SAEDNEWS: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry says 21 people allegedly linked to Israel’s Mossad and four members of armed criminal groups have been identified and arrested in Kerman province. The ministry also reported weapons seizures involving suspects connected to the events of January 2026.
According to SaedNews: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has announced a new security operation in Kerman province, saying that 21 people allegedly connected to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service were identified and arrested in a series of intelligence and operational actions.
The announcement places the arrests within a broader security campaign that Iranian authorities say is aimed at identifying suspected foreign intelligence networks and armed groups operating inside the country.
According to the ministry’s statement, the 21 detainees allegedly collected information from sensitive and classified facilities, particularly sites connected to military and air-defense activities, and transmitted that information to Mossad.
The ministry did not provide further details about the identities of the detainees, the locations involved, or the specific information they allegedly gathered. Those claims therefore remain allegations made by Iranian authorities and have not been independently substantiated in the material provided.
The announcement also described a separate operation in Kerman involving four members of armed groups. The Intelligence Ministry said the four individuals were identified and arrested and that authorities seized a number of weapons and both military and hunting ammunition from them.
The two strands of the announcement—alleged intelligence activity and armed-group operations—were presented as part of the ministry’s continuing security efforts in the province.
The statement also referred to an ongoing crackdown connected to what Iranian authorities describe as the armed elements involved in the January 2026 unrest, referred to in the statement as the “January 2026 coup.” The ministry said that among five armed individuals arrested in connection with those events, four military firearms were discovered and confiscated.
Those weapons, according to the ministry, were subsequently handed over to the judicial authorities for further legal proceedings.
The latest announcement comes against a backdrop of heightened attention in Iran to intelligence, security and alleged espionage activity. In its statement, the ministry emphasized that the arrests resulted from intelligence and operational measures carried out by its provincial department in Kerman.
The statement did not disclose how long the investigation had lasted or whether the people arrested were allegedly working together as a single network. It also did not specify the precise nature of the military or air-defense information that it says was transferred abroad.
That distinction is important because the ministry’s announcement contains allegations rather than findings independently established in the source material. Any eventual judicial proceedings could provide additional information about the accusations and the evidence authorities say supports them.
The ministry also used the announcement to renew its appeal to the public to report suspicious activity as quickly as possible. It asked citizens to contact its intelligence hotline at 113 or use what it described as the ministry’s official channels on the Eitaa, Bale, Rubika and Soroush Plus messaging platforms.
For the ministry, the public reporting mechanism is part of a wider effort to detect suspected security threats before they develop further. The appeal comes alongside the announcement of the arrests and weapons seizures, giving the statement both an operational and public-security dimension.
The Kerman operation is notable not only because of the number of people authorities say were detained, but also because the allegations involve two different categories of security concerns: the alleged transfer of sensitive military information to a foreign intelligence service and the possession of weapons by armed suspects.
At the same time, the available information leaves several questions unanswered, including the identities of those arrested, the precise evidence collected against them and the next steps in their judicial cases.
Those details could become clearer if authorities release further information or if the cases proceed publicly through Iran’s judicial system.
For now, the Intelligence Ministry’s announcement represents the official account of the operation: 21 alleged Mossad-linked operatives arrested in Kerman, four armed-group members detained with weapons and ammunition seized, and additional firearms recovered from five suspects linked by authorities to the January 2026 events.
The claims are likely to attract further attention because they touch directly on questions of espionage, national security and armed activity. As the judicial process develops, the evidence presented in those cases will be central to determining the full scope of the allegations and what ultimately happened behind the arrests.
