By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Iran's Intelligence Ministry says security forces have arrested 31 people in Sirjan, in the southern province of Kerman, accusing them of belonging to four organized networks backed by the United States and Israel and preparing acts of sabotage and street unrest.
The ministry said the groups were identified through public tip-offs and intelligence monitoring. It accused members of producing large quantities of Molotov cocktails and making equipment designed to damage urban surveillance cameras ahead of nationwide calls for unrest.
Iranian authorities also linked members of the networks to violence during unrest around the turn of the year, including the burning of the local governorate building, damage to banks and government offices, destruction of public and private property and an attack on a police station aimed at seizing weapons.
Press TV's account of the ministry statement did not identify the detainees individually or publish evidence showing operational direction or financing from the United States or Israel. Those links remain allegations by the Iranian government and have not been independently verified.
Tehran has stepped up internal security and counterintelligence operations during its confrontation with the United States and Israel. Iranian authorities have repeatedly described sabotage, espionage and unrest cases as foreign-directed operations, though public evidence in individual cases has often been limited.
The same period has produced separate espionage investigations in Türkiye and Europe. In February, Turkish authorities detained suspects in distinct cases involving alleged work for Israel's Mossad and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while Greece and other European states pursued separate espionage and sabotage investigations.
The Sirjan case is centered less on conventional espionage than on preparations for street violence and disruption. Even so, Tehran has folded it into the same counterintelligence campaign it says is aimed at foreign-backed networks operating inside Iran.
No court findings have yet been made public establishing the ministry's allegations against the 31 detainees.
Sources: Press TV, Iran's Intelligence Ministry, Reuters, Bosphorus News review and reporting.