By Betul Yilmaz and Mustafa Melih Ahishali
ISTANBUL (AA) – Iranian authorities executed one person and arrested 53 others on charges of spying for Israel, local media said on Sunday.
According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Majeed Msibi, an Iranian citizen, was hanged on Sunday morning after Iran’s Supreme Court approved his death sentence on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Tasnim said 53 other people were arrested in Fars province in southern Iran on suspicion of being involved in the recent Israeli attacks on the country.
Iranian police forces also discovered 16 micro air vehicles for various uses during the arrests, the same source said.
On Sunday, the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. The attacks came as the latest escalation in a US-backed Israeli military assault on Iran since June 13, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory attacks on Israel.
Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.
Meanwhile, in Iran, 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.