Khaberni - The Iranian police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, announced on Sunday the arrest of 500 individuals on charges of leaking information to "hostile entities," amidst the rapid military developments the country is experiencing, along with ongoing air strikes conducted by American and Israeli fighter jets on targets within Iranian territory.
Radan clarified that half of the recorded cases fall under the category of "serious incidents," noting that the accused were involved in providing coordinates and precise information for targeting specific locations, in addition to photographing the raid sites and sending them to external parties.
Widespread security campaign and accusations of espionage
Radan's statements coincided with local media reports today, Sunday, about wide-scale arrest campaigns in several Iranian regions. In the northwest of the country, the Tasnim agency quoted the regional prosecutor's office as saying that 20 individuals were arrested on charges of transmitting details about locations of military and security assets in Iran to Israel.
The arrests also extended to areas that have remained far from the theater of military operations; the same agency reported the arrest of 10 individuals in northeastern Iran, some of whom were charged with collecting information about economic infrastructure and sensitive sites.
The agency quoted a local branch of the Revolutionary Guard intelligence agency as saying that "the Zionist enemy and the United States," concurrently with "invading Iran," are working on mobilizing "mercenaries and spies" to carry out acts of unrest as a next step to destabilize internal stability.
Furthermore, in the province of Lorestan (western country), 3 individuals were detained on charges related to "seeking to create public confusion and burning symbols of mourning," according to "Student News Network."
These developments come at a time when a source familiar with the Israeli military strategy told Reuters last week that Israel has started a "new phase" of its attack, focusing on targeting security checkpoints based on intelligence information gathered through informants on the ground.
It is worth mentioning that Iran had witnessed widespread protests in January last year, weeks before the outbreak of the current war, which were met with a crackdown, while at that time the authorities held Washington and Tel Aviv responsible for initiating "violent riots aimed at overthrowing the regime."
