A number of Iranians working for the Islamic Republic's contentious nuclear program were arrested by state security service agents this week, on suspicion of spying. The arrests were disclosed in a report released Wednesday by Tabnak, an official Iranian news agency with close ties to the Revolutionary Guard - the body overseeing Iran's nuclear project. The report did not detail how many people were arrested or on behalf of which states they were suspected of spying. Nor did it say which nuclear project or site the suspects were employed with or what positions they hold.
Last month, Tehran's official radio station announced that Iran had dismantled an espionage network allegedly linked to Israel's Mossad spy agency.
General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said the alleged network was trying to collect information on Iran's nuclear program and the Guards' military operations as well as details on military and security officials.
Also last month, Tehran executed an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the Islamic Republic's military on behalf of Israel, the judiciary said on Saturday. Judicial spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Ali Ashtari was hanged on November 17 after being sentenced to death on June 30 by a revolutionary court in Tehran. Ashtari, who was in his mid-40s, was a tradesman in electronic merchandise who supplied military, security and defense centers across the country with electronic devices.
Iranian authorities also recently arrested Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger who visited Israel in 2007, upon his arrival in Tehran from Canada. An Iranian news Website reported that Derakhshan, who also holds Canadian citizenship, admitted to being involved in espionage for Israel, but some believe the report of his confession merely aims to prepare the ground for his execution.