Times: Thousands Arrested in Iran in Campaign to Purge Spies from Within

SadaNews - The Times reported that Iran has arrested tens of thousands after authorities ordered security forces to hunt down the spies who assisted Israel in the assassination of senior military leaders and scientists in the country.

The newspaper - in a report by Samar Al-Atrash - stated that official media reported that a call to Iranians to hand over "suspected" individuals to the police led to the arrest of thousands. The head of the country's Supreme Court said he would deal "firmly and legally" with the spies, following a week after Iran executed another alleged spy for Israel.

The campaign, condemned by the United Nations, particularly targeted ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, after thousands of Afghans were expelled, and among others, journalists and human rights defenders were arrested, according to the UN.

According to The Times, Iran was severely humiliated in its recent war with Israel when the war began with a covert Israeli mission that crippled the country's air defenses, followed by a wave of airstrikes that decapitated the Iranian military and killed nearly 20 nuclear scientists. It appears that Israeli intelligence had deeply penetrated the country at the highest levels, establishing networks of commando cells that emerged to operate during the war.

Israel released some footage of these commandos sabotaging Iranian air defenses using drones, allowing Israel to operate freely in Iranian airspace during the war.

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The newspaper commented that a large part of Israel's success in the war was not due to what its air force did, but because of the intelligence infiltration and ground operations carried out by agents of Israeli foreign intelligence (Mossad).

Farzan Thabet, a research fellow at the Global Governance Center, said, "I feel that the campaign is a reaction to the humiliation of this massive infiltration of the regime and the country. They do not want to face reality, so it is easier to launch a crackdown."

Israel continues to encourage Iranians to rebel, with the latest being Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call this week for Iranians, in a statement, to "be brave and bold and take to the streets".

While Iran periodically announces arrests and executions of suspected spies, it does not announce any high-ranking spies within its government or security apparatus. Snam Vakeel, the director of the Middle East Program at Chatham House, said, "It may be easy to summon minorities and subject them to interrogation... but the more important question is: where is the source of the leaks within the upper echelons of the regime? Access occurs through multiple levels, and it is clear that we will not know who is involved at the leadership ranks."