Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown across the country by carrying out mass arrests and executions, particularly in the restive Kurdish region, reported Reuters. According to officials, the campaign commenced after Israel struck Iran on June 13 with widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified military presence based around checkpoints.
Officials have described the issue as an unprecedented infiltration of Iranian security services by Israeli agents, reported BBC. The authorities suspect that the information passed on to Israel through this infiltration led to the assassination of several high profile leaders during the conflict. Iran blames the operatives of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency working inside the country for the targeted killings of senior commanders from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists.
According to reports, Iran executed three people during the conflict for spying for Israel and executed three more on similar charges on Wednesday.
Some in Israel and other opposition groups had earlier hoped for a regime change in Iran fueled by a mass uprising. One senior Iranian security official and two other senior officials briefed on internal security issues said the authorities were focused on the threat of possible internal unrest, particularly in Kurdish areas, reported Reuters. Iran’s Sunni Muslim Kurdish and Baloch minorities have long been a source of opposition for the Shi’ite government in Tehran.
Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary units were put on alert and internal security was now the primary focus, the senior official told Reuters.
The Iranian authorities have claimed their measures to be for national security but many fear this is also a way to silence dissent and tighten control over the population. Iran's Ministry of Intelligence asserts that it is engaged in a "relentless battle" against what it calls Western and Israeli intelligence networks - including the CIA, Mossad, and MI6, reported BBC.
