The official insignia of the Israeli Mossad.
Two Iranian suspects have been arrested by Cypriot authorities over an alleged plot to target Israelis in the island nation, the Reuters agency reported on December 10, citing an unsourced report by the local Kathimerini Cyprus newspaper.
The detainees are said to be political refugees who have been in contact with a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). They reportedly were in the early stages of obtaining intelligence on potential Israeli targets in Cyprus.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that an Iranian terror plot against Israeli and Jewish targets in Cyprus was foiled, noting that Cypriot authorities were aided by the Mossad spy agency.
Accusing the Iranian government of being behind the plot, the Prime Minister’s Office said, on behalf of the Mossad and the National Security Agency, that the suspects arrest was enabled by intelligence information about the terrorists, their methods of operation and the intended targets.
Located just a 40-minute flight from Israel, Cyprus is a popular holiday and investment destination for thousands of Israelis.
Last June, the Mossad announced that it had captured an agent of the IRGC who plotted attacks against Israeli targets in Cyprus. However, Tehran denied being behind any alleged plot to attack Israelis on the island.
Iran and Israel have been engaged in a decades-long shadow war across the Middle East and beyond. Tensions between the two rose after the outbreak of the war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip last October.
The reports of an Iranian plot to target Israelis in Cyprus came just over a week after two senior officers from the IRGC were killed in Israeli strikes that targeted the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
