Iran Arrests 20 Suspected Israeli Spies

Iran has arrested at least 20 people in the north-western region of the country. The 20 detainees were arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel more than two weeks after the onset of the Middle East conflict.

According to AFP, on Sunday (15 March 2026), the arrests occurred during a raid against a network linked to Israel in the province of West Azerbaijan.

“Twenty people were arrested and detained after they were found transmitting details of military, law enforcement, and security locations to the Zionist enemy,” said the Fars news agency, quoting provincial prosecutor Hossein Majidi.

Iranian authorities have conducted sweeping raids across the country, arresting hundreds of people in recent days suspected of collaborating with Israel and the United States.

The conflict began on 28 February with a US-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which triggered Iranian retaliation.

The official IRNA news agency reported the arrest of an individual who, according to them, had transmitted information to London-based Iranian International television channel. The report stated that the individual used a Starlink terminal, a technology banned in Iran.

Iran has been digitally isolated from the rest of the world by a total internet blackout since the beginning of the Middle East conflict. To circumvent these restrictions, some Iranian citizens have turned to Starlink terminals from US company SpaceX, which connect to the internet via satellite.

In January, Iran banned cooperation with Iranian International, stating that the channel was “affiliated with the Zionist regime”.