Iran arrests dozens, including foreign national tied to US and Israel, state media reports

DUBAI, March 10 (Reuters) – Iran has arrested dozens of people, including foreign nationals, for allegedly spying on behalf of the country’s “enemies”, the Intelligence Ministry said on Tuesday, amid an ongoing war with the United States and Israel.

The USA and Israel carried out air strikes on Iran on February 28, killing the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and many commanders.

During the ongoing conflict, Iran has launched retaliatory attacks against Gulf countries that are allies of the United States and host American military bases.

Without specifying the nationality of the arrested person, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the foreign national was “spying for the United States and Israel and acting as a proxy for the two Gulf countries,” according to state media.

In recent years, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has detained dozens of dual citizens and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.

Human rights groups have accused the Islamic Republic of trying to extract concessions from other countries through arrests on security charges that may have been trumped up. Tehran denies detaining people for political reasons.

The ministry also said that “30 spies, internal mercenaries and operational agents of Israel and the United States” had been arrested in the past few days.

Separately, Iranian Police Chief Ahmadreza Radan told state television that approximately 81 people had been detained so far for “sharing Iran’s internal information with hostile media and enemies.” He did not provide further information.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly; Editing by Alexandra Hudson, ​Parisa Hafezi and Stephen Coates)