Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili holds a press conference in Tehran, Iran on December 4, 2010. Iran today accused the United Nations of sending spies instead of nuclear inspectors and said the International Atomic Energy Agency will need to take responsibility for those actions. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian |
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TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Iran has arrested suspects with links to the Mossad, CIA and MI6 in the slaying of a nuclear scientist and plotting more attacks, an Iranian official alleges.
"The three spy agencies of Mossad, CIA and MI6 played a role in these attacks," the Fars news agency quoted Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi as saying regarding the recent attack on two nuclear scientists in Tehran. The Mossad is Israel's intelligence arm, while the CIA is a U.S. intelligence agency and MI6 is Britain's international spy agency.
His accusations came amid reports in the London-based al-Sharq-al-Awsat quoting an Iranian source as saying Israel's Mossad had attempted to assassinate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his recent visit to Lebanon.
The source said the Mossad had used Iranian opposition elements, some of whom reside in Syria and Iraq, to carry out the assassination, Ynetnews.com said.
Last week, bombs placed on the cars of two Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran exploded as they headed for work at Shahid Beheshti University. Majid Shahriari was killed in the blast, and Fereydoun Abbasi and his wife suffered minor injuries.
In January, nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi was killed by a Tehran bomb blast.
Iranian officials did not elaborate on the number of people arrested but hinted more arrests were possible, the news agency said.
"The members of this team have been trained in a neighboring country and based on their confessions, they planned to carry out other assassinations," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said at a press conference this week.
