Speaking to Israel's Army Radio, Eliyahu confirmed Israel used on-the-ground agents during last year's 12-day war with Iran, adding that similar operatives remain active during the country's current crisis.

"When we struck Iran last year, we were on their territory and knew how to prepare the ground for the attack. I can assure you that our people are working there right now," Eliyahu, who called for nuking Gaza during the Israeli genocidal war on the strip, said.

While not working for regime change, the agents are weakening Iran's capabilities, the minister claimed. "Are they now acting directly to topple the regime? No. Are they acting to ensure that Iran cannot threaten us from all other aspects? Yes."

It is not the first time Israeli officials have admitted to covert operations in Iran. According to Channel 13, 100 Mossad operatives were deployed inside Iran to install smuggled heavy missile systems used to disable launchers and air-defence batteries at the start of June's war.

The 12-day war launched by Israel targeted civilian and military infrastructure as well as nuclear facilities, killing nearly 1,100 people, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, according to Iranian authorities.

Iran has acknowledged the presence of Israeli agents and has executed 12 people for espionage since the June war, which saw Israel, backed by the United States, carry out a wave of attacks on the country.

Tehran says those executed were "agents of hostile intelligence services" involved in terrorism.

The latest protests, in their second week, followed Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei's warning that there would be no leniency for anyone helping the enemy against the Iranian government.

"If anyone comes into the streets for riots or to create insecurity, or supports them, then no excuse remains for them," Mohseni-Ejei said.

Iran's army chief, Major-General Amir Hatami, threatened preemptive military action after Mohseni-Ejei's statement. "We will cut off the hand of any aggressor," Hatami told military academy students.

Following Mohseni-Ejei's warning, President Donald Trump threatened US intervention if Iranian authorities shot protesters. "We are locked and loaded, and ready to go," Trump wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity over Israel's war on Gaza, had previously sought to instigate rebellion during the June war, urging Iranians to "stand up and let your voices be heard."

On Sunday, he backed the current protests, saying it was "quite possible that we are at a moment when the Iranian people are taking their fate into their own hands."

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded by accusing Washington of seeking to exploit the protests and warning that authorities would not tolerate foreign-backed "saboteurs."

"Trump should know that world tyrants such as Pharaoh, Nimrod, Reza Shah, and Mohammad Reza were brought down at the peak of their arrogance. He, too, will be brought down," Khamenei said.

The Iranian leader accused protesters of acting at the behest of foreign powers and said Trump's hands "are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians," an apparent reference to Israel's June war, which the United States supported and later joined with strikes of its own.

"Everyone should know that the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honourable people, and it will not back down in the face of saboteurs," he concluded.

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