An influential Iran parliamentarian has said that the country has arrested 12 agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported.

Parviz Sorouri, who sits on the powerful committee of foreign policy and national security, [said] that the alleged agents had been operating in co-ordination with Israel’s Mossad and other regional agencies, and targeted the country’s military and its nuclear programme.

“The U.S. and Zionist regime’s espionage apparatuses were trying to damage Iran both from inside and outside with a heavy blow, using regional intelligence services,” Sorouri was quoted as having said on Wednesday. …

The lawmaker did not specify the nationality of the alleged agents, nor when or where they had been arrested.

  Report: Iran state media claims arrest of 12 CIA agents