Turkish authorities announced a few days ago the arrest of five individuals accused of espionage on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, amidst rising political tensions between the two countries, particularly concerning their divergent positions on regional issues, especially in Syria.

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According to the TurkPress website, Turkish security forces and intelligence agencies carried out simultaneous operations in the cities of Istanbul, Antalya, and Mersin, resulting in the arrest of the five suspects after arrest warrants were issued by the public prosecutor’s office.

Security sources indicated that the detainees had been collecting sensitive information about Turkish military bases and strategic areas both inside and outside the country, which they then passed on to agents within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence services, leading the authorities to charge them with “military and political espionage.”

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Ankara’s announcement regarding the dismantling of this espionage cell comes at a particularly sensitive time, coinciding with escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Recently, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made strong statements, warning Tehran against actions that could destabilize Syria, hinting that its foreign policy, which supports armed groups, could backfire on Iran.

These statements were met with anger in Tehran, which summoned the Turkish ambassador for an official protest, while Ankara retaliated by summoning the Iranian chargé d’affaires.

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This was not the first incident of its kind. Over the past years, relations between the two countries have been marked by several similar issues, most notably the revelation of Iranian espionage networks operating within Turkey.

In September 2012, Turkish media broadcast images of an espionage network linked to Iran, which was gathering information on the Turkish military and its relationship with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

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Iranian intelligence was also involved in the assassination of Iranian opposition figure Masoud Molavi in Istanbul in 2019, an incident that led to the arrest of an Iranian diplomat on charges of forging official documents to facilitate the escape of the murderers.

In October 2021, Turkish authorities revealed an espionage cell comprising Iranians and Turks, who had attempted to kidnap a former Iranian military officer in the border town of Van.

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