Iran arrests 20 people accused of being informants to Israel: Report

Dubai: Iranian authorities have arrested at least 20 people in the country's northwest on suspicion of cooperating with Israel, local media reported on Sunday, more than two weeks into the Middle East war.

The arrests took place during raids on networks linked to Israel in the West Azerbaijan province, the Fars news agency said, quoting provincial prosecutor Hossein Majidi.

"Twenty people were arrested and detained" after they were found to be "sending details of military, law enforcement and security locations to the Zionist enemy", it added.


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Authorities have carried out sweeping raids across Iran, arresting in recent days hundreds of people suspected of cooperating with Israel and the United States, local media reported.

The conflict began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sparking Iranian retaliation.

On Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported the arrest of a person it said was sending information to the London-based TV channel Iran International.

The report, which quoted the police commander of the northern Qazvin province, said the individual was using a Starlink terminal, a technology that is banned in Iran.

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Iran has been digitally sealed off from the rest of the world by a complete internet blackout since the start of the Middle East war.

To get around those restrictions, some Iranians have turned to Starlink terminals from the US company SpaceX, which connect to the internet via satellites.

In January, Iran banned cooperation with Iran International, saying it was "affiliated with the Zionist regime".