Iran says it has detained over 2,000 in espionage probe

Iran has arrested more than 2,000 people who it says were part of a foreign espionage network that orchestrated attacks on the country during the 12-day war with Israel, Iran’s military spokesperson announced Tuesday.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a general and spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, said Islamic Republic authorities infiltrated the spy network that had been built up over several years.

“A large network of spies and enemy agents had been formed, and years of effort and heavy costs were spent to build it,” Mr. Shekarchi told state-run media.

He added that authorities began arresting people connected to the alleged network before Iran’s war with Israel in June and continued to crack down on the organization after the war ended that month.

“From a few months before the start of this war, because of the readiness in place, until the end of the war, around 2,000 of these agents were arrested,” Mr. Shekarchi said. “Reconstructing a network like this is not simple and requires years of time and cost.”

The arrests are part of a larger postwar crackdown in Iran, targeting alleged spies and those accused of collaborating with Israeli intelligence services. Critics argue that the moves are cover for a broad attack on political dissidents in Iran.

The State Department on Tuesday reported that Iran executed 17 prisoners in two days, many of whom were accused of spying for Israel. Iran has executed over 1,500 prisoners in 2025 in what human rights organizations have called a “mass killing campaign.”