Updated

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence said it arrested five members of a separatist cell and three arms smugglers in operations in Kermanshah, Alborz and Tehran provinces on Wednesday. The ministry said the cell was preparing attacks in Tehran, Alborz and Kermanshah under the direction of people it linked to US and Israeli spy agencies, and that the suspects were detained after public reports and intelligence surveillance. It also said the arrested men had helped damage public property and spread fear during the January riots. Press TV reported that the three smugglers were arrested while trying to enter Iran from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and that authorities seized 50 handguns and 100 magazines from them. Press TV also listed earlier security operations in western Iran, including an October 24 arrest of two people in Kermanshah over alleged foreign espionage links and an October 13 arrest of two militants entering from Iraq's Kurdistan region. The arrests were reported only by Iranian state media, and the accounts have not been independently verified.