TEHRAN, March 31. /TASS/. As many as 54 people have been detained for collaborating with the United States and Israel in four Iranian provinces, the Islamic republic’s Ministry of Intelligence said in a statement.

"Forty-one of these recruits shared locations and information about border crossings and military facilities in Tehran with the media center of the Zionist regime (Israel - TASS) - the [Iran] International terrorist network, while residential buildings were presented as military facilities to target civilians’ homes," Iran’s public broadcaster quoted the ministry as saying in a statement. "These betrayers of the Motherland had three communication devices, a pistol, and a Starlink satellite internet terminal on them," the ministry revealed. According to it, "another eight people recruited by the American-Zionist enemy, with ties to terrorist groups, were detained in the provinces of Gilan and Kermanshah." "Also, five members of two terrorist cells in the province of Fars were exposed and detained before carrying out a terrorist attack," the ministry added.

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The IRGC, the elite unit of the Iranian army, announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit.