In a statement on Monday, the IRGC said the suspects had taken footage and sent information about the locations of gatherings of security and military forces to the media network, allegedly paving the way for contact with Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, News.Az reports, citing Iranian media.
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It added that the individuals were detained by IRGC forces through intelligence and cyber operations.
According to security investigators, such actions amount to sharing location data with the enemy, potentially enabling Israel to target those sites.
The case remains under investigation, and authorities said further measures are being taken to identify other suspected agents.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said on Sunday that it had identified and arrested 18 individuals it described as mercenaries working for Iran International, accusing them of sending photos of locations bombed by the “American-Israeli enemy” as well as the positions of emergency aid workers and rescue teams to the channel.
The ministry added that legal action has also been launched against 21 other suspects and stressed that the process would continue firmly.
It warned that anyone acting as the enemy’s “fifth column” during wartime would face the harshest punishment, in line with a notice issued by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and legislation aimed at intensifying the fight against Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran’s police chief, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, said in a televised interview on Sunday that police had arrested 500 people for allegedly sharing information with hostile actors since the start of the ongoing US-Israel strikes on February 28.
Radan added that 250 of the detainees had been identified as “important cases”, accusing them of cooperating with hostile groups by filming strike locations and sending the footage to them.
