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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Denies Link to Spy Cell Arrests in Saudi
2013-03-25
[An Nahar] Iran has denied any link to a spy cell dismantled in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, after Riyadh said an Iranian is among 18 suspects enjugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
on charges of espionage for a foreign country, media reported on Sunday.

"This is without any foundation. It is a scenario that is being repeated... for domestic consumption," foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, the interior ministry in Riyadh said authorities had arrested 16 Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese in four regions of the country, including the Eastern Province where the Sunni-ruled kingdom's Shiite minority is concentrated.

The suspects "gathered information on vital installations which they provided to the country" they had been working for, it added.

Although the Saudis did not name the country the suspects were allegedly working for, the announcement that an Iranian is implicated could point to Iran.

Saudi Arabia and its partners in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council have strained ties with Iran which they suspect of supporting Shiite opposition protests in GCC member Bahrain, which like its partners is Sunni-ruled.

News of the arrests came as rights activists on Tuesday reported that Saudi security forces had arrested several Shiites across the kingdom, including two holy mans, for unspecified reasons.
Posted by:Fred

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