Iran Says Busted ‘Mossad-Linked’ Sabotage Team Are Kurdish Separatists

Iran said Wednesday that “Mossad-linked sabotage team” arrested recently before bombing a "sensitive defense center" were members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group. 

The Islamic Republic’s intelligence ministry released a statement on Wednesday, claiming that what it dubbed as Israeli-linked agents, who earlier allegedly planted strong explosives at a facility in the central Iranian province of Esfahan, belong to “the Komala terrorist group.”

The ministry alleged that they were directly chosen by the group’s head Abdullah Mohtadi and were introduced to Mossad, adding that they had transferred vast amounts of equipment and explosives to Iran through Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. 

Also on Wednesday, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib claimed the ministry carried out “a number of successful operations” against Israel in recent months without disclosing any details. 

About a week before Iran announced the major bust of the “Israeli-backed network”, the intelligence ministry had released a statement on July 13, saying it had arrested 10 armed members of a Kurdish separatist group in northwestern parts of the country. Extra details were added to the story bit by bit during the following days.

Iran has not introduced any evidence linking the detained person with Israel. Since May, several Revolutionary Guard personnel were killed or died in Iran and Tehran blamed Israel for the operations. In June, a large scale purge took place among IRGC intelligence cadres.

The Islamic Republic calls the Kurdish armed groups in the western provinces of Iran, "terrorist groups" or "anti-revolutionary." Generally, the Kurdish parties − including Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) − favor Kurdish autonomy within a federal Iran.