Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday that security forces had arrested “tens of spies” working in different branches of the Iranian government, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a semi-official media publication in the country.
The intelligence minister did not say which countries the spies were working for nor when they were arrested, but only that many of them were dual citizens of Iran and other states.
“I have repeatedly asked people to inform us if they know any dual national. The Intelligence Ministry’s anti-espionage unit has successfully identified and arrested tens of spies in different governmental bodies,” ISNA quotes the minister as saying.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a former US-designated terrorist organization which now enjoys deep ties to the US State Department and White House, called on Saturday for Western countries to expell “the regime’s spies and mercenaries” which she argued take “advantage of diplomatic resources to promote state-sponsored terrorism.”
On August 20, the US Justice Department announced charges against a California resident and Iranian citizen as well as a dual US-Iranian citizen for spying on MEK and Israeli institutions in Chicago.
The men, Ahmadrez Mohammadi-Doostdar, 38, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, are “alleged to have acted on behalf of Iran, including by conducting surveillance of political opponents and engaging in other activities that could put Americans at risk,” US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement.