Iran arrests 14 members of reported 'terrorist team' linked to Israel: official

Iranian security forces have reportedly apprehended 14 individuals believed to be part of a "terrorist team" with alleged ties to Israel, an official from Iran's judiciary has said.

Those arrested "were seeking to identify and assassinate various individuals," the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday reported the official as saying.

BREAKING 🇮🇷 : A 14-member team linked to #Israel arrested in northwestern #Iran – judiciary

— Zaid Ahmd  (@realzaidzayn) May 29, 2023

This is the second time this month that Iran has claimed to have caught terror suspects with links to Israel.

Last week, Iran’s intelligence minister claimed that members of a 'terrorist' group linked to Israel were captured on the country’s western borders, according to Al-Mayadeen, an Arabic-language TV channel sympathetic to the Iranian government.

Tensions have risen between Iran and Israel over the past few months and the right-wing Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken an increasingly hardline stance against Iran's nuclear programme. 

Israel has been accused of launching several covert operations within Iran and against Iranian interests abroad in the past.

Over the past few years, a string of assassinations have targeted Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps including Qasim Fathullahi, a senior IRGC member who was killed on the doorstep of his home on January 3 this year.

Fathullahi's killing coincided with the anniversary of the assassination of IRGC general Qassem Suleimani by US forces in 2020. 

Several of these assassinations were blamed by Tehran on Israel. 

In recent weeks, a number of Israeli political and military officials have indicated that they would support an attack on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Last week, chief of Israeli forces Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi raised the prospect of "action" against Iran. The same week, a leaked intelligence report from Israel's biggest ally the United States revealed that they were 'uncertain' whether Israel would go to war with Iran. 

The comments prompted Israeli government officials to deny that a war against Iran or Hezbollah - a powerful Iran-backed militia in Lebanon - was imminent.