The Iranian Revolutionary Court has issued a capital punishment sentence to four individuals accused of espionage for Israel, as reported by the semi-official Fars news agency on Wednesday.
Fars reported that three of the defendants, whose nationalities were not disclosed, were accused of assisting Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, by moving equipment used in the 2020 assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Four Sentenced To De@th In Iranian Court For ‘Spying For Israel’s Mossad’
Fakhrizadeh was regarded by Western intelligence as a key figure in a covert Iranian programme aimed at developing nuclear weapons, a claim that the Islamic Republic has consistently denied, Reuters reports.
In a report from February 2021, The Jewish Chronicle cited intelligence sources indicating that Fakhrizadeh was killed with a one-ton gun smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad agents, including both Israeli and Iranian nationals.
Israel, which declined to comment at the time of the assassination, maintained its silence on the latest report. An Israeli government spokesman stated, “We never comment on such matters. There has been no change in our position.”
The fourth defendant sentenced to death was reportedly involved in a separate, unspecified espionage case, according to Fars.