TEHRAN, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said on Sunday that Iran has arrested members of a terrorist network in Tehran who were linked to Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    The terrorists who were planning to carry out bombings in Tehran have been identified and arrested, Mohseni Ejeie was quoted as saying.

    The "terrorist team" was "linked to Zionist elements," he said, adding that they were intending to cause "disorder" and "insecurity" by launching successive explosions "ahead of the presidential elections" in Iran slated for June 12.

    "According to the evidences, the Zionist regime is planning to connect to and guide the anti-revolution elements and to use them as a tool for its wicked ends," he said, but did not elaborate the details.

    Earlier in April, Iran hanged three people, allegedly linked to Israel, who were convicted of exploding a mosque in southern Iranian city of Shiraz in 2007 which killed 14 people.

    When hanging Ali Ashtari in Tehran on Nov. 17 for cooperation with Israeli intelligence services (Mossad) for three years, Iran announced that it had entered a "serious intelligence war" with arch foe Israel.

    An Iranian intelligence ministry counter-espionage official has warned that Iranians should be in alert "about the serious danger of penetration of the Israeli intelligence services to Iran's internet and telecommunications network."

    The United States and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran has denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

    Israel has consistently refused to rule out the possibility of military strikes against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program.