Iran claims to arrest French intelligence agents during ‘riots’

DUBAI: Several French intelligence agents were arrested in relation to protests in Iran, the country’s interior minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV on Wednesday.

“People of other nationalities were arrested in the riots, some of whom played a big role. There were elements from the French intelligence agency and they will be dealt with according to the law,” Vahidi said.

The Islamic Republic has accused Western countries of stoking nationwide protests after the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16 in the custody of the country’s morality police.

Last week, France’s foreign minister Catherine Colonna said

a total of seven French nationals were detained in Iran.

Meanwhile, an Iranian court has issued a second death sentence against a “rioter” for violence linked to protests that flared over Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said. Iran on Sunday handed down the first death sentence over the protests that erupted on September 16.

Also, two Revolutionary Guards and a paramilitary were killed by “rioters” during protests commemorating those slain in 2019 street violence over fuel price hikes, state media said.

Oil tanker hit by drone off Oman coast

An oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire has been struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman amid heightened tensions with Iran, an official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The attack on the Liberianflagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon happened on Tuesday night off the coast of Oman, the Mideastbased defence official said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military organisation in the region monitoring shipping, told the AP, “We are aware of an incident and it’s being investigated at this time.”