Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi underlined the weakness of the US and Israeli spy agencies in "luring" Iranian nationals into their service, and added that his ministry has managed to defuse a majority of the plots hatched by the CIA and Mossad against Iranian scientists, Fars News Agency reported.
"Most of the plots hatched by the Americans and Mossad to employ certain people inside Iran have fallen flat, while those who had been lured (into their service) have been arrested," Moslehi told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Monday.
"We have full control over those who have been deceived and have had some companionships with the enemy," he added.
Elaborating on the tricks and plots hatched by enemies to deceive the Iranian nationals, Moslehi said that when Iranian scientists travel to foreign countries, the enemies' agents try to lure them, but most of the time their attempts fail.
He said enemies' recruiting plans are not confined to the above-mentioned cases, as "they also use the internet to recruit certain people, but most of these plots are foiled due to the good control of the (Iranian) intelligence apparatus".
Moslehi's remarks came after the some the U.S. medias reported that Iranian intelligence forces and Hezbollah have unraveled the CIA's spy network in Iran and Lebanon and arrested dozens of informants, severely damaging the intelligence agency's reputation and ability to gather vital information on the two countries at a sensitive time in the region.
Moslehi had also announced in May that more than 30 US and Israeli spies had been discovered and he quickly took to Iranian television to broadcast information explaining the methods of online communication that the agents would use to trade intel. Only a month later, Hezbollah leader Seyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that two high-ranking officers within his own organization had been identified as CIA spies.
In June, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said two of the group's members had been arrested on suspicion of being affiliated with the CIA, and a third was held for working either for the CIA or for European or Israeli intelligence agencies.