Iran executes 4 men convicted of planning sabotage and alleged links with Israel's Mossad spy agency
Tehran, Jan 29: Iran executed on Monday four men convicted of planning sabotage and alleged links with Israel's Mossad secret service, state media reported.
The official IRNA news agency said the men were convicted of planning to target a factory in 2022 belonging to Iran's defense ministry and involved in missile and defense equipment in the central city of Isfahan. The operation was allegedly engineered by Mossad and the four were trained by the Israeli agency in an African country before entering Iran, it said.
The four were identified as Iranian nationals: Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi. The execution was carried out after the country's Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, handed down by another court in September.
The report did not say how the death sentences were carried out, but in Iran it's usually by hanging.
In 2022, Iran said its intelligence agents had dismantled a group linked to Mossad that had allegedly planned terror operations inside Iran, arresting all members of the group and confiscating a large amount of weapons and explosives.
Iran from time to time reports on arrests, trials and executions of its nationals for spying for Mossad and other Western intelligence services.
Late last month, Iran executed four people - three men and a woman - and sentenced several others to prison for having alleged links with Israel's Mossad security service, local media reported. Earlier in December, another man was executed on charges of releasing classified information to Mossad.
Iran and Israel have accused each other of spying and waging a shadow war for years. Israel views Iran as its greatest threat and has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is seeking such weapons and has vowed a harsh response to any aggression.
In 2020, Iran executed a man convicted of leaking information to the United States and Israel about a prominent Islamic Revolutionary Guard general, Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, who was killed by a US drone strike in January that year.
Last month, a high-ranking Iranian general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria.
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Rupee falls 7 paise to 90.96 against the US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee fell by 7 paise to 90.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by a rise in global crude oil prices and a stronger greenback.
A poor start to the domestic equity markets further pressured the local unit, but FII inflows provided support, preventing a sharp fall, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.91 against the US dollar and slipped further to 90.96, down 7 paise from its previous close.
The rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 90.89 against the US dollar on Monday.
"The Reserve Bank might be intervening to keep the rupee away from 91.00 levels, but the buying will itself allow it to go beyond 91.00 levels," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.11 per cent higher at 97.81.
"The dollar index was higher amid a repositioning... It faces headwinds from (US President Donald) Trump's 15 per cent global tariffs announcement after the unfavourable Supreme Court ruling," Bhansali said.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose sharply by 0.85 per cent to USD 72.10 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tumbled 525.29 points to 82,769.37 in early trade, while the Nifty went down 145.85 points to 25,567.15.
On Monday, foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 3,483.70 crore, according to exchange data.
