TEHRAN: Iran’s intelligence ministry said Monday it has arrested members of the Bahai minority suspected of spying for a centre located in Israel and of working illegally to spread their religion.

Intelligence agents “arrested a number of members of the central core of the Bahai spy party,” who were “directly linked to the Zionist centre known as Bait al-Adl”, the ministry said on its website, without specifying how many.

The Islamic republic regards Bahais as “heretics” and suspects many of espionage for Israel, where the community has its centre and spiritual home in the northern city of Haifa.

The ministry said the centre had instructed the suspects to revive the banned sect in Iran and to carry out “targeted information gathering”.

They had been instructed to “infiltrate educational environments at different levels, especially kindergartens across the country”, it said.