Iran Executes Four People Accused Of Links To Israel’s Mossad

Iran executed four individuals on Friday, one of whom was a woman, on the grounds that they were “saboteurs” connected to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to the judiciary-affiliated news agency Mizan.

The five executions brought the total number of people executed this month in the decades-long shadow war to five. Israel has never acknowledged or denied Iran’s accusations that it has attacked its nuclear programme.

The news agency said that “four members of a sabotage team associated with the Zionist regime… were executed this morning following legal procedures,” accusing them of carrying out “extensive” actions against Iran’s security under the direction of Mossad officers. The executions on Friday in the province of West Azerbaijan came after the mid-December execution in Iran of a fifth alleged Mossad agent in the southeast province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

The woman, Nasim Namazi, and the four people who were executed on Friday were identified by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari, and Rahman Parhazo.

The men appeared in a nearly eight-minute video clip released by the official IRNA news agency, confessing to their alleged cooperation with a Mossad agent in neighbouring Turkey who went by the two names Tony and Arash. It claimed that part of their mission was to kidnap people, threaten to set fire to the homes and cars of unidentified targets, and take their cell phones.

Iran has charged Israel with killing its nuclear scientists and attacking sites related to its nuclear programme on multiple occasions in recent years. Israel has not responded to the claims with confirmation or denial.