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Iranian authorities have detained several members of the country’s Jewish community on what sources cited by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster described as a pretext linked to recent protests.
The sources said those detained were not involved in the demonstrations. They did not give details on the number of people held or their identities.
Iran has carried out arrests across the country since protests erupted late last year and were met with a violent response by security forces.
An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Jews live in Iran, making it home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Iran’s regional allies must be dismantled to achieve stability in the Middle East, outlining what he described as a vision for the region’s future during a visit to Kazakhstan.
Speaking alongside his Kazakh counterpart Yermek Kosherbayev, Saar said groups aligned with Iran posed a barrier to regional stability.
“Iran’s proxy terror states in the Middle East, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen must be dismantled,” Saar said. “Without doing so, there will be no regional stability, and this is our objective.”
Iranian media quoted officials as saying sounds heard near a military center in Pakdasht, southeast of Tehran, were caused by routine activity and testing, and not by an explosion.
Follow-up checks showed the sounds came from standard measures and tests carried out at the facility, the Mehr news agency reported. It said no incident or explosion had occurred.
Reports circulating about a blast were not accurate, Mehr said.
Iran’s government said decisions on cutting internet access lie with security authorities, as a nationwide blackout has entered its third week.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told a news conference that after events on Jan. 8 and 9, security policymakers decided the national internet network “had to be cut,” adding that the government could not override such decisions.
“Our approach is to support free internet,” she said. “But on security issues, we are all subject to these decisions.”
The internet blackout has continued into its 19th day. Internet monitor NetBlocks said on Monday that authorities were tightening filtering gaps to limit circumvention while allowing approved accounts to promote the Islamic Republic’s narrative.
Members of Kataib Hezbollah appeared to sign up for suicide operations after the Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group said it was preparing for a wider conflict in support of the Islamic Republic, according to images shared on social media.
The images showed men wearing white burial shrouds as they signed volunteer forms for what were described as suicide operations.
The move followed a statement issued earlier this week in which Kataib Hezbollah urged its fighters and supporters to prepare for what it described as a comprehensive war in response to threats against Iran.
Kataib Hezbollah, designated by the US as a terrorist organization, is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces and has carried out attacks on US and allied targets in the region.
