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Israeli, Cypriot Intelligence Foil IRGC-Backed Terror Plot in Cyprus

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Saturday that Cypriot security forces, working in close coordination with Israeli intelligence, foiled an Iranian-backed terrorist plot targeting Israeli citizens in Cyprus. The announcement, posted to Sa’ar’s official X account at 19:15 IDT, attributed the plot to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), specifically its intelligence branch. The statement followed news that Cypriot authorities had arrested a British national suspected of espionage and terrorism-related offenses. According to local reports, the suspect had allegedly been surveilling RAF Akrotiri, a strategically important British airbase. While authorities have not officially linked the arrest to the foiled terror plot, the timing raises the possibility of a connection. This is not Iran’s first attempt to target Israelis in Cyprus. In 2023, Cypriot officials disrupted several IRGC-related plots, including a failed assassination attempt by an Azeri-Russian national believed to be operating out of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.