TEHRAN — Iranian authorities have arrested at least 20 people in the country’s northwest on suspicion of cooperating with Israel, local media reported on Sunday, more than two weeks into the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The arrests took place during raids on networks linked to Israel in the West Azerbaijan province, the semi-official Fars news agency said, quoting provincial prosecutor Hossein Majidi.
“Twenty people were arrested and detained” after they were found to be “sending details of military, law enforcement and security locations to the Zionist enemy,” it added.
Iran frequently arrests people and accuses them of spying without providing evidence.
In addition, on Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported the arrest of a person it said was sending information to the London-based opposition-linked TV channel Iran International.
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The report, which quoted the police commander of the northern Qazvin province, said the individual was using a Starlink terminal, a technology that is banned in Iran.
Iran has been digitally sealed off from the rest of the world by a complete internet blackout since the start of the war.
To get around those restrictions, some Iranians have turned to Starlink terminals from the US company SpaceX, which connect to the internet via satellites.
A man walks past a banner depicting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader who was killed on February 28 in a US-Israeli strike in Tehran, displayed at Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on March 15, 2026. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) /
In January, Iran banned cooperation with Iran International, saying it was “affiliated with the Zionist regime.”
Iranian authorities have carried out sweeping raids across the country in recent days, arresting hundreds of people suspected of cooperating with Israel and the United States, local media reported. Last week, its intelligence ministry claimed it had arrested 30 spies, internal mercenaries, and operational agents of Israel and the US in the span of a few days.
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