Turkish authorities have arrested six individuals, including an Iranian national, on charges of political and military espionage for Iran, following coordinated raids across five provinces on Wednesday, state broadcaster TRT reported.
The suspects were detained after a joint investigation by Istanbul prosecutors, the counter-terrorism police, and Turkey’s intelligence agency, according to TRT.
They are accused of gathering information on military bases and other sensitive sites in Turkey and abroad, allegedly in coordination with members of the intelligence branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the report stated.
TRT also noted that all six are suspected of spying on the NATO-run Incirlik Air Base in Turkey’s southeastern Adana province, participating in the transit of drones through Turkey for use in third countries, and sharing information with Iranian intelligence, Reuters reported via Gazeta Express.
Iran last month experienced the most widespread unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The country is also under pressure from the United States to negotiate an agreement to curb its nuclear program or face what President Donald Trump has described as a “much worse” strike than the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites in June. Trump has deployed what he described as an “armada” to the Middle East to warn Tehran against killing anti-government protesters or restarting its nuclear program.
