Iran’s judiciary has announced it is investigating the cases of 20 people arrested over alleged links with Israel following the recent 12-day war between the two countries.
“These cases were immediately filed under the supervision of the esteemed investigators and are being investigated,” Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters in Tehran on Saturday, August 9, adding that further details would be released as the process continues.
In late July, Iran’s intelligence agency said it had identified and detained “20 spies, Mossad operational and support agents, and elements connected to the regime’s (Israel’s) intelligence officers in Tehran” and several other provinces.
The arrests came weeks after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran in mid-June, killing senior military commanders, nuclear scientists, and hundreds of others. The strikes targeted military and nuclear facilities as well as residential areas. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks.
Iran has pledged swift trials for those accused of collaborating with Israel. “The judicial system will not show any mercy in dealing with spies and Zionist agents and will teach a lesson to all spies… with firm rulings,” Jahangir said.
On Wednesday, August 6 Iranian authorities executed Roozbeh Vadi, who was convicted of spying for Israel by passing information about Iranian nuclear sites and scientists. According to the Fars news agency, Vadi worked at the Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Iranian media also published a screenshot of an academic paper co-authored by Vadi alongside two nuclear scientists, Ahmad Zolfaghar and Abdolhamid Minouchehr, who were killed during the conflict.
