced to death on June30 by a revolutionary court in Tehran.
Ashtari, who was in his mid-40s, was a tradesman in electronic merchandise who supplied military, security and defence centres across the country with electronic devices.
Iranian authorities also recently arrested Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger who visited Israel last year, on his arrival in Tehran from Canada. Mr Derakhshan, who also holds Canadian citizenship, had admitted to being involved in espionage for Israel, the Iranian news website Jahan News reported.
It said Mr Derakhshan had admitted spying for Israel during initial questioning.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Tehran does not recognise Israel and tensions have flared since the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly said the Jewish state is doomed to vanish and has branded the Holocaust amyth.
Israel, which along with the US accuses the Islamic republic of seeking atomic weapons, has never ruled out a military action to halt Tehran's nuclear drive.
Tehran, which insists its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity, angrily points to Israel's widely believed status as the sole, if undeclared, nuclear weapons power in the Middle East.
Iran has always warned of a dire response in the event that it comes under attack by the US or Israel.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful ideological army, control the country's sensitive missile program, including the long-range Shahab-3 missile, which Tehran says can reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf.
Source: The Australian
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