Iranian authorities have arrested 45 people accused of acting as “mercenaries and separatists”, including several, it says, who were plotting an attack, Al Jazeera reports citing Iran’s IRIB broadcaster, which cited the intelligence ministry.

The ministry said the arrests in the provinces of Qazvin and West Azerbaijan included 16 people accused of sharing military coordinates with what it described as a hostile network. It claimed that six others were members of separatist groups allegedly plotting an attack in the northwestern city of Bukan.