Iran foils spy networks in west of country - report

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

TEHRAN, July 9 (Reuters) Iran has broken up spy networks and detained 20 people, an intelligence official was quoted as saying today, speaking from a region in the west of the country where Tehran has said US-backed groups operate.

The head of intelligence in Kermanshah, a province next to the border with Iraq, said ''five spying networks in this province have been found and destroyed'', the official IRNA news agency reported.

The official, named only as Karimi, said 20 individuals had been detained and were under investigation. ''In the interests of security and intelligence, for the time being, we cannot reveal (their identities),'' he said.

He said those involved, including ''foreign elements'', had been persuaded by enemy intelligence services to operate against economic, military, political, cultural and social targets. He did not give further details.

Iran has previously accused the United States, its arch foe, of operating in the region in a bid to destabilise the Islamic Republic. Washington severed ties with Tehran in 1980 after radical students took Americans hostage at the US embassy.

Iran detained three US-Iranian citizens in May on security-related charges, a move some analysts linked to the arrest of five Iranians by US forces in Iraq in January. Tehran denies any link.

Iranian officials accuse Washington of backing a so-called ''soft revolution'' that involves using intellectuals and others in the country to try to undermine the ruling system.

Iran has also accused Britain, which also has forces in neighbouring Iraq, of trying to foment unrest in southwest Iran.

REUTERS SBC PM2148

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