TEHRAN: Iran has dismantled a “terror network” backed by Israel’s Mossad intelligence services which planned to disrupt the upcoming presidential election in the Islamic republic, the state broadcaster said yesterday.
“The intelligence ministry has identified and arrested the members of this terror network, and confiscated their weapons,” IRIB said on its website, quoting a statement by the ministry.
It said the arrested group was made up of 12 members, but did not say when it had been busted.
The ministry neither identified any of those arrested nor mentioned their nationality, but said the cell leader originated from an unnamed “regional Arab” country. On June 14, Iran is to hold its first presidential election.
The statement said the group had been instructed “to conduct terrorist acts ahead of, and in particular, on election day” as well as “creating ethnic and religious divisions” in restive areas of Iran. It said the group had already “hit several targets in a town,” and that “its main culprit was in contact with a headquarters in Britain”. It did not elaborate.
AFP
