Turkish forces thwarted the attempt through Iranian agents to kill Israelis in Istanbul, arresting 3 men, local media reported on Friday.
The men were reportedly arrested with a rifle, two handguns, silencers and ammunition on July 14 and brought before a judge on Thursday for an extension of their pretrial detention.
The reports come a month after Israeli officials made a pressing call to all its citizens to leave Istanbul without delay and reconsider other non-essential parts of Turkey, warning that Iranian agents were in a position to kidnap or kill Israelis there as Tehran seeks revenge. in Istanbul. The murders of officials attributed to Israel.
The men reportedly attempted to attack Israeli tourists staying at a hotel near Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated in months, following the assassination of an Iranian officer in Tehran, airstrikes opposed to Iran-related targets in Syria, threatening rhetoric from Iranian leaders, and Iran’s growing violations of nuclear deals.
Last month, spy firm Mossad and its local counterparts controlled to thwart 3 Iranian attacks on Israeli civilians in Istanbul, a senior security official told Hebrew media at the time.
The story came a day after Turkish media reported that 10 other people had been arrested as part of an Iranian plot against Israelis in Turkey.
The security official said Mossad intelligence had taken to the Turkish government 10 members of an Iranian mobile that planned to kidnap and assassinate a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey and his wife.
The Mossad chartered a private plane to immediately take the couple and others to Istanbul in the country, reports said in Hebrew. The diplomat’s call was not disclosed.
According to the official, the Mossad also controlled to thwart two other plots opposed to the Israelis in Istanbul, with tourists fleeing the country at the “last imaginable second. “
He said the raids were carried out in coordination with Turkish authorities, thanking them for their efforts to thwart Iranian attacks to date.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Israeli claims that Tehran is targeting Israelis in Turkey are “unfounded” and are part of a “preconceived situation to destroy between the two Muslim countries. “
Iran and Israel have been involved in a shadow war for years, tensions have escalated following a series of high-profile incidents that Tehran has blamed on Israel.
The Islamic Republic claimed that Israel is guilty of the murder of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei at his home in Tehran on May 22.
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also manages operations outside the country, recently announced it will replace the head of its intelligence unit, Hossein Taeb, who held the post for more than a decade.
Taeb has been continually named in the Hebrew media as the guy who planned the attacks on Israelis in Turkey.
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