Iran

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that 12 people had been arrested for being operatives collaborating with Israel and planning acts against Iran's security.

"As the Zionist regime (Israel) and their Western backers, most notably the United States, have not succeeded in their sinister goals against the people of Gaza and Lebanon, they are now seeking to spread the crisis to Iran with a series of actions planned against our country's security," the statement said.

Tensions in the Middle East have shot up since thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanon's Hezbollah members exploded in an attack widely blamed on Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged some of the heaviest cross-border fire in a conflict running in parallel to the almost year-long Gaza war.

The Revolutionary Guards added that members of the network of 12 operatives were arrested in six different Iranian provinces, but did not say when.

In late July, the political leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel by Iranian authorities. Israel has made no claim of responsibility.

The death toll from an explosion at coal mine in eastern Iran has climbed to 51, with an additional 20 people injured, according to Iranian officials.

The updated figures were announced by the Director General of Crisis Management for South Khorasan Province and the Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The explosion occurred at approximately 9 p.m. local time at the mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers southeast of Tehran.

Workplace accidents in Iran, particularly in the mining sector, are a longstanding issue, with statistics showing a rising trend in both incidents and fatalities. Between March and August 2024, over 400 workers in Mazandaran Province were either killed or injured in workplace accidents according to official figures.

Furthermore, official data from the Forensic Medicine Organization reveals that between March 2023 and March 2024, 2,115 people lost their lives in work-related accidents, reflecting an 11.3% increase compared to the previous year.

Experts argue that official statistics capture only a fraction of the reality, as many workplace accidents go unreported due to unregistered and uninsured workers.

The prohibition of independent labor unions and syndicates in Iran has led to a lack of proper oversight of employment contracts and workplace safety standards.