The Iranian Noor News agency claimed on Sunday that Mossad agents who the Iranian Intelligence Ministry had claimed on Saturday had been caught in the country were trying to blow up a “sensitive site” in Isfahan in central Iran.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on Saturday that it had caught a network of Mossad agents who were in contact with other agents in a “neighboring country” and had entered Iran from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The ministry claimed that the network was planning to carry out “unprecedented acts of sabotage and terrorist operations by using the most up-to-date operational and communication equipment and the most powerful explosives.”
The ministry added that additional information would be announced later on.
On Sunday, Noor News reported that the network entered Iran a few months ago through Kurdistan and aimed to blow up a “sensitive center” in Isfahan.
The report added that the network had been training for months in Africa in order to carry out the operation. According to Noor News, the Intelligence Ministry was tracking the network before they even entered Iran.
Mossad seal (credit: רונאלדיניו המלך/Wikimedia Commons)The network was arrested after they placed explosives at the site they were targeting and just hours before they intended to implement the final stage of their operation, according to the report.
The report added that further details would be published at a later point.
Claims against Kurdistan
Iran has claimed multiple times that Israel’s Mossad is operating in Iraqi Kurdistan.
In March, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) fired 12 missiles toward a home in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region, saying it was a response to the “recent crimes of the fake Zionist regime.” The IRGC additionally claimed that the targeted structure was called “the Strategic Center of Conspiracy and Evil of the Zionists.” Reports by Iranian and pro-Iranian media indicated that the missile strike was carried out in response to an alleged Israeli drone attack on an IRGC drone base in Mahidasht, Iran.
The Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center
While the report did not state which site was being targeted, the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, located in the area, is one of the country’s largest nuclear facilities, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
Last month, some of the surveillance cameras used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were removed from the Isfahan site. Additionally, the IAEA reported last month that 90% of Iran’s uranium enriched to 60% fissile purity had been moved to Isfahan. In January, the IAEA reported that Iran had informed it that it would move the production of centrifuge parts to Isfahan.
Last year, Iran announced that it had begun producing enriched uranium metal, a material that could be used to create the core of a nuclear weapon, at the Isfahan site.
