JERUSALEM: According to Iran’s state-run Nour News, Israel’s claim that it had stopped an assault in Cyprus by capturing an Iranian agent was an attempt to cover up its own domestic issue.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence service announced on Thursday that it conducted an operation in Iran to apprehend the accused leader of an Iranian conspiracy to attack Israeli businesses in Cyprus.
“The Zionist regime, which is (faced with) a deterioration of its domestic situation, has narrated a failed operation from a year ago in Iran in which all its agents were arrested upside-down,” stated Nour News, which is close to Iran’s top national security organisation.
On Thursday, Mossad revealed that its agents inside Iran had apprehended the leader of an accused Iranian murder squad plotting to kill Israeli businesses in Cyprus.
According to the Mossad, which rarely communicates to the media, the individual gave investigators a comprehensive “confession.” The intelligence was conveyed to authorities in Cyprus, where security officials dissolved the cell, according to the report.
“We will reach whoever foments terrorism against Jews and Israelis around the world, including on Iranian soil,” the Mossad warned in a statement, citing an anonymous senior agency official.
On Thursday, Israel released video showing Yusef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, the man it described as the commander of the Iranian cell, admitting on camera that he got orders from Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps.
He further stated that he scouted the target and photographed the target’s home in Cyprus, but fled the Mediterranean island nation and returned to Iran after learning that authorities were looking for him.
It was unclear whether the man spoke under coercion.
“In response to the information he provided to investigators, the cell was dismantled in an operation by Cypriot security services,” according to the Mossad statement.
When asked repeatedly by The Associated Press, Cypriot authorities refused to respond, claiming only that “they don’t discuss matters of national security.”
Israel has long maintained that Iran is planning attacks on Israeli sites around the world and has warned citizens to exercise caution when travelling overseas.
An Azeri man is on trial in Cyprus, a staunch Israeli ally, on accusations of plotting contract killings of Israelis living there.
Source: Reuters
