TEHRAN: State television in Iran reported on Sunday that three Israeli spies have been detained in a joint operation with Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

The “three Mossad agents who held Iranian nationality” were detained in the mountainous region between Iran and Afghanistan, the broadcaster said.

News of the arrests came after a day after a Taliban delegation arrived in Tehran for meetings with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other top officials.

State television said the three Israeli agents had been “planning to launch kamikaze drone attacks from the Afghan border towards targets in Iran”. They “will be transferred to Iran for interrogation”, it reported, indirectly indicating that they were in Afghanistan.

Tehran accuses Israel of having carried out a wave of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear programme.

The Islamic republic does not recognise Israel, its arch enemy, and the two countries have engaged in a shadow war for years.

In August, security services claimed to have foiled an Israeli plot to sabotage its ballistic missile production, and said several people had been arrested.

Tehran has also accused Israel of being behind a January drone attack on a defence ministry site in the central province of Isfahan.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023