Cyprus has thwarted an alleged Iranian plot to target Israeli businessmen with the arrest of two Iranian asylum-seekers who were in contact with another Iranian associated with the Revolutionary Guard, a Cypriot official revealed Tuesday. The two Iranian men have been in police custody since November 3, and procedures are underway to deport them. The suspects' detention was the result of a joint operation with Israel's Mossad security service, with Cypriot security services surveilling the suspects for several weeks.

Authorities believe they were on the verge of carrying out killings of primarily Israeli businessmen. The suspects' Iranian handler crossed the UN-controlled buffer zone into the internationally recognized south to establish contact with them, working for Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This is the third such alleged Iranian plot to target Israelis in Cyprus in more than a year, with another alleged plot involving an Iranian-backed hit squad being broken up in July.

Israeli Prime Minister's office on behalf of the Mossad said Iran's use of Cyprus's breakaway north for "terrorist purposes" and to attack Israeli and Jewish targets is a "disturbing issue". An Azeri man holding a Russian passport is on trial in Cyprus on suspicion of planning to carry out the contract killings of Israelis living in Cyprus.