Minister: Iran detains "terrorist team" linked to Israel

TEHRAN, April 26 -- Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein

Mohseni Ejeie said on Sunday that Iran has arrested members of a terrorist

network in Tehran who were linked to Israel, the official IRNA news agency

reported.

The terrorists who were planning to carry out bombings in Tehran have been

identified and arrested, Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying.

The "terrorist team" was "linked to Zionist elements," he said, adding that

they were intending to cause "disorder" and "insecurity" by launching successive

explosions "ahead of the presidential elections" in Iran slated for June 12.

"According to the evidences, the Zionist regime is planning to connect to

and guide the anti-revolution elements and to use them as a tool for its wicked

ends," he said, but did not elaborate the details.

Earlier in April, Iran hanged three people, allegedly linked to Israel, who

were convicted of exploding a mosque in southern Iranian city of Shiraz in 2007

which killed 14 people.

When hanging Ali Ashtari in Tehran on Nov. 17 for cooperation with Israeli

intelligence services (Mossad) for three years, Iran announced that it had

entered a "serious intelligence war" with arch foe Israel.

An Iranian intelligence ministry counter-espionage official has warned that

Iranians should be in alert "about the serious danger of penetration of the

Israeli intelligence services to Iran's internet and telecommunications

network."

The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop

nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied

the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israel has consistently refused to rule out the possibility of military

strikes against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear

program.