US-Israeli mercenaries captured in four provinces across Iran

Iran's Intelligence Ministry says its forces have identified and arrested 14 mercenaries recruited by the American-Zionist enemy across four provinces who were carrying out activities against national security amid the US-Israeli aggression.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Intelligence announced the apprehension of 14 mercenaries hired by the American-Zionist enemy and operatives of terrorist groups in the provinces of Kermanshah, Alborz, Fars, and Kerman.

In Kermanshah, an operational cell of a terrorist faction was dismantled after its three members, plus their ringleader, were identified and arrested, the ministry said.

A large number of handmade explosive devices, a considerable amount of gunpowder and fuses for making bombs, a handgun and three Starlink satellite internet terminals were confiscated from their hideout.

According to the ministry, the operational cell was directed by a Germany-based individual to carry out terrorist activities, including attacking important government and media centers, in the province.

Five mercenaries of the American-Zionist enemy were identified and arrested in Alborz, the announcement further read, adding that two of the individuals were members of a terrorist faction, who were captured before carrying out any activity against national security.

The ministry further said that three of the five mercenaries arrested in the province were engaged in gathering information about military centers and photographing sensitive areas (before and after impacts) and sending it to the enemy.

Intelligence forces confiscated special scissors for removing obstacles as well as fake mission orders for security forces from their hideouts, it added.

In Kerman, four American-Zionist mercenaries were identified and arrested, the ministry said. They were linked to the spy network “Iran International” television, which is considered by the Islamic Republic the media headquarters of the Zionist regime.

The operatives were involved in sending the addresses of Iranian military and security forces’ locations to the spy network, it noted.

Intelligence agents of the ministry also identified and arrested a mercenary in Fars who was gathering and sending information about the locations of Iran’s refineries to the American-Zionist enemy, the announcement said.

He had sent coordinates of the Iranian refineries to the enemy for an attack by the US-Israeli coalition against the country’s vital civilian infrastructures.

The US and Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28, assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians.

In response, the Iranian armed forces have carried out retaliatory operations, targeting US bases in the region and Israeli positions in the occupied territories with waves of missile strikes and drone attacks.

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