Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said that 12 people have been arrested for being operatives collaborating with Israel and planning acts against Iran’s security.

The Revolutionary Guards added that members of the network of 12 operatives were arrested in six different Iranian provinces, but did not say when.

Tensions in the Middle East have shot up since thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah members exploded in an attack widely blamed on Israel. 

In late July, the political leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel by Iranian authorities. 

Israel has made no claim of responsibility.

Israel ‘not fearful of broader war with Lebanon’

Israel’s “escalation over the past few days” has “shown a state that is not fearful of the broader war with Lebanon”, the research manager at the The Policy Initiative has claimed.

Speaking to Sky News, Sami Zoughaib said the latest attacks came at a “bad moment for Lebanon”.

“This is a country that has been hit by a deep crisis since 2019,” he said.

“The Lebanese political elites have created exactly the type of state that would be a perfect enemy for Israel.

“We unfortunately are very vulnerable from an economic perspective and I think this is a gift we have given to Israel that emboldens the kind of aggression it can exert in Lebanon.

“Israel’s escalation over the past few days has  certainly shown a state that is not fearful of the broader war with Lebanon and seems very much set on doing something of that magnitude.”

He went on to say Lebanon was in a situation where Hezbollah feels “it has what is necessary for it to continue with its scope of operation”.