Tehran: Iran has executed three men for spying for Israel. This was confirmed by officials in Tehran on Wednesday.
The hangings are a part of Iran’s sweeping crackdown to punish those with links to Israel, Iran has said, adding that the three were spying for Benjamin Netanyahu.
The executions come a day after Israel and Iran agreed to the Donald Trump-initiated mediation after 12 days of heightened conflict over Tehran’s possession of nuclear weapons.
During the conflict, Iran arrested at least 700 persons, accused of ties with Israel.
This came after reports of Israeli spy agency Mossad having smuggled men and weapons into Iran that helped it kill several top generals of that country.
The three men executed by Iran have been identified as Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul. The executions took place in Urmia, a northwestern city near the border with Turkey, the judiciary said, sharing photos of the three men in blue prison uniforms.
Iran claims that the three men attempted to bring in assassination equipment into the country.
The Iranian judiciary said: “Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, who attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations, were arrested and tried for… cooperation favouring the Zionist regime. The sentence was carried out this morning…and they were hanged.”
After Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13, Iran had vowed swift trials for people arrested on suspicion of collaborating with its arch-foe. Three days ago, the Iranian authorities executed a man convicted of being a Mossad agent, the judiciary said.
Judiciary’s Mizan Online website had said: “Majid Mosayebi… was hanged this morning after going through the full process of criminal procedure and after his sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court,” adding that Mosayebi sought to provide “sensitive information … to Mossad”.
