TEHRAN, Iran

Iran on Monday executed four men accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.

The death sentences were carried out Monday morning after Iran’s Supreme Court rejected their appeals against the penalty, the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency reported.

The four men were arrested after illegally entering Iran from northern Iraq’s Kurdish region in July 2022. They were accused of plotting to carry out a bombing attack at a Defense Ministry plant in the central city of Isfahan.

The plant, which was allegedly the target of the bombing plot, manufactures military equipment and missile components for Iran’s defense ministry.

In September 2023, a court sentenced them to death for “intelligence cooperation” with Mossad, after which they appealed against the sentences in the Supreme Court, which rejected their pleas.

Iran’s state media, citing intelligence officials, said the four men had undergone training at military bases in several African countries and held meetings with senior Mossad officials.

In January last year, the Iranian Defense Ministry said a drone attack on a military complex in Isfahan was thwarted, which targeted one of its workshop complexes.

Weeks later, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s top security body said militant groups based in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region were allegedly behind the attack, citing sources.

It was followed by another alleged attack plot on the same facility in Isfahan two months later, which Iranian authorities said was thwarted.

At the time, state media reported that micro aerial vehicles (MAV) had tried to approach the complex in Isfahan but were shot down by air defense systems.

Monday’s executions came amid heightened tensions between arch-foes, Iran and Israel, over the Gaza war and related developments in the region, especially Houthi attacks on Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea.

Late last month, Iran executed four men for alleged links to Israel’s Mossad.

The four men, according to the Mizan news agency, carried out “extensive actions” against the country’s security “under the direct guidance of Mossad officers.”

Last month, a person convicted of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency was executed in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province.