Iran executed on Friday four people, including a woman, whom it accused of being “saboteurs” with links to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, the Mizan news agency affiliated to the judiciary said.
The executions took to five the number of people put to death this month in a decades-long shadow war that has seen Iran accuse Israel of attacks on its nuclear effort, charges the latter has never confirmed or denied.
“Four members of a sabotage team associated with the Zionist regime … were executed this morning following legal procedures,” the news agency said, accusing them of “extensive” actions, guided by Mossad officers, targeting Iran’s security.
Friday’s executions in West Azerbaijan province followed Iran’s mid-December execution of a fifth accused Mossad agent in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency identified the four executed on Friday as Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari, and Rahman Parhazo, along with the woman, named Nasim Namazi.
They were the principal convicts in a case that involved 10 offenders, it added, but it was not immediately clear if the rest would also face execution.
The official IRNA news agency posted a video clip nearly eight minutes in length, that showed the men confessing to their alleged co-operation with a Mossad officer in neighbouring Turkey, who used two names, Tony and Arash.
It said their mission entailed kidnappings, threatening and setting fire to vehicles and homes of unnamed targets and stealing their mobile phones.—Agencies
